Project description by jury

The proposal describes a research project aimed at the implementation of plant-based design modules for the construction of building vegetated components. The project identifies multiple benefits ranging from improved air quality to food production and education. From an energy point of view, the project offers an alternative to mitigate the carbon footprint of buildings related to the use of mechanical and physio-chemical air handling systems. The project envisages the installation of such structures especially in troublesome districts where vegetation can help tackle communities’ problems linked to poor air quality, nutrition and lack of educational opportunities.

Jury appraisal

The LafargeHolcim Awards jury North America recognized that the proposal relies on a significant amount of research work. If benefits for human health provided by the vegetation are well known, what was found interesting in this proposal is the ambition to use building-integrated plants to combine the notion of ecology with justice and social inclusion. The integration of the vegetation into a modular system is visually very convincing and offers the opportunity to rethink the enclosure of our buildings in a more sustainable way. Furthermore, the modularity of the structure allows for a multi-scale application of the component and, therefore, for a wide flexibility and adaptability of the project.

Vegetated indoor air bioremediation: Towards environmentally-conscious performance

Emerging research suggests filtering urban air through vegetated structures may reduce carbon dioxide levels through photosynthesis, diminish Volatile Organic Compound loads by utilizing root-microbial community metabolisms, while removing particulate matter through surface sequestration on growth media, likely improving inhabitant health in the process. In comparison, incumbent mechanical/physio-chemical air handling systems do not always adequately address persistently high levels of these pollutants, and are simultaneously energetically costly: of the 97.7 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) used in the continental US in 2017, approximately 13% was spent keeping indoor spaces habitable through the conditioning, filtration, and ventilation of indoor air.

In the competition region of North America, the jury selected four entries to receive Next Generation prizes. The winning projects all address fundamental issues and challenges.