Holcim prize goes to village project

A rural planning design for a suburban village in Beijing has received the $100,000 (£67,900) top prize in the Asia Pacific Holcim Awards, an international competition run by the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction with an international group of prominent universities.

The project took the gold award for effectively combining heritage preservation, traditional knowledge, local materials, modern technology and professional management. The judges said the comprehensive urban planning strategy led by Yue Zhang and Feng Ni improves logistics, public utilities and services while meeting stringent ecological and energy-saving targets for new buildings.

Altogether prize money of $270,000 was presented at the ceremony in Delhi to ten projects for showing future-oriented and tangible approaches to urban renewal and development, energy efficiency and affordable housing. Holcim is a building materials company best known for making cement.

The silver award went to a project for a 40-hectare university campus in the suburbs of Ho Chi Minh City, the Vietnamese capital, designed by Japanese architect Kazuhiro Kojima. The proposed design was said to blend with its natural environment and to use prevailing winds for natural ventilation of buildings and open circulation areas to reduce air-conditioning use. The judges said the striking design strategy creates a robust system that can be adapted to the university community’s changing needs.  

For the first time, the competition included a category for the visions of architects and designers up to the age of 35. The first prize was awarded to an eco-system revitalization plan for Suzhou Creek in the Chinese city of Shanghai by the Taiwanese student Boon Ting Teo.

The second prize, for a redevelopment strategy for the Dharavi slum in Mumbai, India, went to German students Jens Kaercher and Lukas Schwind. A proposal incorporating low and dense urban elements in Shanghai by the Finnish architect Eero Puurunen received the Next Generation third prize.