Videos

Water is in shortage and overabundance in Mexico City. This short video in Spanish introduces the Global LafargeHolcim Awards Gold 2018 winner, which addresses this water supply paradox – and compliments the long tradition of Awards winners, that focus on water management, social sustainability, and water efficiency.

What’s next in sustainable construction? More than 50 young architects and engineers from 25 countries were inspired by lectures, presented their projects and exchanged experiences at the LafargeHolcim Next Generations Awards Lab in Mexico City. Three teams returned home with a two-year Research in Practice Grant.

“Hydropuncture” – La Quebradora Hydraulic Park creates urgently needed water infrastructure in the eastern periphery of Mexico City. The project team led by architect Loreta Castro of Taller Capital and researcher Manuel Perló from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México won the Global LafargeHolcim Awards Gold 2018 for improving conditions in the dense urban fabric of the city by forming a greenbelt that doubles as water management infrastructure.

Global LafargeHolcim Awards Silver 2018 winner Mariam Kamara sees competition as a platform for specialists to “dig and delve into issues of sustainability on a global scale”.

Global LafargeHolcim Awards Bronze 2018 prize winner Constance C Bodurow encourages fellow architects, engineers, urban planners and designers to participate in the LafargeHolcim Awards for Sustainable Construction.

The reinterpretation of traditional local construction techniques for a new mosque and community center in Dandaji, Niger brings together the religious and secular elements in a cohesive solution says Yasaman Esmaili of studio chahar, Iran. Together with Mariam Kamara of atelier masomi, Niger, she designed the Global Silver Awards winner with a project that addresses the contemporary social challenges by creating a space in the village open to all.

Awards Bronze: Alejandro Aravena, Head of the Global LafargeHolcim Awards jury thinks being an active agent of change is a compelling aspect of the Bronze Award winning project from the USA. The scalable community-driven model could be applied in other shrinking cities, where taking action in a design void breaks down the scale of centralized infrastructure to deliver water, energy and food locally.

Awards Silver: Head of the Global LafargeHolcim Awards jury, Alejandro Aravena, complimented the many dimensions and layers of the Awards Silver winner from Niger, which moved it from a single work to holding universal qualities. The project achieves a remarkable level of quality, and strategically leverages traditional knowledge and local materials.

Awards Gold: Head of the Global LafargeHolcim Awards jury, Alejandro Aravena, notes how the Gold Award winning Project from Mexico addresses the critical and relevant matter of water. The scalable program could transfer from the single case to become a systemic response – and integrates more than one dimension that enhances life quality and public space beyond technical responses alone.

Premio de Oro: El líder del jurado de los Global LafargeHolcim Awards, Alejandro Aravena destaca que el proyecto ganador del premio de Oro, proveniente de México, acertó en identificar un tema relevante y desarrollar una respuesta expandible que integra varias dimensiones para lograr soluciones, y no sólo abordar los problemas.

Nine members of jury, an observer and a minutes taker spent a full day studying, evaluating and ranking 55 projects that had qualified to be honored with a Global LafargeHolcim Award or a Global LafargeHolcim Awards Ideas prize. Have a glimpse at the process in the heritage exhibition room of Sihlcity in Zurich.

Premio Ideas para "Territorial Figure" en Argentina: El líder del jurado de los Global LafargeHolcim Awards, Alejandro Aravena destaca que la idea de los estudiantes de Córdoba es clara, relevante y original; y se manifiesta entusiasmado de que tanto el Award de Oro como uno de los premios Ideas para la categoría Next Generation hayan sido otorgados a proyectos presentados en Latinoamérica.

Ideas prize for “Cooling Roof” in the USA: Global LafargeHolcim Awards jury member, Stuart Smith, believes the LafargeHolcim Awards Ideas prize winner from the USA is a concept worthy of further exploration. The project examines the use of evaporative cooling using a water layer on a roof to provide cooling within a logistics facility in California – but could be applied in any structure with a large roof area.

Ideas prize for "Refrigerating Jar" in Ghana: Global LafargeHolcim Awards jury member, Diébédo Francis Kéré, viewed the LafargeHolcim Awards Ideas prize winner from Ghana as a clever concept for building the value of a main economic resource in West Africa. By storing the nuts and processing them incrementally, the community is empowered – by selling the processed shea butter for skin moisturizing when it commands a higher price in the market cycle.

Prix d’argent: Diébédo Francis Kéré, juré aux Global LafargeHolcim Awards, félicite les lauréats pour leur courage à imaginer des projets qui créent de nouveaux espaces publics plutôt que des espaces vides et à utiliser le savoir-faire et les matériaux disponibles sur place pour la construction.

Global LafargeHolcim Awards jury member, Marc Angélil, considers the micro-level detail of the LafargeHolcim Awards Ideas prize winner from the USA to be ingenious and embodies the new Ideas prize category. By developing a new system for cooling a “big box” logistics structure, the project has the potential for huge energy savings from cooling loads that is applicable on a widely-used building type form.

The design processes for informal settlements in Cairo is sustainable because it takes a long-term and holistic perspective says Nada Nafeh of The American University in Cairo. Her project to improve the conditions of poverty-stricken and fast-growing informal neighborhoods won a Next Generation 3rd prize.

A brick kiln and incremental development project for Soshanguve in South Africa results in something much more than just a building says Heidi van Eeden of the University of Pretoria. Her Next Generation 1st prize-winning project is both technically sustainable and delivers a social contribution to community-making.

Combining the rebuilding of the constructed habitat with the rebuilding of devastated communities, the Rubble recycling units in Aleppo, Syria enable both continuity and materials recycling say (l-r) Jad Melki, Nour Madi and Ghaith Abi Ghanem. Their project won a Next Generation 2nd prize and intends is to recycle concrete rubble while reconstructing the Aleppo’s social and urban fabric.

A vocational training facility in Ruteng, Indonesia places extra effort on sustainability by involving users and stakeholders into the process say (l-r) Andi Subagio, Danna Rasyad Priyatna and Theodorus Alryano Deotama. Their school that is also a hub for multiple communal activities and vocational training on the island of Flores won a Next Generation 3rd prize.