“We want to add some real impetus to sustainable construction thinking” says Head of the competition’s Technical Committee, and ETH Zurich professor of engineering, Hans-Rudolf Schalcher. “We urgently need clever ideas to accelerate the sustainable performance of buildings where we all live, work and play.”
The competition is run by the Swiss-based Holcim Foundation to promote ground-breaking projects already at an advanced stage of design, and encourage “blue sky” concepts from the next generation. “After the first Holcim Awards, we created a new category for young professionals” says Foundation Board member and ETH Zurich professor of architecture, Marc Angélil. “We’re delighted with the strong response to the ‘Next Generation’ category, and continued enthusiasm for the competition.” More than one third of the entries were made in the “Next generation” category (three prizes per region), the rest in the main Awards category (three Awards and up to six Acknowledgement prizes per region).
