Selecting the most outstanding projects in sustainable construction from several thousand submissions will be the challenging task of more than fifty leading experts on sustainability. The jury members for the 3rd International Holcim Awards competition include architects Bjarke Ingels (Denmark), Keller Easterling (USA) and Michel Rojkind (Mexico) – all independent experts of international stature engaged in the sustainable development of society, building processes, construction materials, and building projects.
Entries in the USD 2 million competition are evaluated using five “target issues” to define sustainable construction. Three of these stem from the triple bottom line of balanced social, environmental and economic performance. The two remaining issues pay homage to contextual and aesthetic impact, along with innovation and transferability. A series of five jury panels will meet in June/July 2011 in each of the five world regions: Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa Middle East, and Asia Pacific.
Member of the Holcim Awards jury for Europe in 2011, Bjarke Ingels is Founding Partner of BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) based in Copenhagen. Through a series of commissions won in design and architectural competitions BIG quickly attained international recognition. The architectural practice’s work combines astute analysis, lighthearted experimentation, social responsibility and humor. Bjarke Ingels was awarded the European Prize for Architecture in 2010, is the author of Yes is more: an archicomic on architectural evolution and has been a Visiting Professor at Rice University School of Architecture in Houston, Harvard University GSD, and Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture.
Keller Easterling is a member of the Holcim Awards jury for North America in 2011, is Associate Professor of Architecture at Yale University, and is an architect, urbanist and writer. Her recent books include Enduring innocence: global architecture and its political masquerades, and she has been widely published in journals such as Grey Room, Volume, Cabinet, Assemblage, Log, Praxis, and Harvard Design Magazine.
Member of the Holcim Awards jury for Latin America in 2011, Michel Rojkind is Design Principal and Founder of Rojkind Arquitectos based in Mexico City. The firm was established to explore new challenges that address contemporary society, to design compelling experiences that go beyond mere functionality, and to connect at a deeper level with the intricacies of each project. Rojkind Arquitectos was recognized by Architectural Record as one of the leading ten “Design Vanguard” firms in 2005. Michel Rojkind’s design for the Nestlé Chocolate Museum, Toluca, Mexico was awarded the International Architecture Award (2008) as one of the best realized designs around the world in 2007, and was nominated for the British Museum Award (2008) for the ten best buildings of 2007. He has contributed to Contemporary corporate architecture, Phaidon atlas of 21st century architecture and Open house: architecture and technology for intelligent living. He was listed amongst the “Faces to Watch in 2010” by the Los Angeles Times and is also a member of the SCI-Arc Future Initiatives.
All three jury members have also contributed to Re-inventing Construction recently published by Ruby Press of Berlin. The 440-page book features articles and case studies by 38 leading architects, engineers and scholars and was inspired by the 3rd International Holcim Forum. A number of approaches to how architecture, engineering and construction must evolve so that considerations of sustainability are automatically embedded in the way that the built environment is designed, constructed, used and recycled are presented in the book.
Both the Holcim Forum and the Holcim Awards competition are initiatives of the Swiss-based Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction. The 3rd International Holcim Awards competition with a total of USD 2 million in prize money is currently open for entries and seeks exemplary sustainable building and civil engineering works; landscape, urban design and infrastructure projects; and materials, products and construction technologies. Construction may not have started before July 1, 2010. Entries must be submitted by March 23, 2011: www.holcimawards.org
