Written by Christele Harrouk
Published on June 28, 2022

Today, at the eleventh session of the World Urban Forum in Katowice, Poland, the International Union of Architects (UIA), together with the UN-HABITAT, have announced the laureates of the UIA 2030 Award. Seeking to acknowledge the contributions of architects to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and New Urban Agenda through built interventions that demonstrate design quality and alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this first edition of a biennial awards program, selected winning projects from Germany, Hong Kong, Argentina, Bangladesh, and China, from 125 submitted projects in 40 countries.

Organized under six categories: Open Category, Improving Energy Efficiency, Adequate, Safe & Affordable Housing, Participatory, Land-Use Efficient & Inclusive Planning, Access to Green & Public Space, and Utilizing Local Materials, the jurors picked a winner per section, yet were unable to identify an overall winner in the open category and chose instead to recognize six projects as Highly Commended, honoring in total 5 laureates and 15 commendations.

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Responding to the 17 SDGs in general and more specifically to SDG 11 “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable" and to SDG 7 “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”, the entries managed to demonstrate "great design quality", while making "significant contributions" towards the achievement of the goals. The competition was run in two stages: Stage 1 submissions were assessed on a regional basis, reflecting each of the five UIA regions, with up to 3 regional finalists in each category taken through to the second stage at which point entrants were requested to provide additional information, including a 3-minute of their project in use.

Read on to discover the list of finalists per category, and stay tuned to our coverage of the UIA Award, and to our interviews with the winners from each category.

Winners

Category 2: Improving Energy Efficiency

Karoline Goldhofer Daycare Centre/ Heilergeiger Architekten und Stadtplaner BDA

A skilful example of adaptive re-use which retains the client’s former home as the starting point for a new children’s day-care centre. By wrapping the existing building in a translucent envelope, the designers have adopted passive design principles to create a distinctive and highly efficient low energy building. The variety of flexible spaces thus created also align with and support the underlying pedagogy which promotes a student-centred self-guided curriculum.

Category 3: Adequate, Safe & Affordable Housing

Home modification for low-income Families/ Maggie and Mark Kingsley, Domat Architects

A pragmatic response to overcrowding and affordability, demonstrating the way in which creativity and design thinking can be harnessed to improve the lives of low-income families. Working together with local social workers, the architects have studied the challenges facing those living in cramped apartments and developed a flexible furniture system that maximises the utility of the space and can be rearranged to suit the changing needs of each family while delivering a myriad of associated benefits. The positive user feedback evidences how a relatively modest input can deliver a disproportionately larger impact and at scale, while the underlying issue of ‘Sub-divided dwelling units’ (SDU’s) is dealt with by the authorities.

Category 4: Participatory, Land-Use Efficient & Inclusive Planning

Housing Upcycle Program, Barrio Mugica of Buenos Aires/ Special Project Unit Barrio Padre Carlos Mugica, Buenos Aires City Government

The improvement of Barrio Mugica is a perfect example of informal settlement upgrading and should serve as an inspiration to all those working in this sector. The entire team is to be congratulated for its commitment, for its collaborative, participatory approach, and for the way in which it has worked so hard to preserve the existing community while upgrading the fabric of the buildings and their services together with the public realm, including improvements to the street network and the provision of pocket parks. The project has improved the safety and well-being of residents while simultaneously integrating the neighborhood into the fabric of the city.

Category 5: Access to Green & Public Space

Co-creation of Urban Spaces by the Nobogonga River/ Co.Creation.Architects, Jhenaidah Citywide People's Network, Platform of Community Action and Architecture (POCAA), Community Architects Network (CAN)

Initiated, conceived, and developed through intensive dialogue between the architects, the local municipality and the local community, the project has revitalised a series of neglected and disconnected riparian spaces, re-establishing a vital link with the local river in a country defined by water. The new waterfrontage has been transformed into an accessible, open, and vibrant public space and is clearly popular and well-used by all sections of the community.

Category 6: Utilizing Local Materials

House of Dreams/ Kuo Jze Yi and Peter Hasdell, Insitu Project, School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, PRC

Comprising the revitalization of a former cave settlement as a Rural Training Centre and constructed entirely using waste materials and memorabilia which evoke both a strong sense of history and a strong sense of place, this extraordinary project is the product of an extensive collaborative effort between the architect and the local community extending through design and construction.

Read on for the full list of commendations per category.

Commendations

Category 1: Open Category

Village Lounge of Shangcun/ SUP Atelier of THAD
Warm Nest Project of Zoige/ CHINA SOUTHWEST ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN AND RESEARCH
Green field Factory of Karupannya Rangpur Limited/ Nakshabid Architects
Naidi Community Hall/ CAUKIN Studio
Enghaveparken - Climate Park/ Tredje Natur / Third Nature
Beaufort West Clinic/ Gabriel Fagan Architects

Category 2

Huaira/ Diana Salvador - Javier Mera
Indoor Playground and Assembly Hall of Yueyang County No.3 Middle School/ SUP Atelier of THAD

Category 3

Wallah's House/ Zohaib Zuby | Architectural Design Research Lab
Transformation of an office building into a straw and wood student residence in Paris/ NZI Architectes

Category 5

Eco-Restoration, Chakkarpur-Wazirabad Bundh/ VSPB ASSOCIATES | Architects, Urban Designers, Landscape
Revitalization of Rasulbagh Children's Park/ SHATOTTO architecture for green living
El trópico y el paisaje construido Centro tradicional urbano de Medellín Colombia/ AEU arquitectos
Climate Adaptation Kokkedal/ Schønherr A/S

Category 6