Focused in its fifth edition on Adaptation, the Obel Award has been granted to ‘Living Breakwaters’ in New York, a green infrastructure project off the shore of Staten Island. Awarded to SCAPE Landscape Architecture and its founder Kate Orff, masterminds behind ‘Living Breakwaters’, the yearly prize honors architectural contributions that positively impact both people and the planet.
The Obel Award is an international prize for architectural achievement presented annually by the Henrik Frode Obel Foundation, and each year, the jury sets a focus and awards a potential solution. Previously, it recognized Seratech, a carbon-neutral concrete solution, as the 2022 Obel Award winner, while in 2021, the concept of the 15-minute city received the prize for its value in creating sustainable and people-centric urban environments. The award ceremony will take place at the Sydney Opera House on 21 October 2023, and the winner will receive a prize sum of EUR 100,000 and a unique work of art by artist Tomás Saraceno as a trophy.