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Semini
makes Sri Lanka proud
Student
architect beats rest in Europe to win coveted first prize
in ‘Next Generation’ category of Holcim’s global
awards scheme for sustainable construction
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| Holcim
Awards 2008 Europe ‘Next Generation’ 1st prize
winner Semini Pabodha Samarasinghe (right) with Alexander
Biner |
Sri
Lanka’s student architect Semini P Samarasinghe made
the country proud when she won the coveted first prize in
the ‘Next Generation’ category of international
cement giant Holcim’s global awards for sustainable construction.
As part of the second cycle of Holcim Foundation’s Regional
awards leading up to next year’s global competition,
Semini’s innovative project won the award in the European
ceremony.
She received the award at a glittering ceremony held in Madrid,
Spain.
A Holcim Sri Lanka spokesman said that the category of ‘Next
Generation’ was a new feature in the highly acclaimed
awards scheme.
The
competition is run parallel in five regions of the world by
the Swiss-based Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction
to promote sustainable responses to the technological, environmental,
socioeconomic and cultural issues affecting building and construction.
Semini through her work was successful in convincing the jury
at the European Awards and she has been judged the winner
of the first prize in this category for a project she had
designed for New Haven, United Kingdom.
The reason she has received this award at the European ceremony
is because her design of a production and ecological cluster
is for a company in New Haven in UK.
“This is a huge achievement for any individual. Semini’s
achievement undoubtedly is a moment of pride for the whole
nation,” Holcim’s Rathika de Silva told The Bottom
Line.
As the category title suggests, Holcim is encouraging visions
of young architects and designers.
Holcim Foundation in awarding the first prize said, Semini’s
project featuring a tea house and herbal tea production facility
was commended for its sensitive combination of elements of
sustainable construction and poetic design.
‘Next Generation’ second prize was awarded to an
urban greening and economic catalyst in Madrid, Spain, designed
by Ana Castillo and Lieven De Groote of Castillo de Groote
architects in Madrid. The proposal greens the city by placing
open plantations and greenhouses on empty land fragments within
three mainly residential districts and is coupled with a good
sense of economic feasibility. Third prize was awarded to
architecture students Heikki Riitahuhta, Heikki Muntola and
Mikko Jakonen from Oulu for a self-sufficient rural community
project in Paimio, Finland. The project uses biogas production
to increase the economic and environmental feasibility of
living in rural areas.
Almost 5000 projects from 90 countries were entered in the
second Holcim Awards competition. The European submissions
were evaluated by an independent jury hosted by ETH Zurich:
Harry Gugger (Head of Jury, Switzerland), Saverio Banchini
(Spain), Luis Fernández-Galiano (Spain), Lucy Musgrave
(UK), Hans-Rudolf Schalcher (Switzerland), Klaus Sedlbauer
(Germany), Klaus Töpfer (Germany), Jean-Philippe Vassal
(France), and Nathalie de Vries (Netherlands) used the ‘target
issues’ for sustainable construction developed by the
Holcim Foundation to evaluate submissions. The ‘target
issues’ address the triple bottom line of balanced environmental
performance; social responsibility, and economic efficiency.
They are also relevant to building and architectural quality,
and recognise the urgency of putting into action significant
advancements that can be applied on a broad scale.
The prizes for the region Europe were conferred at the awards
ceremony held in the CaixaForum in Madrid, attended by more
than 300 representatives of government, business, architecture
and related disciplines from more than 20 countries. President
of the regional Government of Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre, and
Holcim CEO and Chairman of the Board of the Holcim Foundation,
Markus Akermann welcomed guests. Former President of the Spanish
Congress of Deputies and long-time member of the European
Commission, Manuel Marín González, provided
a keynote speech emphasising the important leverage of sustainable
construction in the European context.
The announcement of the Holcim Awards winners for region Europe
was the first of five ceremonies to be held. The results for
North America, Latin America, Africa Middle East and Asia
Pacific will be announced in the forthcoming weeks. The three
best projects (gold, silver and bronze) from each region automatically
qualify the global Holcim Awards competition. The projects
will be further evaluated by a global jury and the winners
announced in Switzerland in May 2009.
The Holcim Awards is an international competition of the Holcim
Foundation for Sustainable Construction. The competition seeks
innovative, future-oriented and tangible sustainable construction
projects and provides prize money of USD 2 million per three-year
competition cycle. The Holcim Awards are run in cooperation
with renowned partner universities on all continents: ETH
Zurich, Switzerland; Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
USA; Tongji University, China; Universidad Iberoamericana,
Mexico; and the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
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