An awards ceremony à la française
On September 28, Bénédicte de Bonnechose, CEO of Lafarge France, welcomed guests to the LafargeHolcim Awards Europe ceremony by highlighting the company’s long-standing relationship with Marseille and its outstanding architecture. MuCEM provided the fitting setting for this welcome, and for the following rooftop reception, allowing guests to take in views of the French coast through the unique Ductal® lace façade.
Over half of the projects previously honored by the Awards are either soon to be built or have been completed. This progress is celebrated for the first time this year with a new award from LafargeHolcim Group, the LafargeHolcim Building Better Recognition, which is awarded for a completed winning project from a previous competition, that stands as a particularly successful example of sustainable construction. The Recognition for Europe went to Gilles Delalex and his team from Muoto Architecture Studio in Paris, who won LafargeHolcim Awards Silver in 2014. The architects excelled in accommodating infrastructure for eight universities under the roof of a highly economical and cost-efficient building that was completed in 2016.
Read more about Gilles Delalex's winning 2014 project
Not one, but two Gold Awards!
The job of the independent expert jury was complicated by the spectrum of the 792 valid European projects, whose subjects ranged from urban design to technical innovation. In the end, it was decided to award two entries with equal Gold Awards in the Main category:
- Clever waste management in Brussels, Belgium - TETRA architecten
- Integration of a concrete plant in Brussels, Belgium - BC architects and studies
These projects exemplify a new era in sustainable construction because they are characterized not by stand-alone measures but by holistic concepts that integrate technical, social, economic, and ecological aspects in a balanced way. LafargeHolcim has and will continue to support and encourage architects in creating projects that have sustainability built into their DNA, as Beat Hess, Chairman of the Board of Directors, explained: “We encourage architects, engineers, and builders to think beyond conventional notions of sustainable construction.”
See all the winning projects on the LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction website