The winning projects of the Holcim Awards 2014 Asia Pacific have been announced in Jakarta, Indonesia, with a bird sanctuary in Thailand, a locally-adapted orphanage in Nepal and a community library in Sri Lanka received the top prizes.
"The winning submissions demonstrate the development of multi-disciplinary responses to the challenges facing design and building," Holcim said in a statement.
Protective Wing: a bird sanctuary in northern Thailand that serves as both an educational facility and bird rehabilitation center won the Gold prize. The integrated approach by Jariyawadee Lekawatana of Achitectkidd and Singh Intrachooto of Kasetsart University in Bangkok, together with Chak Cherdsatirkul of Kaomai Lanna Resort in Chiang Mai, includes a small hotel and bird viewing tower while simulating the natural habitat – combining architectural qualities with conservation, education, research and eco-tourism in a complete and convincing way.
Children’s Ziggurat: the Lali Gurans orphanage and library in Kathmandu, Nepal by Hilary Sample and Michael Meredith of MOS Architects in New York won Silver. The project addresses the needs of an under-served rural population with a facility that uses low-technology renewable energy and material resources, thus significantly reducing operating costs.
Post-War Collective: a project in the rural town of Ambepussa by Milinda Pathiraja of Robust Architecture Workshop in Colombo, Sri Lanka was awarded Bronze. The project aims to re-integrate former soldiers into post-civil-war society by providing training in building techniques through the construction of a community library.
Five Acknowledgement prizes were conferred for outstanding environmental and community-based projects in India, Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati and Thailand, and five “Next Generation” prizes for inspiring visions of tomorrow were presented to projects by young professionals and students in Bangladesh, China and India.
The 13 winning projects in total will be implemented in nine countries in the Asia Pacific region were recognised with a combined US$330,000 prize money.
The Holcim Awards ceremony in Jakarta for the competition region Asia Pacific concludes a series of five events following Moscow for Europe, Toronto for North America, Medellín for Latin America, and Beirut for Africa Middle East. The projects that received Holcim Awards Gold, Silver and Bronze in each region automatically qualify for the Global Holcim Awards 2015.
