Holcim Awards

Holcim Awards

The Foundation conducts the Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction – the world’s most significant competition for sustainable design with total prize money per cycle of USD 2 million. The international competition showcases the important role that architecture, engineering, urban planning, and the building industry have in achieving a more sustainable future. Each competition cycle spans three years, from announcement to completion.

The competition has two categories: the Main category for established professionals, and the Next Generation category for young professionals and students. Winners are selected by international and independent panels of experts in five regions (Europe, North America, Latin America, Middle East Africa, and Asia Pacific) as well as the global jury. Submissions are evaluated using the Foundation’s Target Issues for sustainable construction.

The current Next Generation category winners bring together 21 innovative concepts that show how students and young practitioners are prepared to go in completely new ways to achieve a sustainable future. The winners shared in USD 350,000 prize money and presented concepts for implementation in Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and the USA. 

The Next Generation winners will meet in Chicago in March 2022 for the Holcim Awards Lab, a platform to further develop cutting-edge projects and exchange ideas in concurrent workshops in collaboration with experts from the Foundation’s Academic Committee. The most promising concepts will receive Research in Practice Grants to mentor and financially-support these emerging professionals to conduct leading edge, practice-related research in the field of sustainable construction.

The Global Holcim Awards winners and 31 Main category winners from all five regions will be announced at special event at the 17th International Biennale of Architecture in Venice on November 13, 2021. The Main category winners from 25 countries will share in USD 1.65 million in prize money.