Latin America. The Ciudad Dulce project, a development strategy for the Municipality of Curridabat (Costa Rica), in harmony with nature and the environment; and the mobile modular design hospital in Masaya (Nicaragua), have taken the 'cat to the water' in the fifth edition of the LafargeHolcim Awards, from the Latin American region, being included in the "Acknowledgement Awards: Human beings, water and nature", along with two other projects, Colombian and Brazilian, respectively.
This was not the main category of the awards, whose gold, silver and bronze medals have gone to, respectively, the Complex for water retention and treatment, with public access in Mexico City (Mexico), the Neighborhood Center in Paraisópolis, São Paulo (Brazil) and the Sanitary System in informal communities of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
Water is the hot topic in the projects presented for the LafargeHolcim Awards in the Latin American region. Whether in relation to wastewater, drinking water, or tidal water, many of the winning projects have submitted innovative and in some cases surprising proposals in this regard.
The LafargeHolcim Awards competition stands out as the world's premier sustainable design competition, with awards around the world totaling US$2 million, in five regional finals.
"The projects that participate must be at an advanced stage of design, they must not be completed works. Designs are sought that exceed current standards, that exhibit sustainable responses to the technological, environmental, socioeconomic and cultural problems that affect the world of contemporary construction, and propose visionary, new, and different solutions to the ways of building, "says the cement company in a statement.
The growing interest of architects, engineers, planners and urban developers proves that sustainability has been assimilated to "common sense" in the construction industry.
The fifth cycle of the competition attracted more than 5,000 submissions from authors from 121 countries. 3,606 of those proposals were considered valid, and more than half passed the pre-selection stage.
The jurors evaluated the projects based on the five sustainable construction "goals" set by the LafargeHolcim Foundation – principles that define sustainable construction holistically. Gold, Silver and Bronze award winners from each region will compete for the Global LafargeHolcim Awards in 2018.
