The Building Sense Now Global Award was presented on 11 November 2021 at a special digital awards ceremony. The winner of this year's award was Prof. Dr. Anupama Kundoo. A multiple award-winning architect from India, Kundoo has already completed more than 100 projects through her offices in Pondicherry and Berlin, most of them in India. She also holds a professorship in structural design at Potsdam University of Applied Sciences.
Her projects revolve closely around social issues, offering a meaningful response to personal requirements and the human need for a place of refuge. She also focuses on straightforward, natural materials, which she transforms carefully into buildings that are designed to fulfill the purpose for which they are intended. Kundoo was honoured by the international Building Sense Now initiative for her exemplary contributions to culturally, ecologically, and social-appropriate approaches to architecture. She follows in the footsteps of Anna Heringer, who won the inaugural competition in 2019.
"We're delighted to bestow this award on Anupama Kundoo, who is such an inspiring person and whose projects demonstrate just how much can be achieved by carefully thinking through architecture and placing the focus on people," states Dr Christine Lemaitre, CEO of the DGNB and co-initiator of Building Sense Now. "Her influence makes her a perfect ambassador for everything our initiative stands for."
Lemaitre was a co-initiator of Building Sense Now, alongside (among others) Prashant Kapoor (IFC Climate Business Group, World Bank Group), Ashok Lall (Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture, Mumbai), Peter Sharratt (Fhoras Consulting), Bruno Sauer (Green Building Council España), Thomas Auer (Technical University of Munich) and Edward Mazria (Architecture 2030).
To find out more about the initiative, go to www.buildingsensenow.com. A recording of the award ceremony and a speech given by Anupama Kundoo on her work are available on the DGNB YouTube channel.
The Green Solutions Awards for exemplary solutions integrated into buildings, districts and infrastructure projects
The Green Solutions Awards ceremony took place in Glasgow on Wednesday, 10 November 2021. The aim of the competition, which is run by the international Construction21 network, is to reward outstanding architecture projects that adopt an innovative approach to solving the challenges of climate protection and sustainability. The winners were selected across eight categories from a pool of 192 entries from 25 countries. A further 16 projects received a special mention from the jury, which is made up of sustainable construction experts from around the world.
The top prize in the Sustainable Infrastructure category went to the Mehr.Wert.Pavillon in Heilbronn, which triumphed over a variety of international entries. The pavilion is constructed entirely from reused and recycled materials, and was designed by the Faculty of Architecture at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology for the 2019 Federal Garden Exhibition in Heilbronn. Another German project that received an honor under the awards was Building C of the Eisbärhaus in Kirchheim unter Teck. The mixed-use building, which is owned by the architecture firm BANKWITZ beraten planen bauen, received a special mention in the Low Carbon category. The overall winner in the category was a project by the French firm Plainfaing called 4 Passive Social Housing Units in Straw Wood.
The grand prize for new buildings went to the Turo de la Peira sports centre in Barcelona. The jury's choice in the category for renovated buildings was the Green Factory building in Lyon. Top prizes also went to projects in France in the Sustainable District category and the Energy & Hot Climates category, with prizes going to Nanterre Coeur Université and the Rivière-Salée Medico-Social Centre project in Nouméa. The winner in the Energy & Temperate Climates category was the Antonio Brancati Middle School in the Italian town of Pesaro. Schroeder 2020, an office building in Kockelscheuer in Luxembourg, won first prize in the Health & Comfort category.
An overview of all winners of the 2020-21 Green Solutions Awards is available online at www.construction21.org.
