Last Calls: LafargeHolcim and Moriyama RAIC

Billed as "the most significant global competition in sustainable design," the LafargeHolcim Awards is held every three years by the LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction to "[identify] the ideas with the highest potential to tackle today’s challenges to increasing urbanization and to improve quality of life." The competition is open for projects in architecture, building and civil engineering, landscape and urban design, materials, products and construction technologies "that contribute to the five 'target issues' for sustainable construction."

The competition has two categories:
LafargeHolcim Awards (main category)

• Project has reached an advanced stage of design with high probability of execution 
• All authors must be at least 18 years of age (date of birth March 21, 1999 or earlier)
• Execution (ie: physical construction) of the project may not have started before July 4, 2016

Next Generation (young professionals and students category)

• Visionary projects and bold ideas
• All authors must be between 18 and 30 years of age (date of birth between July 5, 1985 and March 21, 1999)
• Execution (ie: physical construction) of the project (if applicable) may not have started before July 4, 2016

Winners in the five regions –  Africa and Middle East, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America – go on to the Global Awards: the previous cycle's winners consisted of projects on public space, social integration, and resilient infrastructure in Colombia, Sri Lanka, and the USA, respectively. Each regional competition has prize money totaling USD $330,000, while the purse for the Global LafargeHolcim Awards competition is USD $350,000. The deadline to enter is March 21st at 14:00 UTC.

The Moriyama RAIC International Prize was launched in 2014 by RAIC Gold Medal recipient Raymond Moriyama in association with the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) and the RAIC Foundation. The CAD $100,000 biennial prize is open to all international architects, team of architects or architect-led collaborations "for an exceptional project that reflects Moriyama’s philosophy of transformative power of architecture within its societal context and its ability to encompass values of justice, respect, equality and inclusiveness." Projects – a building or a related group of buildings – must have been completed, occupied, and in use for at least two years.

An international jury will consider a range of criteria, including:

• The building’s formal and experiential qualities.
• The efficiency and effectiveness of the building in use.
• Architectural response to site, climate, and environmental conditions.
• Quality of engagement with the broader context - social, cultural, historic and political.
• Craftsmanship.

​The inaugural prize was awarded to China's Li Xiaodong for his design of a library in the village of Jiaojiehe, China. The deadline for the receipt of all submission materials is 5 p.m. EDT, 8 March 2017.