holcim awards

 

Bookmark

• 20Share
• share by email

Gold 2011 - Regional food-gathering nodes and logistics network, Iqaluit, NU, Canada

The Holcim Awards Gold 2011 for North America and USD 100,000 was awarded to the Arctic Food Network (AFN) regional food-gathering nodes and logistics infrastructure for the scattered Inuit communities in Northern Canada. The project by Lateral Office / InfraNet Labbased in Toronto and Princeton, New Jersey, enables a better distribution of local foods, serves as a series of bases for the reinforcement of traditional hunting, and also establishes new foundations for a sustainable, more independent economy.

Holcim Awards Silver went to a two-level zero energy certified school building design to be constructed on multiple campuses throughout Los Angeles. The project led by architects Swift Lee Office of Los Angeles uses “off-the shelf” components and modular panels to create a pre-fabricated system that features a double-layered façade for solar, acoustic, and environmental control and achieves a climate-responsive solution for each site.

Holcim Awards Bronze was presented to Julie Snow Architects of Minneapolis, for a border control station on the US frontier to Canada at Van Buren, Maine. The approach meets a range of stringent regulations for safety, operation and durability, sets zero net energy and water saving targets, and yet is a highly aesthetic structure marking the national frontier.

You can see more info and images on the winners after the break. For a complete list of the winners including the acknowlodgement prizes and “next generation” prizes please click here.

Holcim Awards Gold 2011 North America
Regional food-gathering nodes and logistics network, Iqaluit, NU, Canada

Type of project: Landscape, urban design and infrastructure projects
Start of construction: May 2012
Main author: Mason White, Lateral Office / InfraNet Lab, Toronto, ON, Canada
Further authors: Lola Sheppard and Fionn Byrne, Lateral Office / InfraNet Lab, Toronto, ON, Canada, and Nikole Bouchard, Lateral Office / InfraNet Lab, Princeton, NJ, USA

Gold 2011 - Regional food-gathering nodes and logistics network, Iqaluit, NU, Canada

This socio-architectural project to create an Arctic Food Network (AFN) in Canada’s high arctic territory of Nunavut is a model to overcome the dependence of the Inuit community on expensive processed food products imported from the south. These foods have compromised the traditional diet centered on hunting and gathering of food provided by nature across a yearly cycle. The project responds to thorough research on the poor living conditions and health of the Inuit, and on the calendars, regional ecologies and transportation networks that are highly influenced by nature and tradition in these specific and extreme climatic and geographical conditions. The project intends to secure mobility between the scattered Inuit communities, allow a better distribution of local foods and serve as a series of bases for the reinforcement of traditional hunting – while also establishing new foundations for a sustainable, more independent economy.

Gold 2011 - Regional food-gathering nodes and logistics network, Iqaluit, NU, Canada

Snowmobiles using their pre-existing trails provide the only feasible form of ground connection. To accomplish this network, a series of small hub facilities is introduced along the tracks, acknowledging the Inuit tradition of temporary enclosure in a cold climate. These multi-functional structures provide shelter but also act as data transmission centers, ecological management stations, and cultural centers which help to integrate the Inuit community internally and externally. The modest structures respond to local conditions, whether the site is on land, water/ice or the tidal fringe. Construction is based upon easy-to-assemble modules that also utilize abundant materials on site: rock aggregate and snow/ice.

Gold 2011 - Regional food-gathering nodes and logistics network, Iqaluit, NU, Canada