Lankan student comes first in Holcim Awards

Semini Samarasinghe

A Sri Lankan architecture student Semini Samarasinghe was able to win the first place of the Next Generation Award Competition introduced for the first time at the Second European Holcim Awards Competition last week.

Managing Director Holcim Sri Lanka Peter Spirig said this achievement is a great encouragement for the Sri Lankan architectures and Holcim Sri Lanka is proud of this opportunity.

He said Holcim Sri Lanka will hold an Architect Forum where all the key people in the construction field will be invited shortly. Winners of the second European Holcim Awards competition for projects and visions in sustainable construction were announced at a ceremony in Madrid.

Total prize money of USD 270,000 was presented to ten projects that demonstrate the latest in eco-friendly and sustainable approaches from the building and construction industry. The Holcim Awards Competition included a category for the visions of young architects and designers.

Semini Samarasinghe from Kandy won the first prize for her design of a Production and Ecological Cluster in New Haven, UK. The project featuring a tea house and herbal tea production facility was commended for its sensitive combination of elements of sustainable construction and poetic design.

The Holcim Awards is an international competition of the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction. The competition seeks innovative, future-oriented and tangible sustainable construction projects and provides prize money of USD 2 million per three-year competition cycle.