In 2007 EPAMSA (The Public Development Authority for Mantois Seine Aval) and the Cité de l’Architecture & du Patrimoine with the support of the Yvelines Departmental Council created the Global Award for Sustainable Architecturetm the aim of which is to
honour each year a contemporary architect who is committed to the path of sustainable development. Its approach and its research bear witness to a modern architecture which is:
- part of an ethically, civil and socially aware society;
- innovative in the fields of ecology, energy, materials and technologies;
- progressive in terms of new standards of housing and facilities.
As a prize the winner receives a commission for a sustainable housing project in one of the 51 communes covered by the Opération d’Intérêt National Seine Aval, thus in 51 years time, constituting the obvious collection of sustainable architecture in Seine Aval.
This initiative, co-produced in France with the active support of the Yvelines departmental Council and internationally by the Global Award Network, a network of experts and architecture centres, will contribute to the development of the international
debate on sustainable architecture.
Hermann Kaufmann, first year winner.
Born in 1955 in Austria from a long line of carpenters, he spent his childhood on the slopes and in the sawmills of a region where the only natural resource was wood. He learnt the possibilities of wood and the mastery of his technique in the field. He studied architecture at Innsbruck and Vienna, before returning to the Vorarlberg and creating his firm with Christian Lenz in Schwarzach.
The central theme to his work is the search for an architecture which is part of a sustainable management of resources, by using new wood construction opportunities. His work always combines the new technologies of wood with renewable energies. Today, Hermann Kaufmann is working on the new generation of buildings known as "energy positive".
An urban lodge – meeting centre at Chanteloup-les-Vignes
Hermann Kaufmann received the commission for an accommodation and seminar centre open to the public, local population or professional audiences. This small urban lodge (300m²) will be built in the commune of Chanteloup-les-Vignes.
Benefiting from a City Project (GPV), Chanteloup-les-Vignes is the subject of a social, urban and architectural regeneration intended to restore not only the best living conditions but also a status and identity to its inhabitants within a changing area.
The 5 nominees for 2008 were selected in March. They are:
- Rural Studio, Newburn, Alabama
- Philippe Samyn and Associates, Brussels, Belgium
- CS Studio Architects, Cape Town, South Africa
- Elemental Team, City of Santiago, Chile
- Fabrizio Carolà, Naples, Italy
The prize giving will take place on 22nd September 2008.