Feature
Awards
FINAL CALL FOR ENTRIES
FOR THE 2015/2016 AFRISAM-SAIA AWARD FOR
SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE + INNOVATION
There is just under a month before entries close for the 2015/2016 AfriSamSAIA Award for Sustainable Architecture + Innovation. The bi-annual
awards recognise contributions that bring sustainable innovation to human
living environments through an integrated approach to communities,
planning, design, architecture, building practice, natural systems and
technology.
T
his means that two new award categories have been added this year,
significantly expanding South Africa’s most important built environment
sustainability awards. The two mainstay categories of Sustainable Architecture
and Research in Sustainability are now joined by Sustainable Products and
Technology and Sustainable Social Programmes. This means that a full scope
of visionaries working in the field of sustainable architecture, construction
and innovation will now be recognised by the prestigious award presented biannually by AfriSam and the South African Institute of Architects (SAIA).
“The role of architects and their project partners in ensuring South Africa
plays its part in the global journey to sustainability is really emphasised by these awards.
It is also a recognition of the fact that we are now in a new era that recognises that
sustainable design has to be an integral part of the building industry from the very start of
a project,“ comments AfriSam’s CEO Stephan Olivier. “The emphasis is no longer on just the
architecture and building practice,” adds Kevin Bingham, Vice President of SAIA. “It is now
on the ongoing collaboration and innovation of these two key stakeholders working with
communities, natural systems, technology and planning across all levels. This is the only
way to bring sustainable innovation to the inhabitable environments.”
The broadening of the scope of the 2015/2016 AfriSam-SAIA Award for Sustainable
Architecture + Innovation to four categories is step with important advances both in South
Africa and globally.
Both SAIA and AfriSam support this global shift: SAIA through encouraging its members
to incorporate sustainability in building design at an early stage and AfriSam by its
commitment to sustaining the environment through responsible manufacturing processes.
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