Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2024 | The 5 Winners

Amidst the climate, environmental, and societal crises shaking our era, architecture plays a pivotal role in building a more sustainable and equitable future. This visionary perspective is the foundation of the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture, an annual prize celebrating the most avant-garde approaches in the field. Awarding 5 exceptional architects, urban planners, and landscape designers, this prestigious prize highlights achievements at the intersection of environmental excellence, technological innovation, and societal commitment. From the transmission of traditional know-how to participatory co-design, OOTI reviews the 2024 laureates who brilliantly illustrate this quest for architecture that is firmly rooted in its time: sustainable, ethical, and supportive of a more livable future for all.

An International Prize Promoting Sustainability

Each year, the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture selects 5 visionary architects who redefine progress through a sustainable, ethical, and participatory approach. Created in 2006 by architect Jana Revedin and placed under the patronage of UNESCO, this prestigious award echoes ecologically responsible architecture, a source of innovation in energy, materials, and technologies. It has awarded more than 75 prizes since its inception.

Guided by the motto "Dare, transmit, federate," the Global Award shines a light on pioneering architectural and urban planning achievements under the scrutiny of an international jury of experts. The laureates, from all around the world, share a common vision: to rethink the fundamentals of housing and development to combat inequalities and cultural disrespect. By rewarding these committed architects, the Global Award helps to foster a global community of experimentation and transmission around a sustainable architectural ethic.

The 5 Inspiring Laureates of the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2024

This year, the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture rewarded 5 visionary architects for their innovative approach combining sustainability and pedagogy. Let’s discover their inspiring paths and the revolutionary projects that caught the jury's attention.

Iyas Shahin and Wesam Al Asali, founders of the multidisciplinary laboratory IWLab (Syria), explore new ways of designing by involving students and local artisans. Their experimental reed structure in Damascus and their adobe houses (an ancestral technique of sun-dried brick previously hand-molded) illustrate their desire to pass traditional techniques to new generations.

Andrés Jaque, head of the Office of Political Innovation (Spain/USA), rethinks the social role of the architect. His "Rolling House" combines sustainable design and community engagement for more equity in housing access.

In Bangladesh, Marina Tabassum of MTA blends architecture, teaching, and empowerment of populations. Her project Khudi Bari, completed with students and residents, disseminates open-source affordable housing models.

Ciro Pirondi, co-founder of Escola da Cidade (Brazil), is shaping a new generation of citizen architects with a multidisciplinary approach inspired by Paulo Freire. The school even invests urban space with its "Flying Classes."

Finally, Klaus K. Loenhart, director of the Institute of Architecture and Landscape in Graz (Austria), introduces his students to the co-creation of regenerative bioclimatic architecture, as illustrated by the Grüne Erde project.

Whether from Syria, Spain, Bangladesh, Brazil, or Austria, these laureates are all committed to transmitting new ways of thinking and practicing sustainable, ethical architecture grounded in local realities. By involving communities and new generations, they pave the way towards more livable and resilient cities.

The 2025 Edition of the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture | "Right-tech" Solutions in the Spotlight

The 2025 edition of the prestigious Global Award for Sustainable Architecture promises to be a pivotal year for the profession. After exploring the sources of architectural innovation in 2023 and transdisciplinary transmission in 2024, the selected theme "Architecture is Construction" poses a significant challenge: to rethink the very process of construction. The international scientific jury has invited architects, urban planners, and landscape designers to submit pioneering projects, whether still virtual or already built, that demonstrate how the act of building can become profoundly innovative, adapt to existing contexts, rehabilitate, and reinvent through "right-tech" solutions, while placing the emancipation of users at the heart of the approach. The concept of "right-tech" involves choosing a "just" technological response to meet "just" needs—a challenge not always easy as AI transforms the architecture sector. A bold reflection to make architectural construction a powerful lever for equality and sustainable development. The laureates of 2025 will undoubtedly mark a new key step in the quest for ecologically and socially responsible architecture. Applications are now closed for this edition. If you wish to participate, you will need to wait until October 7, 2024, to check the conditions for the 2026 edition!