International competition showcases projects that give old buildings new life, reduce their environmental footprint
January 25, 2011 (Toronto) – Zerofootprint, a leading organization in the global fight against climate change, along with its partner the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, University of Toronto, announced today that it is now welcoming nominations for the 2011 Re-Skinning Awards. This annual competition celebrates the year’s most successful, holistic retrofitting projects.
The Re-Skinning Awards invites the best minds in architecture, design, building, and engineering from around the world to submit building projects that demonstrate the innovative use of energy retrofitting technologies. Retrofitting and re-skinning involve the implementation of design solutions to dramatically reduce the environmental footprint of older, energy-inefficient buildings. This competition recognizes the year’s most progressive retrofitting projects that are make our cities more sustainable.
With outdated insulation, heating, and cooling systems, most buildings are inefficient by today’s green standards. In Toronto, office buildings, shopping centres, and urban dwellings account for 63% of the city’s emissions, and in other major cities worldwide buildings account for 60% to 80% of emissions: 60% in London, 72% in Hong Kong, and a massive 79% in New York. These numbers make it clear that solutions for climate change must include improvements to the aging, inefficient buildings in our cities.
“The Zerofootprint Re-Skinning Awards address the challenge of buildings in our cities, the largest contributors to urban greenhouse gas emissions, head on,” says Dr. Ron Dembo, Founder and CEO of Zerofootprint. “The awards honour the forward-thinking designers, engineers, developers, and building owners who are reducing our cities’ carbon footprint, one building at a time.”
New this year is a partnership with the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, University of Toronto, that will help build on the success of the Awards’ inaugural year in 2010, where winners were announced the United Nations World Urban Forum in Rio de Janeiro.
“The Daniels Faculty is delighted to partner with Zerofootprint for the Re-Skinning Awards, as it’s a great fit with our multi-disciplinary approach,” says Dean Richard Sommer. “The most important design challenges we face today escape the exclusive purview of any one discipline or professional expertise. Successful re-skinning projects are the result of inspired teams modeling new practices in the field.”
A panel of global experts in architecture, engineering, sustainability, and design will judge the entries. A number of world-renowned green leaders and innovators will also serve as advisors. Winning entries will be selected based on a number of criteria, including resource and operational efficiency, aesthetics, reproducibility, the use of information technology to make the buildings “smart,” and the social benefits accrued from the retrofit.
The deadline for submissions is August 31, 2011. For more information about the 2011 Zerofootprint Re-Skinning Awards, including detailed entry criteria and a list of last year’s prize winners, visit: http://www.zerofootprintprize.com
A book of the 2010 Re-Skinnning Awards finalists and winners is also now available on the Zerofootprint website.
Zerofootprint is a socially responsible enterprise with a mission to apply technology, design thinking, and risk management to the massive reduction of our environmental footprint. Visit: http://www.zerofootprint.net.
The John H. Daniels School of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, University of Toronto is the leading architecture and design school of its kind in Canada, with graduate study and research programs focused on the development of more climate change sensitive buildings, landscapes and cities. http://www.daniels.utoronto.ca.
Contact:
Anna Starasts
Zerofootprint
+1 416 365-7557 x194
anna.starasts@zerofootprint.net