Idea
“Make, Use, Waste” – the prevailing linear way of thinking and actingpowered by consumerism puts severe pressure on the earth’s natural resources. How can this pattern be changed andhow can modern life and our societies become more circular? Currentlyone of the most resource consuming sectors is the buildingandconstruction sector. In Europe it accounts for approximately half of all extracted materials, half of total energy consumption, one third of water consumption and one third of waste generation.
The Hans Sauer Award 2020 „Designing Circularity in the Built Environment“ focuses on changing practices in the system that produce the “built environment” of cities and landscapes. “Built environment” refers to human-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging from buildings to neighborhoods and cities themselves. The interdisciplinary competition not only wants to reward building new structures, but will also honor tools, methods and concepts that deal with the circular transformation of the already enormous quantity of existing constructions and / or structures. Additionally, the award focuses on people and projects that create and spread knowledge on the importance of circularity in the built environment.
The Hans Sauer Foundation is focused on fostering a “Circular Society” – in the Netherlands manifold actors do so for quite some time. This led to the idea to initiate a German-Dutch competition that not only awards outstanding projects, but also aims to foster the exchange of knowledge and experience between the two countries. The Dutch Consulate General and Stichting Circulair Bouwen, two high quality partners, have joined in announcing this competition.
Categories and Award
There will be six awards in total: A German and a Dutch one in every category. The total award money of 20.000 Euro will be distributed by a Dutch-German jury. Additionally all prize winners get the chance to take part in an exchange program to visit either the Netherlands or Germany and learn more about best practice examples and the winning teams.
Please choose the category you would like to apply to and note it on your application (cf Application Requirements). The categories will be used as a guide for comparing applications to each other.
