Amman- 12 September, 2017
The German Jordanian University is very proud of its graduate Noor Marji from the School of Architecture and Built Environment for winning another international prize, Noor received the fourth prize of LafargeHolcim Awards 2017 Middle East Africa - The Next Generation Prizes for her graduation project “Steps of Amman”. The project is a proposal for a hybrid structure, one simultaneously taking on architectural and infrastructural traits at once, while restoring a piece of the city’s undulating terrain. The structure furthermore combines a range of public functions: an urban square in form of a stair and an urban library embedded within one of the city’s hills. More than just a project for a building, the design makes a plea for reinforcing the civic role of architecture in contemporary culture. Though monumental in its scale and mass, the building is hardly noticeable as a structure in its own right, for it seamlessly merges with the city’s topography. Below ground, users discover another world, one dedicated to the promotion of culture as public good.
“The LafargeHolcim Awards is about more than just beautiful buildings and stands out as the world’s most significant competition in sustainable design. The criteria of the USD 2 million competition are as challenging as sustainability is itself. In addition, the competition acknowledges only projects, not finished work. That’s because the LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, which is responsible for the Awards, seeks designs that go beyond current standards and deliver new, surprising, or truly visionary solutions to the way we build”.
The other Next Generation winners were from Egypt, Lebanon and South Africa. The winners of the LafargeHolcim Awards 2017 winners for Middle East Africa have been announced in Nairobi, Kenya. The eleven winning projects share in USD 330,000 prize money, and illustrate how sustainability in building is rapidly gaining significance in the Middle East Africa region.
We are so proud of our graduate Noor Marji and her supervisor Arch. Tha’er Qub’a for another great achievement and wishing them more success and progress.
