The design for the Vale Inco Living with Lakes Centre in Sudbury was one of the three Holcim Award winners in the 2008 North American competition. It was chosen from among 174 eco-friendly and sustainable entries from all over the continent. The winning projects were announced earlier this year at a ceremony held in Montreal. Prize money of $25,000 was awarded to the Centre and will be used for the construction of the facility.
Dr. John Gunn, along with the Centre’s architects, Peter Busby of Busby Perkins + Will of Vancouver and Jeff Laberge of J.L. Richards and Associates of Sudbury, accepted the award.
"The Vale Inco Living with Lakes Centre continuously generates public and community support," said Gunn, Canada Research Chair in Stressed Aquatic Systems at Laurentian University. "This prestigious award will help to establish Sudbury’s position among the international leaders in environmental restoration as well as environmental design and construction."
The Holcim Awards celebrate the top competition entries from five regions - Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa Middle East and Asia Pacific. The three best projects from each region, including the Vale Inco Living with Lakes Centre design, will now move on to participate in the global awards competition in front of a new jury in Lucerne, Switzerland, in May 2009, competing for one of the most prestigious and valuable prizes in all of architecture.
The Vale Inco Living with Lakes Centre, Laurentian’s global centre of excellence for applied research in environmental restoration and sustainability, will allow the university to expand its critical research into the restoration and remediation of damaged freshwater lakes and will be a tangible demonstration of Laurentian University’s global environmental leadership. To be built to the standards of the prestigious platinum LEED (Leadership in Environmental Energy and Design) designation, the Centre will be a model of sustainability attracting top researchers and scientists from around the world to conduct groundbreaking research in the Sudbury region.
The Holcim Foundation, established by the Swiss-based construction materials group, Holcim, aims at promoting sustainable construction regionally as well as globally. Through the competition, the Holcim Foundation recognizes exemplary building projects, and furthers discussion of sustainable construction amongst architects, urban planners, engineers, building owners and the community.
For more information on the Vale Inco Living with Lakes Centre, visit
