For many years now, the Zumtobel Group, present in the global lighting market through the Zumtobel and Thorn brands and components manufacturer TridonicAtco, has assigned top priority to sustainability and energy efficiency in its products and their application. As the logical next step in this corporate commitment, the Austrian-based company - a global player in the international lighting industry - has created the new Zumtobel Group Award for Sustainability and Humanity in the Built Environment.

"The award is designed to honour outstanding sustainable solutions in architecture and engineering that make a notable contribution to a liveable, sustainable and equitable future," explain Kristin Feireiss and Hans-Jürgen Commerell, Directors of Aedes Architecture Forum in Berlin, who are curating and organising the award. The award features two categories covering built and realised projects on the one hand and research and initiatives on the other. The award in the 'Built Environment' category will go to an outstanding architectural, engineering or urban design project realised within the last two years that meets current demands for sustainable living and envisages the needs of the future. The award-winner will receive a purse of EUR 80,000. In the 'Research and Initiative' category, the award will go to an innovative current research project or social initiative in architecture and the built environment, developed and run by NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations), or universities, or independent groups and individuals. Aiming in particular to encourage an emerging generation of researchers and practitioners in architecture and urban design, this award, which carries a purse of EUR 60,000, is intended to facilitate and foster the progress of an ongoing initiative or research project.

The Zumtobel Group Award will be presented every two years. A jury of internationally highly acclaimed experts with appropriate professional and academic backgrounds will select a laureate in each of the two categories described above.

"We all realise that natural resources are limited. Networking as we do with leading architects, engineers and lighting designers, we also know that visionary solutions in architecture and urban planning can help reduce global energy consumption and at the same time improve the general quality of life," says Zumtobel Group CEO Andreas Ludwig. By creating the Zumtobel Group Award for Sustainability and Humanity, the company is seeking to stimulate new developments and concepts in the built environment. In line with the company's vision, the award also challenges the Zumtobel Group itself to boost the emphasis on sustainability and humanity in all its processes.

The nominees and laureates for the first Zumtobel Group Award for Sustainability and Humanity in the Built Environment will be announced in a press release on 28 June 2007. A press conference and the official award ceremony will take place on 14 September 2007 at Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria.

Founder
Zumtobel Group

Award categories
Built Environment: EUR 80,000
Research and Initiative: EUR 60,000

Jury
Stefan Behnisch, Architect / Behnisch Architects, Stuttgart (Germany)
Yung Ho Chang, Architect, Head of Department of Architecture / Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge (USA)
Colin Fournier, Architect / University College London, London (United Kingdom)
Peter Head, Structural Engineer / Arup, London (United Kingdom)
Andreas Ludwig, CEO Zumtobel Group, Dornbirn (Austria)
Enrique Norten, Architect / TEN Arquitectos, Mexico City and New York (Mexico, USA)
Kazuyo Sejima, Architect / SANAA, Tokyo (Japan)
Peter Sloterdijk, Philosopher, Dean of Hochschule für Gestaltung, Karlsruhe (Germany)
Anna Tibaijuka, General and Executive Director / UN Habitat, Nairobi (Kenya)


Dates
15 -16 June 2007
Jury session

29 June 2007
Press release and announcement of nominees and laureates

14 September 2007
Press conference at Zumtobel Light Forum, Dornbirn
Award ceremony at Kunsthaus Bregenz

Kristin Feireiss and Hans-Jürgen Commerell
Aedes Architecture Forum
T +49-(0)30 282-70 15
F +49-(0)30 283-914 66
zumtobelgroupaward@aedes-arc.de
http://www.aedes-arc.de/