2012 Architectural Zinc Awards in Carquefou, Atlanta, Hoboken, Erfurt, Datong, Saint Dizier...

The Poetry Foundation, in Chicago, Illinois, designed by John Ronan Architects.  The buiding received the jury's special award in the 2012 Archizinc Trophy Awards. Photo: Steve Hall/ Hedrich Blessing

The 10 winners of the fifth VMZINC® Archizinc Trophy awards program, sponsored by the Umicore Group, were unveiled this month at the Terrass Kardinal in Paris.

This bi-annual competition for architects requires that the submitted designs use VMZINC solutions rolled zinc products in original projects. Winners include six projects in the categories "Private Housing," "Commercial Buildings," and "Public Buildings.

The Archizinc Trophy winners:

Individual Housing

• Winner -- Fabien Chavignaud Architecte for a Private House in Carquefou (France)
• Special Mention -- Brian Bell – BLDGS for the Ansley Glass House in Atlanta, Georgia (USA)

Commercial Buildings

• Winner – Dean Marchetto/Marchetto Higgins Stieve Architects, for the Extension, Architecture Studio, Hoboken, New Jersey (USA).

Public Buildings

• Winner – Ulrich Junk/Junk & Reich Architecten for Historical Library, Augustinian Monastery, Erfurt (Germany)
• Special Mention 1 – Cheng Dapeng/Beijing New Era Architectural Design Ltd., for Yungang Grottoes Museum, Datong (China)
• Special Mention 2 – David Mackay & Francisco Gual Trajine/MBM Arquitectes for Casa Dels Xuklis, Llars Mundet (Spain).

Sustainable Building

• Jean-Philippe Thomas Architectes for Luis Ortiz Secondary School, Saint Dizier (France)

Daring

• Steve Woodland, Cabinet Cox Howlett & Bailey Woodland for Entertainment Centre, Albany (Australia)

Internet Award

• Diego Garcia Munoz Vaquero/Prieto + Vaquero Arquitectos y MCCL Arquitectos for Centro Sociocultural, Agron (Spain)

Jury's Special Award

• John Ronan Architects for the Poetry Foundation, Chicago, Illinois (USA).

Four special honors were named for "Sustainable Building," "Daring," Internet Users Choice" (in which the public cast votes), and "Jury's Special Award."

Representing 19 different countries, architects submitted 118 projects that were assessed by a jury comprised of 11 international professionals (architects, journalists and an engineer). Nicola Leonardi, editor-in-chief of The Plan magazine, chaired the jury.

The jury used three fundamental criteria to determine the winners:

1. Architectural quality -- the original expression of each project and the emotion generated
2. Integration into the site -- the suitability of the project in terms of environment, urban planning, topography and climate
3. Innovation -- highlighting zinc, its functionalities and performances.

"The diversity of countries, types of buildings, and architectural styles confirmed yet again the role of zinc in contemporary architecture," said Daniel Nicely, managing director of Umicore Building Products USA." The winners, representatives from the Umicore Group, and all members of the awards jury attended the presentation ceremony.  Each winner received an Archizinc Trophy, an actual work of art in zinc.

The winning projects will be published next October in a special issue of FOCUS ON ZINC magazine.

For more information on the Archizinz Trophy, visit www.trophee-archizinc.com. For more information on Umicore Building Products and VMZINC, see www.vmzinc-us.com.