Felipe Pich-Aguilera, a professor who teaches the subject Sustainability and the Director of the ESARQ Chair of Industrial Construction and the Environment (CEIM), has won the competition “Le Logement du 3ème Millénaire au Service du Développement Durable” (“Third Millennium Housing for Sustainable Development”) in the Construction Systems category, along with the rest of the team at Pich Architects and in collaboration with W-ATS Architects and INGÉROP. The competition is organized by Toulouse City Council’s housing authority.
Pich-Aguilera’s winning project, submitted under the name “Une infrastructure pour la diversité – le sens de l’industrialisation vers le développement durable” (“Infrastructure for diversity: driving industrialization towards sustainable development”), proposes a type of infrastructure using versatile systems that can be applied in low-, medium- and high-density construction, and even renovations. The project demonstrates the system’s high level of versatility. The infrastructure is unique because it is suitable for creating different urban housing types adapted to Southern Europe. Over the course of this year, the housing developments most suited to the proposal’s building innovations will be identified.
The competition, organized by Toulouse City Council’s housing authority, awarded prizes to the most innovative proposals in different fields, including urban planning, housing types, construction systems, renewable energy, recycling and other energy-efficiency-related areas. The prize involves a commitment from the public administration to apply the proposal to a real situation in the city.
In total, seven prizes were awarded for innovative proposals in different categories: urban vegetable gardens, industrial systems using wooden interior partitions, household recycling systems, solar thermal power generation systems, and flexibility and innovation in construction systems as a whole. The awards ceremony took place on Thursday, 4 December 2014.
