**Download the materia award 2025 competition rules**

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materia award 2025 competition rules

This competition regulation (hereinafter, the "Regulation") establishes the rules for participation in the materia award, international price for contemporary architecture in bio-based and geo-sourced materials (hereinafter, the "Award") which is a continuation from the TERRAFIBRA Award 2021. This Regulation aims to govern the relations between, on one hand, the Organizers of the Award and, on the other hand, the candidates participating in this Award. All candidates expressly accept and commit to respecting the rights and obligations provided by this Regulation.

Article 1 – Organizers of the award

The Award is carried and organized by Les Grands Ateliers Innovation Architecture and amàco, in partnership with Dominique Gauzin-Müller, ETH Zurich, Les Compagnons du Devoir et du Tour de France, and the Pavillon de l’Arsenal (hereinafter, the "Organizers").

The coordination of the Award is ensured by Les Grands Ateliers Innovation Architecture, the sole contact for candidates.

Questions should be sent to the following address:info@materiaaward.com

Article 2 – Conditions of participation

The Award is open to new or renovated buildings, built on all continents, with a significant quantity of earth, stone, and/or vegetal fibers and delivered from January 2013.

It rewards teams that implement raw earth, stone, and/or plant materials in their buildings, proposing innovative solutions, valuing resources and know-how of their host territory, and adhering to aesthetic requirements. The Organizers' ambition is to promote the current dynamics in favour of construction in bio-based and geo-sourced materials from local industries.

The Award concerns all construction techniques in raw earth (rammed earth, adobe, cob, CEB, wattle and daub, poured earth, plaster, etc.), all types of stone (granite, sandstone, quartz, limestone, marble, gneiss, slate, etc.), and all vegetal fibers (bamboo, reed, hemp, flax, straw, rattan, palms, seagrasses, mycelium, algae, etc.).

Timber structures, which are already the subject of many awards, are not concerned by the materia award, unless timber is combined with earth, stone, or any other bio-based materials. Living plant structure can qualify as construction in vegetal fibers, as long as they play a decisive part in the structure of the buildings or their bioclimatic performance.

This Award is international, free of charge and open to all. Any project actor can initiate the submission of the application (project owner, project manager, design offices, company).

During registration, all team members must be indicated in the online form and are considered as co-authors of the building alongside the representative, representing the team.

A candidate can submit several projects, but each building must be the subject of a separate application.

Article 3 – Categories

Candidate projects are classified according to 9 categories:

· Socio-medical public equipment

· School public equipment

· Sports public equipment

· Cultural public equipment

· Activity building

· Collective housing

· Individual housing

· Interior or exterior layout

· Artistic installation or ephemeral pavilion

Projects may also belong to one or more of the 2 transversal categories:

· Educational project

· Rehabilitation and renovation

For this edition, particular emphasis will be placed on renovation and rehabilitation projects.

Article 4 – Registration modalities

Registration is a mandatory prerequisite for participating in the Award. Registrations are open from the launch date, 05/12/2023 until 25/02/2024 at 23:59 (Paris). Each candidate or team of candidates must register online through the WIIN application platform.

Only the team representative will receive, by email, an acknowledgment of receipt containing an application number. This number will be automatically indicated on the submitted Project.

All sections of the form with an asterisk (*) must be filled out. The formats and the maximum recommended volume for the files must be respected.

Questions concerning the registration modalities can be addressed by email until 16/02/2024 at 17:00 (Paris), to info@materiaaward.com.

Article 5 – Procedure of the Award

Applications can be in French or English.

The Award takes place in two phases:

In May 2024, a first jury will select, among the eligible candidates, 40 finalists who will be featured in a book and a traveling exhibition.
In June 2024, an honorary jury will choose, from among the 40 finalists, 5 winning projects.

Each jury may, if it wishes, award special prizes.

Article 6 – Composition of the Juries

The juries bring together major international figures as well as representatives of institutions and all actors in the earth, stone, and vegetal fibers material sectors.

The composition of the juries will be announced later by the Organizers.

Article 7 – Assessment Criteria

The members of the first jury will assess the buildings based on the application forms for the materia award, answering the following 6 questions:

I s the building adapted to the climatic, energy, and societal context as well as its future developments?
Does the building harmoniously integrate into its host territory?
Does the building bring benefits to its host territory and its inhabitants?
Is the building effective from the point of view of eco-responsibility?
Does the building enhance the earth, stone, and/or vegetal fibers used?
Are the chosen technical solutions relevant and innovative?

The members of the honorary jury will choose the 5 winners based on criteria founded on the 4 pillars of sustainable development:

Ecology: The building is constructed with materials from its host territory and is grounded into its environment.
Social: The building contributes to the personal and social well-being of its users and the inhabitants of the territory.
Culture: The building helps to preserve inherited values and transmit them.
Economy: The building strengthens the empowerment of communities and values local resources.

These evaluation criteria may evolve until the closing date of the Award.

Article 8 – The Prizes

The 40 finalist projects will be part of an exhibition that will be presented in Paris in 2025, before touring in France and around the World, as well as a book published by the Pavillon de l’Arsenal editions.

Trophies will be presented to the winning teams in Paris in 2025, during the inauguration of the exhibition and the launch of the related book.

Article 9 – Assignment of Right

A usage rights agreement will be established later between each of the 40 finalists and the Organizers.

The Organizers commit not to use any photos or graphic documents outside of these agreements.

Article 10 – Guarantees

The candidate teams expressly declare to be the holders of all the rights on the Project they submit within the framework of the Award. They consequently guarantee the Organizers against any disturbance, recourse, action, or claim by a third party that could be brought against them based on their Project, as well as the rights transferred under Article 9 of this Regulation.

Article 11 – Personal data

11.1. The personal data of the candidates for the Award are processed under the conditions provided by this Article of the Regulation (hereinafter, the "Data"). The processing of the Data is carried out by the Organizers of the Award, who are responsible for it and entrust its collection to a service provider, WIIN SAS.

11.2. On the occasion of the Award, some of the candidates' Data are collected through the registration form that the candidates complete for their participation.

11.3. The Data is collected in the legitimate interest of the Organizers to keep it in order to contact the candidates later to announce their nomination.

11.4. The Organizers only give limited access to their employees who necessarily need to access the Data to carry out their mission (particularly those in charge of organizing the Award). These individuals are subject to a strict obligation of confidentiality regarding the Data.

11.5. The Organizers store the Data on their server located in France and ensure that the collected Data is not damaged, destroyed, or disclosed to unauthorized third parties. They also implement technical and organizational measures to ensure the security of the Data for the duration of their processing and storage, such as securing access to premises and servers, securing the computer system storing the Data, encrypting emails with an SSL certificate, etc.

11.6. The Data collected within the framework of the materia award applications are kept for a maximum period of three years, from the last contact between the Data holder and the Organizers. By derogation, the Data of the finalists are kept for a period of ten years.

11.7. In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation, which came into force on May 25, 2018, and Law No. 78-17 of January 6, 1978, relating to data processing, files, and freedoms, in its version amended on June 20, 2018, the individuals whose Data is collected have the right to access, rectify, limit, and erase their Data

11.8. Anyone wanting to action one of these rights can get in contact with Louise Lemoine (louiselemoine@lesgrandsateliers.fr), designated responsible for personal Data on behalf of the Organisers.

11.9. Affected individuals can also lodge an appeal with the CNIL (Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés) in case of any violation by the Organisers further to a request to exercise one of these rights, or in general about the applicable regulations about personal data protection.

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