Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development has won this year’s Cityscape Award for Emerging Markets in the Residential (Built) project category, for its sustainable student housing complex.
The award was presented to senior Qatar Foundation representatives at an exclusive ceremony held at the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel in Dubai.
The Cityscape awards have been created to recognise the innovators behind some of the world’s most high-profile projects and to celebrate excellence in real estate development and architecture.
The event aims to offer international architects and leading real estate developers a platform to communicate a shared vision for the future, from culturally integrated city skylines to sustainable urban communities.
The Male and Female Student Housing project, which is located within the Qatar Foundation campus, was chosen from amongst a high volume of impressive entries spanning the Middle East, Turkey, Russia, Africa, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.
All submissions were required to meet exceptional standards in six categories: design, planning, construction, management, sustainability and fulfilling the brief.
Engineer Saad al- Muhannadi, president of Qatar Foundation, said “We are honoured to receive this award among such an excellent group of submissions. This is a reflection of the outstanding commitment and teamwork that has gone into making this sustainable housing project a reality. We always strive to effectively integrate green building practices within our developments and this is a true testament to Qatar’s growth and advancement in the field.”
The student housing, developed by Qatar Foundation and designed by Burns & McDonnell, along with the architectural firm Treanor Architects and green building consultants Vertegy, integrates a highly functional and durable design.
The development comprises two segregated complexes for male and female students, featuring an Islamic motif throughout, as well as state-of-the art sustainable technology and energy-efficient systems. Each complex contains a community centre and five residential buildings in 36,000 square metres of space.
A monitoring system has been installed in each housing unit to help students track their own energy and water consumption.
The unique complex is also equipped with solar-panelled roofs and wind turbines that generate energy in 10km gusts or higher and is currently the only platinum LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certified student housing in the world, consisting of the highest concentration of independently registered platinum LEED buildings by the US Green Building Council.
Ali bin Nasser al-Khalifa, CEO of ASTAD Project Management, receiving the award at Cityscape 2013.
