In 2010, CIPRA, the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps of which I was executive director at the time, called upon the countries of the Alpine regions to do more to protect against climate change. The response from Liechtenstein was “Constructive Alps”, an international architecture prize for sustainable renovation and building in the Alps, launched in 2011 together with CIPRA and the University of Liechtenstein. I was thus involved from the outset in the organisation of the award which, with its prize money of 50,000 euros, has attracted considerable international attention.
Switzerland has now taken over the initiative from Liechtenstein, jointly offering the prize in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019. As I was by then no longer with CIPRA in 2013, the Federal Office for Spatial Development offered me the chance to continue my participation in another form: I was invited onto the international jury as an Alpine expert under the leadership of the editor-in-chief of “Hochparterre”, the architecture, planning and design magazine.
Now “Constructive Alps” is already in its 6th round, so a prize has been offered again in 2021, and the award ceremony will take place on 16 September 2022 at the Alpine Museum in Bern.
