SAWA wins Architizer A+ Sustainability Awards

SAWA has been chosen as the Popular Choice winner in the 2023 Architizer A+ Sustainability Award. A prestigious jury of leading sustainability experts from around the world reviewed all submitted projects and selected five finalists in the "Unbuilt Sustainable Residential Project" category. Thousands of votes cast by Architizer readers from May 1 to 12 were counted for the award, and SAWA was named the best project.

The latest collection of A+ Awards winners is a dynamic tribute to the world's most innovative and impactful contemporary design. To reflect the essential work of architects in the fight against the climate crisis, this year's 11th annual Architizer Awards program introduced a new series of Sustainability Awards. We are proud that Mei architects and planners, SAWA's architect, was awarded this prize on behalf of SAWA's entire project team.

View the full list of Architizer A+ Awards winners here

First in Europe: all-wood & circular

Well before the construction of SAWA is even completed, the flood of awards for this revolutionary design continues. This award is the 9th after the project's success at the World Architecture Festival, the Architecture Masterprize, MIPIM / Architectural Review Future Project Awards, Iconic awards for Innovative Architecture and Green Good Design Awards, among others.

SAWA was developed from the drive and high level of ambition to create a zero-carbon building that contributes to solving the climate crisis and a healthy future. The realization of SAWA marks an important step toward international sustainability goals and proves that construction can be done differently. SAWA, also called "the healthiest building" in the Netherlands, adds value to neighborhood and city in the broadest sense of the word. These "shared values" relate to CO²-storage through wood construction, enhancing biodiversity, communal spaces including the kitchen garden on the deck and creating a circular building with affordable housing, where people care for each other and for nature. The project includes 109 homes, with spacious green terraces averaging 40 m² per home, 50 of which are mid-rent homes. The housing concept is enriched by various shared functions - such as shared mobility, tools and a vegetable garden on a public deck - fueling a vibrant and caring community. The technical innovation is in The certified Nice building system, of which SAWA is the first demonstrable and realized example. This makes SAWA the first all-wood and circular residential building 50 meters high in Europe.

About the A+ Sustainability Awards

The Architizer A+ Awards is the largest awards program focused on encouraging and celebrating the best architecture of the year. This year, Architizer introduced the new A+ Sustainability Awards. The design and construction industry accounts for nearly 40 percent of carbon emissions worldwide. While most architects and developers agree that we need to work toward more sustainable building practices, establishing a universal measure of sustainability for architecture worldwide is challenging. There are many ways a building can be considered "green," and a wide range of definitions for "sustainable design" depending on a host of factors, including geography, national and local government regulations, local climate and environmental characteristics, socioeconomics, community culture and more.

The new A+ Sustainability Awards honor architecture and design firms actively working toward a more sustainable built environment and focus on distinguishing projects that push the boundaries and set a positive precedent for greener building practices in their specific region and around the world. A prestigious jury of leading sustainability experts from around the world reviewed all submitted projects and selected five finalists, including SAWA, in the "Unbuilt Sustainable Residential Project" category.