The Zumtobel Group created the “Zumtobel Group Award for Sustainability and Humanity in the Built Environment” against the background of limited availability of natural resources and in order to fulfil its own aspirations. In doing so, the Group aims to stimulate and promote new concepts and developments in the built environment.

The Zumtobel Group Award was presented for the second time since 2007 in the year under review; it honours sustainable solutions that help signpost a more liveable future in architecture and in engineering. The award in the “Built Environment” category, with a purse of EUR 80,000, was presented to the Franco-Brazilian architecture firm TRIPTYQUE for its “Harmonia 57” project in São Paulo. The award in the “Research & Initiative” category, carrying a purse of EUR 60,000, was presented to New York design collective Terreform ONE + Terrefuge for its research work into a self-sufficient city. The award presentation took place in September 2010 at the Bregenz Festival House and was followed by a panel discussion on “Sustainability and aesthetics – the challenges that face future architecture”. The next Zumtobel Group Award will be presented in 2012.