Off the Grid Day Labor Station

Today, the Holcim Foundation honored four projects with Global Holcim Awards – a nod to projects that improve lives, reduce environmental footprints, and lead the way to a more sustainable future.  I thought the “Innovation” project was quite interesting.  The $50k Innovation prize went to Liz Ogbu and John Peterson of San Francisco-based Public Architecture for their design of an informal station where laborers can meet and wait for casual work.  If you haven’t already seen the self-contained, off-the-grid station, check it out below:

The day labor station includes benches, washrooms, a kitchen, and an educational and training space. To keep the construction costs and environmental footprint to a minimum, the design calls for green and recycled materials.  The roof provides friendly shade and an angle for solar panels to generate energy. 

The global jury praised the project saying, “The structure provides a solution to what the surrounding neighborhoods often experience as social disorder and what local police forces find difficult to handle. Thus, the benefits extend to a larger social context than that of the workers themselves.”

Other Global Holcim Award 2009 winners include a river remediation scheme in Morocco (Gold), low impact university campus in Vietnam (Silver), and sustainable planning for a rural community in China (Bronze).