German Sustainability Award for Architecture

For more than 10 years, the DGNB and the German Sustainability Award Foundation have been awarding Germany's most important architecture prize for sustainable buildings.

Since 2013, the DGNB and the Stiftung Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitspreis (i.e. German Sustainability Award Foundation) have been awarding the so-called "Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitspreis" (i.e. German Sustainability Award) to inspiring architecture. The prize is awarded to projects that combine innovation, sustainability and high architectural quality in an exemplary manner. They provide answers to the question of how the building sector can effectively meet the major challenges of our time.

Developers, architects and building users have until 31 May 2024 to submit their projects for this year's competition. The DGNB and the German Sustainability Award Foundation will present the award at the 17th German Sustainability Day on 28 and 29 November 2024 in Düsseldorf.

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The most important information about the competition

In 2012, the DGNB and the German Sustainability Award Foundation created a special award for future-oriented construction, which was awarded for the first time in 2013. The German Sustainability Award for Architecture honours outstanding and exemplary achievements in the building sector that contribute towards the transformation to sustainable living and economic activity and also demonstrate great innovative strength and high design quality. The prize is awarded with the support of Caparol, the Association of German Architects, the German Federal Chamber of Architects and the German Federal Foundation for Baukultur.

Procedure	Date	Who?	Information
Application	until 31 May 2024	e.g. building owners, architects or users	Participants can apply online via the DNP website.
Jury meeting	July 2024	Jury (see below)	A panel of experts appointed as a jury in collaboration with the DNP will evaluate the submitted projects for their sustainability, innovative potential and architectural quality, nominate the finalists and select the winning DNP for Architecture project.
Award ceremony	29 November 2024	DNP	The nominees and the winning project will be honoured at an awards ceremony.

The competition is open to building owners, architects or users of buildings
The buildings must be located in Germany and be completed and in use at the time of entry
The buildings must be used by people (e.g. for daily public transport or as permanent workplaces or homes)
The building and its directly associated open spaces are taken into account
The buildings can be new, existing or extensively renovated
Interior only works are excluded from participating
Buildings must be no more than five years old / renovations must have been carried out within the last five years
DGNB certification is not required
The entry fee is €250 plus VAT

The finalists and winner will be selected by a jury to ensure an informed and independent assessment. The new jury is composed of renowned architects and other representatives of the building industry. In addition, experts from business, research, civil society and politics will contribute their perspectives to the decision-making process.

Applications will be accepted until 31 May 2024 in the online section of the DNP Architecture, which you can access by entering your access code at www.nachhaltigkeitspreis.de/wettbewerbe/architektur.

The following documents are required for a sound application

A designed poster with meaningful images and plans
A concise mission statement describing the project's excellence in terms of its transformative contribution to sustainability, innovation and architectural quality
A textual description of the sustainability aspects of the project
Representative photos of the project in landscape format, from different angles, with copyright and permission to use for press, website and other communications

It's worth applying

Participants will receive two tickets to the congress (limited number of tickets) and finalists will also be guests of honour at the awards ceremony
Participants gain access to Germany's largest sustainability network
Finalists and winners can use the DNP Award logo to communicate their success internally and externally
Winners will be guests on stage at the awards ceremony, where they will receive their prize

Which projects are among the best in terms of overall concept? Where do they stand out in terms of innovation, design quality and sustainability? The panel of experts appointed as the jury in cooperation with the DNP examines all submissions in a careful selection process, nominates the finalists and determines the winner of the German Sustainability Award for Architecture.

The jury for the current 2024 competition will be announced shortly.