History

At the beginning of the last decade of the 20th century, the Mexican construction industry, which had already been very dynamic for a considerable time, was in a particularly active period. The signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement with the United States and Canada was imminent and this required all the nation’s industrial and commercial sectors to assess their infrastructure and adapt it to what was so obviously coming: increased competition.

Knowing that Mexican construction was world-class, CEMEX – Mexico’s leading cement producer and at the time fourth in the world – decided to institute the CEMEX BUILDING AWARD to recognize and encourage the nation’s builders. Acknowledging their efforts in this way would stimulate, strengthen, distinguish and promote the best building works and thereby encourage Mexico’s construction professionals to produce even better, even more creative works.

CEMEX began the award in the state where it began operations: Nuevo León, which has always been known for the work ethic of its people. Thus, in 1991, the first edition of the CEMEX BUILDING AWARD was held, enriched by the enthusiastic and invaluable participation of local academic institutions and organizations related to the construction industry, including the then Mexican National Chamber of the Construction Industry, today CMIC N.L., the Colleges of Architecture and Engineering of the state of Nuevo León, the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL), the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM), the Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM), the Universidad Regiomontana (UR), the Universidad Mexicana del Noreste (UMNE) and the Monterrey Design Center (CEDIM).

The extensive participation of local constructors made the first edition a success, with the construction community in general responding well to the award’s recognition of the talent, creativity, quality and professionalism of architects, engineers, and those responsible for all aspects of the design, projection, research and construction of building works. This reception would give the event even more ambitious projection for the subsequent years.

The different construction-related organizations and academic institutions referred to above gave their input in the preparation of the Official Call for Entries for the first CEMEX BUILDING AWARD, and later some of their representatives were part of the Jury selecting the finalists and winners. Because of the delicate nature of their work, jurors have always been very carefully selected to eliminate any possible doubts about the results and CEMEX has always taken the position of being only the promoter of the event, totally distanced from any decisions taken by the Jury.

In 1995, Honorable Mentions were added to the original categories in the IV CEMEX BUILDING AWARD, to recognize specific outstanding characteristics. Another important attribute was also added that year: Innovative Uses of Cement and Concrete, to distinguish works that displayed a really original use of these materials.

During the history of the CEMEX BUILDING AWARD, the Jury has sometimes decided not to declare a winner in a certain category or categories, even though those categories may have had a number of participants.

Taking such a decision is not easy but, on each occasion, the Jury believed that no work was good enough to merit an award or honorable mention. Such decisions have always been controversial, but in retrospect were well taken because they enhanced the credibility and prestige of the CEMEX BUILDING AWARD as an event with clear, impartial selection procedures and professional, transparent evaluation mechanisms.

By that fourth event, the CEMEX BUILDING AWARD had expanded its scope, with works competing not only from Monterrey and Nuevo León, but also from other parts of the northern region of Mexico. Each prize-giving ceremony was attended by the Nuevo León State Governor, local authorities, and representatives of educational institutions and organizations related to the construction industry.

The prize-giving events for the first editions were held in the Luis Elizondo Auditorium in Monterrey and accompanied by a concert performed by ITESM students, with the participation of recognized personalities from the Mexican artistic milieu, such as Gonzalo Vega, Elena Rojo, Héctor Bonilla and Enrique Rocha.

The search for the continuous improvement of the award-giving event involved a focus on the cultural aspects of the ceremony. For example, for the second edition, the ceremony included the reading of poems by Alfonso Reyes (a famous Mexican critic, scholar, poet and diplomat), while that of the following year offered flamenco dancing and songs based on the words of Federico García Lorca (the Spanish poet and dramatist). Year after year, the prestige of the award grew, so that it is not surprising that by the second half of the ’90s the award-giving ceremonies were attended by the heads of Mexico’s most important architecture and engineering organizations and institutions.

For the V Edition of the CEMEX BUILDING AWARD, the Architectural Design Category was divided in order to recognize separately the most outstanding Commercial, Residential, Industrial and Institutional works.

For the VIII Edition, the prize-giving ceremony was moved to the Monterrey Industrial Club, and for the following edition to the Monterrey Museum of Contemporary Art (MARCO), which remained as the location of this magna event for a number of years. In 2006, the ceremony was moved to the Arena Monterrey, changing the logistics and organization of the event, and in 2007 it was held at the Cintermex convention center, with more than 700 guests at the ceremony.

Year after year, the number of participating works has increased. The IX Edition of the CEMEX BUILDING AWARD marked a significant expansion to different regions of the nation. Mexico City, Guadalajara, León, Monterrey and Puebla all held local versions of the event, registering projects from the surrounding regions. The winning works from each local event competed in the national event held in the Poliforum Cultural Siqueiros in Mexico City, where one of the regional editions of the CEMEX BUILDING AWARD had been held.

That year, as always happens, there was a record number of registered participants and the projects presented were of unprecedented quality.

By the year 2004, the call for entries crossed the Mexican borders and for the first time included four other countries: the United States, Spain, Colombia and Venezuela. This expansion was the first step in the internationalization of the event.

One year later, in 2005, for the first time in the history of the CEMEX BUILDING AWARD, the call for entries included 12 countries where CEMEX has operations: Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Spain, the United States, the Philippines, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.

In 2006, the call for entries reached 24 different nations: Germany, Austria, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, the United States, France, Hungary, England, Ireland, Latvia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Poland, Puerto Rico, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Thailand.

That same year, 2006, CEMEX celebrated its first centennial with the satisfaction of having fulfilled its founders’ ideal: to transform its leadership into sustainable development for humanity. The company’s social responsibility to the communities it serves; respect for the environment, natural resources and biodiversity of the planet’s different regions; and the promotion and dissemination of the human values that have distinguished all of its operations are the solid bases that have led CEMEX to be considered, throughout very different regions and countries on all five continents, as a model for how global companies should evolve in the new millennium.

The Mexican edition of the CEMEX BUILDING AWARD has grown continuously year after year since its creation 16 years ago. In the CEMEX centennial year, it was consolidated as the leading building competition in Mexico.

For the XV Edition of the CEMEX BUILDING AWARD, Special Prizes for Sustainable Architecture and Accessibility Congruence were also included in the international competition. In keeping with the growing number of participants who base their designs on these aspects of social solidarity and respect for the environment, the Jury decided to select, apart from the winner, two finalists for each of these prizes, both in the national and international editions.

The XVI CEMEX BUILDING AWARD was once again characterized by the outstanding level and innovative vision of the winners and finalists. Their projects showed clearly the creativity and inspiration of the construction and design professionals responsible for their realization and compliance with the highest standards of efficiency and sustainability.

This XVII Edition of the CEMEX BUILDING AWARD consolidates its continuous evolution as a promoter of a culture of innovation and global competitiveness in concrete construction in a framework of productive exchange. Changes in the way competitors present the information on their projects via the award’s Internet web page demonstrate the growth, evolution and innovation that are continuously increasing the global importance and recognition of the CEMEX BUILDING AWARD.