Armenian international school UWC Dilijan College, today announced that the school has been awarded second prize in the Public Infrastructure Category at the 2016 FIABCI World Prix d’Excellence Awards. The UWC Dilijan College was built by RD Group investment and development holding.
UWC Dilijan College is the first project in CIS to earn recognition from such a prestigious international community of experts. The winners were announced at FIABCI World Prix d’Excellence Awards 2016 ceremony in Panama on May 25.
FIABCI World Prix d’Excellence Awards judges evaluated the projects in the Public Infrastructure category against a number of parameters including: architecture, quality of development project, facility construction, concept engineering, as well as use of energy efficient and environmentally friendly solutions. One of the key evaluation criteria for facilities in this category was the impact of the project on the development of the local infrastructure and region as a whole.
International school UWC Dilijan College is located in the mountainous region on the edge of the Dilijan National Park. At the design and construction stages, RD Group focused on implementing “green” technologies to seamlessly integrate the facility into the environmentally rich surrounding. Natural Armenian tuf (volcanic rock) and local stones were used as finishing materials, while such eco-technologies as “green” walls and roofs decorated the main building of the school. In implementing “green” roofs and walls the project used local vegetation to create a total of 4,750 square meters of roofs and 1,500 square meters of walls.
Construction of UWC Dilijan College served as a catalyst for the rebirth of the resort town of Dilijan, located in northeastern part of Armenia. Furthermore, it helped attract investment to the region to improve the quality of the urban realm and infrastructure. The school has become an anchor project for the development of the entire town, contributing to the growth in local population’s business enterprises and social activity while mobilizing new investors.
Gagik Adibekyan, Chairman of the Board of Directors, RD Group Holding and Founding Patron of UWC Dilijan College remarks: “We are honored to be recognized by such a prestigious international entity as the FIABCI World Prix d’Excellence Awards. Investment in human development is now at the foreground of design concepts for today’s architects, developers and town-planners building school facilities that will be utilized by the young generation. In order to create an ultimately conducive environment for students’ educational journey and harmonious development, ultra-modern designed buildings are becoming the norm worldwide. Innovative projects, like UWC Dilijan College, have achieved utmost success in accomplishing this task, by creating optimum, environmentally friendly facility. Moreover, opening an international school in Dilijan was the first step in initiating the rebirth of the region, creating a comfortable urban territory to improve the quality of life and invigorate active engagement of the residents into the processes of transforming the town.”
Ruben Vardanyan, businessman, philanthropist, co-founder, Chairman of the Board of Co-Founders of UWC Dilijan College states: “Starting from the design stages of the college campus, using ultra-modern energy-efficient technologies and environmentally-friendly materials was of critical significance to us. It is important that the erected buildings wedded harmoniously with the surrounding landscape, and were environmentally safe and aesthetically striking. A huge part of this project belongs to the team of architects from Tim Flynn Architects and RD Group who were the project developers. The College is shaping the whole eco-system of the region and setting a new trend in urban planning, and thanks to its innovative architectural concept, it is shaping the environmental responsibility for the students and local residents. We are very pleased that our project has earned high recognition from such a prestigious international entity as FIABCI World Prix d’Excellence Awards.”
The UWC Dilijan College boarding school is a joint project of philanthropists Ruben Vardanyan, Veronika Zonabend and their partners. The architectural concept of the school has been developed by British bureau of Tim Flynn Architects with RD Group international holding served as project developer.
UWC Dilijan College is also the recipient of the 2015 IGRA Green Roof Leadership Awards prize in the “Trend-Setting Architecture” category, and the only winner on the European stage of International Property Awards in the Public Services Development category. Additionally, UWC Dilijan College is the only educational institution in the CIS certified under BREEAM environmentally friendly construction standards.