Nikhil Chaudhary, an associate with EMBARQ India, was announced as the winner of the Blue Award 2012, a biennial international student competition that honors projects addressing the topic of sustainability in the fields of architecture, regional planning and urbanism.

Chaudhary's research on “Reverse Thrust: Restructuring the Urban Fringes along Ring-Roads" in Nagpur City made him the first prize winner in the category of “Urban Development and Transformation, Landscape Development."

The winners were announced at the Award Ceremony on April 26 at the Vienna University of Technology, with architect Sir Michael Hopkins as Honorary President of the Jury.

Chaudhary was selected from 232 entries. Eleven nominees from 8 countries were awarded first prizes, special prizes, special mentions and honorable mentions.

"They liked how the complex ideas are visually presented in a simplified manner," Chaudhary said of his winning proposal, which was based off his thesis project at the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) University,

The focus of his work at EMBARQ India includes projects that deal with improving pedestrian accessibility, developing high quality walking environments within critical urban areas, and developing master plans and structure-plans for green field development using transit-oriented development.

The Blue Award is organized by the Department of Spatial and Sustainable Design at Vienna University of Technology and overseen by the UIA (International Union of Architects). The competition is an open invitation to future-oriented and sustainable solutions.

Blue Award 2012: Winners

Category 1: Urban Development and Transformation, Landscape Development

Winner

• Nikhil Chaudhary, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT University), Ahmedabad, India: “Reverse Thrust: Restructuring the Urban Fringes along Ring-Roads - Case of Nagpur City"

Honorable Mentions:

• Laura Marcheggiano, Universität La Sapienza, Rom: "Gaay Nagar [Cow District]: Re-housing settlement project for an inclusive design"
• Jinglang Xia, Dan Wang, Heyan Zhang, Jinlong Zhao, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen Graduate School, China: "Children’s Growth Path"
• Anna Roussou, Bhairavi Dhoot, Athanasia Vasdeki, University of Edinburgh: "Embedding Food Urbanism"

Category 2: Ecological Building

Winner

• Gregor Fasching, Technische Universität Wien: "A school for Anajô - Escola Anajô"

Honorable Mention:

• Zsuzsanna Meszaros, Moholy-Nagy Design Universität, Budapest: "Community Farm in Uszka"

Category 3: Building in Existing Structures

Winner

• Veronika Holczer, Technische und Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Universität Budapest: "Shed Transformation in Markóc"

Honorable Mentions:

• Vasilis Ingvar Raptis, Anna Vokali, Maria Pappa, Nationale Technische Universität Athen: "Re-define the City"
• Daniel Widman, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm: "Transformation"

Special prizes:

• Chi Lu, Bin Xie, Zi’ang Wang, Shuo Liu, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, China: "LIVING WITH EARTH - Demonstration Design Study of Ecological Architecture Suited for Poor Villages on China’s Loess Plateau"
• Georg Pichler, Technische Universität Graz: DUMPLAB

Jury Members 2012

• Sir Michael Hopkins, Honorary President of the Jury
• Albert Dubler, Member of the UIA
• Dominique Gauzin-Müller, Journalist of architecture/ specialist for sustainability
• Rudolf Scheuvens, Professor of Regional Planning, TU Vienna
• Dominique Alba, Urban Planner/Director of Pavillon de l´Arsenal Paris
• Nikos Fintikakis, Architect and Director UIA work programme ARES