The International Green Roof Association (IGRA) has named UWC Dilijan College the winner in the “Trendsetting Architecture” category for this year’s Green Roof Leadership Awards.The college will receive the award during the 4th International Green Roof Congress in Istanbul on April 20.
According to the IGRA jury, UWC Dilijan College’s design provided various opportunities to use green roofs and green walls that support environmental conservation and education.
The IGRA Green Roof Leadership Awards showcase successful green urban spaces to architects and organizations to spur innovative environmentally-friendly architectural ideas. Previous IGRA Green Roof Leadership award winners include the JTC Corporation’s Fusionopolis research and development center in Singapore, architects of the VanDusen botanical garden visitor center in Vancouver, and the Rolls Royce manufacturing plant in Chichester.
UWC Dilijan College, the 14th member of the United World Colleges education consortium, opened its doors in August 2014 to students seeking an International Baccalaureate (IB) degree. Students from over 40 countries make up the school’s current population, receiving instruction in English and additional support in Spanish, French, German and Russian.
It plans to start accepting students for its International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGSCE) curriculum — which prepares students for an IB education — in 2017.
The school is the first United World Colleges-affiliated school to operate in the former Soviet Union.
The school is the brainchild of Russian-Armenian philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan and Veronika Zonabend, who first conceived the idea of an international school in Dilijan in 2006. The school’s philosophy is rooted in seven principles of various academic and social ideals, including responsible architecture and environmental stewardship.
UWC Dilijan College received previous accolades for its environmentally-friendly design, including being the first building in Armenia to fulfill the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM) standard of green construction.
London-based architect Tim Flynn, who designed the world’s longest non-stop double-track cable car Wings of Datev tramway in Armenia, conceived the school’s physical design.
The school’s campus contains the main building with state-of-the-art classrooms, dormitories, sports and medical facilities, and other mixed-use buildings. A second phase of construction will be complete in 2017.
