Honorary Awards 2026

Debut Work of the Year 2026: ABF-LAB

The French architecture practice ABF-LAB receives the Debut Work of the Year 2026 special award for the Pôle Territorial Sud Gironde social centre in Langon, in the Gironde département south of Bordeaux. Completed in 2025, the building combines social infrastructure with bioclimatic design, regional materials and the reuse of existing components.

Social Infrastructure for Langon

The two-storey Pôle Territorial Sud Gironde brings together a range of services for the residents of Langon and the surrounding region. In addition to a library and youth centre, the social centre includes:

  • advisory services for older people
  • services for people with disabilities
  • services for the protection of mothers and children
  • spaces for social support and community life

By combining these different uses, the project creates an open and welcoming place for social support, education and interaction.

Bioclimatic Design with Natural Materials

ABF-LAB’s design follows a consistent environmental concept. Bioclimatic principles and passive systems help to reduce energy demand and improve the indoor climate.

The project uses natural materials sourced in France, including:

  • timber
  • straw bale construction
  • earth plaster
  • lime plaster
  • untreated and bio-based building materials

The design avoids products containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs), energy-intensive and petrochemical materials, and non-renewable resources. This approach contributes to a low carbon footprint while creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

Reuse as Part of the Design

The circular approach is integrated directly into the architecture. 177 timber doors and radiators from a former gendarmerie building were reused on site. The project demonstrates how existing building components can be incorporated into a new building and continue to tell part of its history.

Jury Statement

The jury of the ICONIC AWARDS 2026 recognises the Pôle Territorial Sud Gironde as a defining early work by ABF-LAB and as a consistent example of material led construction. The project combines untreated, bio based and low carbon building materials sourced in France with recyclable elements.

ABF-LAB brings together low tech approaches, reparability and bioclimatic scenarios that respond to changing patterns of use. In doing so, the project combines social care and ecological responsibility in a coherent architectural concept.

With this new building, the practice has put its approach to radically ecological and locally rooted construction into practice on a comprehensive scale for the first time. The result is a carefully considered social centre that combines resource conscious construction with a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

Key Facts

  • Award: Debut Work of the Year 2026
  • Recipient: ABF-LAB
  • Project: Pôle Territorial Sud Gironde
  • Location: Langon, Gironde, France
  • Completion: 2025
  • Focus: social infrastructure, bioclimatic design, natural materials and circular reuse
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