His lecture will be held in English and introduce some of the key elements and trends in sustainable construction, as well as examining concrete solutions for building materials. The role of hybrid concrete, digital fabrication, pre-fabrication, clay-based concrete and recycled aggregates will also be framed in the context of future developments.

Chair of Sustainable Construction

Guillaume Habert is Professor of Sustainable Construction within the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). The ETH Zurich established an endowed chair for Sustainable Construction in 2012. Holcim, the sponsor of the Holcim Foundation, supported the ETH Zurich with a notable donation to mark the construction materials group’s 100th anniversary. The new professorship takes the lace of an assistant professorship of the same name that was initiated by Holcim and the Holcim Foundation in 2006.

Guillaume Habert is also a member of the Academic Committee (AC) of the Holcim Foundation, and will be a member of the Holcim Awards jury for North America in 2014. He obtained a degree in earth, atmospheric and oceanic studies from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris and obtained a PhD in structural geology from Université de Toulouse, France. The topic of his dissertation was Relations between internal structures in granite and the tectonic context. He has also completed post-doctoral studies on low-cost construction materials at Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB), Brazil.

Guillaume Habert was previously a research engineer at the Université Paris-Est, France. His research interests focus on the evaluation of concrete sustainability and the development of innovative bonding agents for use in construction. In addition, he examines the life cycle assessment of building materials as well as individual buildings and urban precincts. 

ETH Zurich Introductory Lectures

Introductory and farewell lectures of professors and inaugural lectures of lecturers (PDs) are public lectures of ETH Zurich. Bookings are not required to attend the lecture.

Prof Dr Habert’s lecture will start at 17:15hrs on Tuesday November 19, 2013 in Auditorium Maximum F30 of the Main Building (Hauptgebäude), ETH Zurich, Rämistrasse 101, Zurich.

For more information see ETH Zurich website