For research and experimentation to challenge convention, it must push boundaries and include an element of risk. The Empa NEST platform “House for a House” in Switzerland enables testing where the costs and risks of experimentation are dramatically reduced. This creates an incentive for academia, industry, and policymakers to test convention and enable innovation.

Matthias Kohler, Professor of Architecture & Digital Fabrication has taken over the leadership of a Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research. Matthias Kohler is project author of High-efficiency concrete formwork technology which won both a Holcim Awards Acknowledgement prize for Europe in 2011 and the inaugural global Holcim Innovation 1st prize in 2012.

The inaugural Holcim Innovation 1st prize was presented to Fabio Gramazio and Matthias Kohler, Professors of Architecture and Digital Fabrication at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) for their High-efficiency concrete formwork technology. In a team with Silvan Oesterle, Amar Mirjan and Axel Vansteenkiste, they have developed a technique for the production of unique free-form concrete components. The research focuses on new strategies for the production of contemporary architectural components and also the interplay between architectural design and new digital fabrication techniques.

The jury commended the project for its excellent level of research and practice-oriented experimentation. The proposed concrete production process developed by a research team in Architecture & Digital Fabrication at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) is an ingenious approach to casting concrete surfaces of highly complex geometrical definition. It advances an entirely new sequence of production phases. First, a robot arranges a pile of sand within formwork into a shape that corresponds to the lower profile of the desired geometrical form to be cast.

A school project in Gando, Burkina Faso, a multifunctional community center in São Paulo, Brazil, and an urban renewal plan in Berlin, Germany are the winners of the Global Holcim Awards for 2012. These leading sustainable construction projects were selected from 15 finalist submissions by a jury of independent experts led by Enrique Norten. The finalists were the regional Holcim Awards 2011 winning projects that had been selected from more than 6,000 entries in 146 countries.

The winners of the 3rd International Holcim Awards competition for sustainable construction projects and visions from across Europe have been announced at a ceremony in Milan. A total of USD 300,000 was presented to ten outstanding projects submitted by architects, planners, engineers and project owners. The winning projects show the wide range of approaches in the region to sustainable construction that respond both to intensified urbanization and innovation in building materials and construction techniques.