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Events List
Upcoming Events
October 1, 2024 – February 11, 2025
Holcim Foundation Awards 2025
Open for entries October 1, 2024 – February 11, 2025 at 14:00 hrs UTC
The world’s most significant competition for sustainable design is now accepting submissions. Enter today for your opportunity to share USD 1 million in Awards prizes.
All information about the Holcim Foundation Awards 2025 can be found on its dedicated microsite. Here, visitors learn more about sustainable design’s most significant prize - the Holcim Foundation Awards - and gain all the insight and information needed to enter the competition.
For inspiration, the site features the Holcim Foundation’s new “Words with Winners” film series, showcasing pioneering projects and influential figures that have shaped the competition’s 20-year legacy.
November 5-7, 2024
Future of Construction 2024
Sponsored by the Holcim Foundation, Making the Past Productive, November 5–7, 2024, is a symposium in the domain of the architecture, engineering, and construction field, connecting academia, practice, and industry, showcasing the state of the art research and the future of building.
To be held at the Academia di Architecture, Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI) in Mendrisio, Switzerland in collaboration with: ETH Zürich; National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Digital Fabrication; and Center for Augmented Computational Design in Architecture, Engineering & Construction (Design++).
Past Events
A long history of bringing people together
To drive system change, our events including symposiums, roundtables, and workshops that connect people from diverse generations, geographies and disciplines to amplify leading-edge thinking and best practice solutions.
Follow the links below for more information on previous events including publications, recordings, and reports.
2024
Ecogradia Season 4
January 30 – June 18, 2024
We kick off with headliner Bjarke Ingels, the founder of BIG, one of the most well-known architecture firms today, who explores form as a pathway to performance and experience. In episode 2, Snøhetta’s founder, Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, shares an innovative design process deployed by his team that produces an altogether different kind of architecture.
In the course of the next few months, you will learn from experts with perspective. For instance, architects Sandra Barclay and Jean Pierre Crousse talk about their work in Peru. Vo Trong Nghia discusses Vietnam. We have also made room for topical deep dives, what we call ‘eco-know-how’ segments, conversations with specialists that answer practical questions on the challenge of sustainability.
2023
Ecogradia Season 3
August 1 – December 19, 2023
The climate crisis is here. Extreme weather is perturbing all lives rapidly across the world. How should buildings and cities respond? Should action be rooted in science or vernacular know-how? Or maybe both?
One word sums up the interviews: diversity. We spoke with practitioners from regions as far-flung as Africa, Mexico and India. We also asked thought leaders about their takes on questions feeding the global conversation: How does carbon shape design? What products should we buy? How do boardrooms affect thinking at the drawing board?
Holcim Awards 2023 Ceremony
November 18, 2023
The Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction has announced the winners of its international Holcim Awards for 2023, underscoring the breadth of diverse and innovative real-world approaches to transforming the built environment.
Find out more about the 20 Holcim Awards 2023 winners and watch a replay/highlights from the Holcim Awards 2023 ceremony.
Sounding Board Berlin
October 24, 2023
This event featured four speakers presenting the latest technologies that are transforming construction: Claire du Plessis, Architect, Start Somewhere; Max Rudolph, Co-Founder, Form Follows You; Dominik Campanella, Co-Founder and CEO, Concular; and Alexander Happ, Alexander Happ Managing Director and Founder, Assiduus³. They were joined by three industry experts to challenge their ideas: Emanuel Heisenberg, Founder and CEO, Ecoworks; Christine Lemaitre, CEO, German Sustainable Building Council; and Stuart Smith, Director, ARUP and Member of the Board, Holcim Foundation.
Ad Rem: Adaptation in Architecture - Transforming Joglo Vernacular Housing in Java
August 26, 2023
Focusing on the Javanese vernacular Joglo typology, this one-day roundtable explored building strategies, emerging digital technologies, and broader analyses of architecture and cultural change. The panels and keynotes explored approaches to preservation from building strategies and emerging digital technologies to broader analyses of architecture and cultural change.
Sounding Board Rotterdam
June 19, 2023
This event featured four speakers presenting their cutting-edge ideas for sustainable construction: Matteo Baldassari, Founder and CEO, Concr3de; Nadia Fani, Founder and CEO, Coastruction; Marvin Henry, Senior Manager Avoided Emissions, WBCSD; and Friso Klapwijk, Global Director Urban Climate Resilience, Wavin. They were joined by three industry experts to challenge their ideas: Lot Locher, International Director Climate, One Architecture & Urbanism; Jan Wurm, Europe Venturing Lead and EU Engagement Lead, Arup; and Harm Albert Zanting, Director Enviro-Socio Planning at Global Business Area Resilience, Arcadis.
Ecogradia Season 2
January 25 – June 6, 2023
Ecogradia Season 2 podcasts examines how better buildings and better urban systems contribute to achieving a sustainable future. Across ten episodes, Ecogradia hosted by strategist, author, and educator Dr Nirmal Kishnani, examines the importance of considering natural systems in delivering innovation and solutions on the sustainability frontlines.
Holcim Foundation Impact Summit
April 4, 2023
Columbia University, New York City, USA
The Holcim Foundation Impact Summit brought together key players across the construction and real estate value chains under the theme “Embodied Carbon: America’s Next Frontier”. The goal was to identify innovative ways to accelerate the reduction of embodied carbon for buildings in the US in the short term.
Sounding Board Zurich
March 7, 2023
Zurich, Switzerland
At the first Sounding Board, three speakers presented their cutting-edge ideas on material-efficient construction, re-use beyond recycling, and fabrication-aware generative design. These ideas were then challenged and put to the test by three industry experts.
2022
Ecogradia Season 1
November 18 - December 13 2022
Ecogradia is a new podcast looking for answers and more through stories, ideas and solutions from experts and practitioners at the front lines of sustainable architecture and urbanism. Hosted by strategist, author and educator Dr Nirmal Kishnani, the podcast is devoted to sustainable architecture and urbanism. The series includes interviews with experts and practitioners about innovation and solutions on the sustainability frontlines.
Cities: Affordable Housing Workshop 2022
November 14-18, 2022
Norman Foster Foundation, Madrid
The Holcim Foundation supported the Norman Foster Foundation workshop Cities: Affordable Housing held in Madrid in November 2022. With contributions from a multidisciplinary range of leading experts, the workshop addressed the provision of affordable housing in cities of different contexts globally. The workshop looked at how the various stakeholders can meet demand for housing in cities while exploring what architecture and design can do to meet the challenge.
Next Generation Accelerator (NGX) Workshop
March 31 - April 1, 2022
Zweideln, Switzerland
The Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction held a workshop with a hand-selected group of next generation experts to plot future challenges and ideas on transforming the built environment. In a first-of-its kind event for the Holcim Foundation, the workshop brought together the 11 members of its Next Generation Accelerator (NGX) group representing ten countries and five continents – to develop suggestions for the Foundation’s future strategy and activities.
2021
Re-Materializing Housing Workshop 2021
November 15-19, 2021
Norman Foster Foundation, Madrid, Spain
The Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction joined forces with the Norman Foster Foundation to support a workshop dedicated to housing. This workshop offered a platform for the next generation of researchers and practitioners to meet in a week-long laboratory to explore how to rematerialise housing in the long term.
2019
6th Holcim Forum “Re-materializing Construction”
April 4-6, 2019
American University in Cairo (AUC), Egypt
The Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction invited leading thinkers from architecture, engineering, planning, and the construction industry to a three-day forum hosted by The American University in Cairo. The keynote speakers, panel discussions, workshop exchanges and site visits expanded knowledge on how materials management, materials flows and circular design must play central roles to achieve a more sustainable world.
2018
Next Generation Awards Lab 2018
September 6, 2018
Universidad Iberoamericana (IBERO) in Mexico City, Mexico
50 Next Generation 2017 Awards winners from around the world met at the Universidad Iberoamericana (IBERO) in Mexico City to encourage progress towards sustainability in building and construction. The Lab provided a platform to further develop cutting-edge projects and exchange ideas in concurrent workshops across scales from micro to macro – from innovative materials and individual buildings, through to regional and global impacts.
3rd Holcim Roundtable “Re-materializing Construction”
March 9-10, 2018
Institute for Lightweight Structures & Conceptual Design (ILEK), University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
The third Holcim Roundtable for Sustainable Construction “Re-materializing Construction” was a workshop positioned to discuss content, choreography and potential outcomes of the Holcim Forum for Sustainable Construction “Re-materializing Construction” to be held at the American University in Cairo (AUC), Egypt from April 4 to 6, 2019. The Roundtable included four workshops to devise a clear agenda in preparation for the Forum.
2016
5th Holcim Forum “Infrastructure Space”
April 7-9, 2016
Detroit, USA
“Infrastructure Space” was the topic of the three-day symposium and examined how to deliver long-term infrastructure that is aligned with sustaining human habitat. View video/audio recordings of all keynote addresses and a rich gallery of images from the Forum. Leading thinkers from architecture, civil engineering, urban planning, social science, business, and industry from 40 countries met in Detroit at the 5th International Holcim Forum on April 7-9, 2016.
2015
Next Generation Awards Lab
September 24, 2015
New York, USA
53 Next Generation 2014 Awards winners from around the world met in New York to exchange ideas about the future of sustainable construction. Significantly, the event was held during Climate Week NYC 2015, with Pope Francis addressing the United Nations General Assembly on climate change the following day.
2nd Holcim Roundtable “Re-materializing Construction”
June 28 - July 1, 2015
Bibliothek Werner Oechslin, Einsiedeln, Switzerland
The second Holcim Roundtable for Sustainable Construction “Re-materializing Construction” aimed to develop strategies at two scales: material use in individual buildings and the logistical chains distributing these materials across regions.
The Holcim Roundtable brought together experts from 12 countries dedicated to specific topics related to the building sector with the objective of developing strategies to “re-materialize” construction by reducing consumption throughout the material cycle from extraction to processing, transport, installation, maintenance, and removal. The Roundtable was held at the Bibliothek Werner Oechslin, Einsiedeln, Switzerland in June/July 2015.
2014
1st Holcim Roundtable “Re-materializing Construction”
June 30 - July 2, 2014
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
The inaugural Holcim Roundtable for Sustainable Construction “Re-materializing Construction” concentrated on issues of materials, stocks and flows, availability, lightweight assemblies, life cycle, re-use, and related themes. The Holcim Roundtable brought together experts from 10 countries dedicated to specific topics related to the building sector with the objective of generating and channeling new knowledge to “re-materialize” construction, and was held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA in mid-2014.
2013
4th Holcim Forum “Economy of Sustainable Construction”
April 10-13, 2013
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Bombay), Mumbai, India
The Economy of Sustainable Construction explores new paradigms of construction and prosperity that can work with our environment, rather than against it. No panacea for the environmental, economic, and social problems is presented in the book, but two broad strategies are postulated: firstly, short-term economic incentives for sustainable construction and; secondly, more holistic approaches to building concerned less with profits and more with social and ecological sustainability.
2010
3rd Holcim Forum “Re-inventing Construction”
April 13-17, 2010
Universidad Iberoamericana (IBERO), Mexico City, Mexico
Taking an array of disciplines associated with the production of the human-made environment into consideration, the focus of the 3rd International Holcim Forum “Re-inventing Construction” was on knowledge mining and dissemination, material and product life cycle assessment, CO2 emissions and energy efficiency, considered deployment of means and economic resources, measured public and private policies, as well as on social welfare and equity.
2007
2nd Holcim Forum “Urban_Trans_Formation”
April 18-21, 2007
Tongji University, Shanghai, China
What will the city of Shanghai look like 20 years from now? How will the growing city balance economic, environmental and social needs of its people? More than 250 experts and scholars from over 40 countries gathered in Shanghai to debate these and other aspects of tomorrow’s approaches to urban development.
2004
1st Holcim Forum “Basic Needs”
September 15-18, 2004
ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
The first ever Holcim Forum for Sustainable Construction was held at the ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology). Under the banner of "Basic Needs", experts and students from all over the world gathered to take part in workshops, debates, and lectures on a wide variety of topics surrounding housing, water supplies and road access, as essential elements of society's infrastructure.