3^rd Forum – “Re-inventing Construction”

About The Event

In the context of necessary economic, ecological, and social reorientations of the global community, construction needs to be re-invented and aligned with principles of sustainable development. Traditional approaches to the design, fabrication, and use of built structures have to undergo significant changes in order to address the needs of future generations. This transformation will no longer consist of isolated improvements but must be radically integrated – and encompass the entire life cycle of a built structure.

Taking an array of disciplines associated with the production of the human-made environment into consideration, the focus of the 3rd International 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.

Keynote speakers at the Forum were:

• Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner, BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group (Denmark/USA)
• Amory Lovins, Chairman and Chief Scientist, Rocky Mountain Institute (USA)
• Thom Mayne, Principal, Morphosis Architects (USA)
• Jeremy Rifkin, President, The Foundation on Economic Trends (USA)
• Michel Rojkind, Design Principal, Rojkind Arquitectos (Mexico)
• Werner Sobek, Director, Institute for Lightweight Structural Engineering & Conceptual Design, University of Stuttgart and Principal, Werner Sobek GmbH (Germany).

Discussions in four workshop groups focused on the critical aspects of the main theme:

• CO2 – With technology to zero emissions
• Mine the city – With logistics to circular metabolisms
• Stimulate stakeholders – With incentives to implementation
• Take on complexity – With integral solutions to an economy of means

The main contribution to each of the workshop topics was prepared before the Forum by a top-ranking team of experts. These papers reflected the state of the art and developed visions for future quantum leaps. The concepts were presented and discussed in the workshops, flanked by a dozen outstanding, real case studies from all over the world. At the end of the workshops the participants elaborated statements with regard to the expert papers and outline possible solutions related to the four topics.

The intellectual work was stimulated and enriched by field experiences via four highly professional excursions directly linked to the workshop themes.