Board inspects Foundation's footprint at the Venice Biennale 2016
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Board of the LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction meeting at the 15th International Architecture Biennale in Venice curated by Alejandro Aravena (l-r): Enrique Norten, Marc Angélil, Maria Atkinson, Roland Köhler, Alejandro Aravena, Marilyne Andersen, Simon Upton, Rolf Soiron and Harry Gugger. Not pictured: Jens Diebold, Jan Jenisch, Stuart Smith, and Brinda Somaya. Simon Upton and Rolf Soiron stepped down in March 2018.
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Board of the Foundation meets at the Venice Biennale
John Ochsendorf (front center), partner at ODB and structural engineer of the Droneport projects together with LafargeHolcim Foundation Board members Simon Upton (left) and Marilyne Andersen as well as CEO of the LafargeHolcim Research Centre Carlos Espina (far right).
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Board of the Foundation meets at the Venice Biennale
The highlight of the guided tour was the visit of the prototype of the Droneport shell at La Arsenale. Initiated by The Norman Foster Foundation, the project brought together professors and students from five universities across Europe, the UK and America along with the Swiss LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction and its related Research Center in Lyon.
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Board of the Foundation meets at the Venice Biennale
The members of the Board were particularly impressed by the large number of exhibitors closely linked to the Foundation, including two global Awards gold winning projects (Burkina Faso, Kéré and Medellín, EPM/Camargo) and global Silver (Ambepussa, Milinda).
The Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena, Pritzker Prize winner 2016, guided his fellow Board members of the LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction through the 15th International Architecture Biennale in Venice including the prototype Droneport shell which is made of Durabrics from LafargeHolcim. It consists of 18,000 bricks made of compressed earth and cement. The product was optimized by the LafargeHolcim Research Centre in Lyon to meet the specific requirements of the project.
Last updated: June 28, 2016 Venice, Italy
The Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena, Pritzker Prize winner 2016, guided his fellow Board members of the LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction through the 15th International Architecture Biennale in Venice including the prototype Droneport shell which is made of Durabrics from LafargeHolcim. It consists of 18,000 bricks made of compressed earth and cement. The product was optimized by the LafargeHolcim Research Centre in Lyon to meet the specific requirements of the project.
The challenge was to ensure a compressive strength of at least 10 MPa of the building blocks, while minimizing the weight and size by comparison to the standard Durabric which is supplied by LafargeHolcim to build basic infrastructure and affordable housing in emerging parts of the world.
To learn more about how the Droneport together with Durabrics can improve the quality of life, watch the video to the left including statements by architect Norman Foster, structural engineer John Ochsendorf, ODB project leader Hannes Hofmann as well as LafargeHolcim CEO Eric Olsen, and Carlos Espina, head of the LafargeHolcim Research Centre.