Next Generation Awards Lab 2018
Learning Amplified through Exchange with Like-Minded People
LafargeHolcim Awards Lab 2018 Mexico City
What’s next in sustainable construction? More than 50 young architects and engineers from 25 countries were inspired by lectures, presented their projects and exchanged experiences at the LafargeHolcim Next Generations Awards Lab in Mexico City. Three teams returned home with a two-year Research in Practice Grant.
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.
Projects and teams represented Argentina, Canada, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, France, German, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Mexico, Morocco, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and the USA.
To complement the Lab workshops, the university students and young professionals were inspired by a welcome lecture by IBERO Director of Architecture, Urbanism & Civil Engineering, José Luis Gutiérrez Brezmes.
Doing more with less - Tatiana Bilbao
Tatiana Bilbao Founder & Principal, Tatiana Bilbao Estudio, Mexico City, Mexico, showed how an interdisciplinary team proposed an realized a large number of small architectural interventions for the botanical gardens in Culiacán, Sinaloa State in Mexico.
The project is the embodiment of doing more with less to create areas to rest and for encounter, engaging people by combining art, recreation and education. She also explained her current research work on “the house” mentioning how important it is for architects to create a platform for people to live their own lives and not imposing their own ideas upon them.
Having a positive impact on society - Michel Rojkind
It’s not about building, but about interaction and having a positive impact on society, explained Michel Rojkind, Design Principal & Founder, Rojkind Arquitectos, Mexico City, Mexico. It’s about going beyond the standard program of design, experimenting with innovation. He showed the example of the Fora Boca, a concert hall (opened December 2017) in Boca del Río, Veracruz, Mexico that reconnects a formerly neglected area with the community - he called it social reconstruction by creating open spaces and possibilities for interaction.
Workshops
The 25 teams were grouped into four Labs based on the scale of their project: small, medium, large, and extra-large (S, M, L, XL). Each team introduced its project in a condensed 10-minute presentation, followed by a discussion on the future of sustainability moderated by internationally renowned expert “Lab Moderators, Motivators and Reporters”. The four Labs then came together to present and discuss their findings.
