Three Ambassadors of the LafargeHolcim Awards brought their projects to life at “Structures and Materials” in the series “Meetings on Architecture” at the Venice Biennale. Led by Curator and member of the Board of the LafargeHolcim Foundation, Alejandro Aravena, the expert panellists presented a series of case studies from an “insider’s perspective”. Both the presentations and the Q&A session that followed emphasized the complexity of what it takes to get things built, and the importance of focussing on materials to create sustainable design solutions.

“3 billion people on this planet live in buildings made of mud, and with good reason!” says Anna Heringer, a proponent of building with mud. The former Awards Bronze winner strongly advocates the use of mud as a building material and stresses that building with mud is highly sustainable: mud requires no baking or firing, is readily available near construction sites, is a low cost material, and has an extremely low carbon footprint.

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. 

Acclaimed environmental researcher Michael Braungart wants to shake-up the way structures are designed, and is inspiring architects, planners, building contractors, district developers and investors with his contribution to the 15th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice. “Sustainable construction shouldn’t be about less harmful structures – but creating buildings and infrastructure that generate the most beneficial to the environment”, he says.

The creation of a pavilion at the 15th International Architecture Biennale in Venice based on a typical bay of the “Droneport” was made possible 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.

Nigerian-born Kunlé Adeyemi, leader of Dutch practice NLÉ and member of the LafargeHolcim Awards jury has won the Silver Lion at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition. He was presented with the prize for promising young architects for his Makoko Floating School, which sets out to solve the issues of flooding and overcrowding in Nigeria’s waterside slums. Although there are no roads or infrastructure, the Makoko slum is home to almost 100,000 people who are completely adapted to an unconventional life on the water.

Winner of an Honorable Mention in the 2014 Awards competition, Christian Kerez, was nominated by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia to exhibit at the Swiss Pavilion at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition. The architect and professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) aims to investigate the possibilities — technically, as much as in our imagination — of how to think, build and experience architecture differently.

Global Holcim Awards Silver 2015 winner Milinda Pathiraja from RAW (Robust Architecture Workshop), Sri Lanka is featured in “Reporting from the Front” at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition. His winning project Post-War Collective: Community library and social recuperation redeployed the skills and discipline of former troops in Sri Lanka into the building industry – and illustrates his belief in the power of architecture to integrate and contribute to the resolution of social, political and economic challenges.

Stabilized earth bricks are a reliable, affordable and environmental-friendly building material. Compared to burnt clay bricks they do not require the intensive use of firewood or other fuel to achieve their performance. LafargeHolcim developed Durabric, a naturally cured building block made of compressed earth and cement, and launched it commercially in Cameroon, Indonesia, Malawi and Tanzania. As the technology is easily transferable, the LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction encouraged the use of Durabric to build the Droneport prototype at the Architecture Biennale in Venice as a symbol for future projects in Rwanda and other emerging countries.

The LafargeHolcim Foundation is proud to be affiliated with an outstanding network of sustainable construction experts. Around 40 former Awards winners, jury members, Roundtable participants and Forum keynote speakers will be exhibitors at the 15th Architecture Biennale in Venice.

It is almost a rule that one necessary step towards development is the implementation of infrastructure — roads, ports, airports, and railways are meant to provide the connectivity to move goods, services, and people. There are many places in Africa that lack appropriate infrastructure, and it may take a while to put it in place. The proposal for a Droneport is expected to provide one step towards development; using the air to move things on a small scale may be a shortcut that will ultimately save time and money without having to wait for heavy, conventional infrastructure. It is the equivalent of the old telephone line compared to the cellular network. Drones delivering medicine, food, or a missing piece to repair a car or water mill could be called a kind of cellular infrastructure.