LafargeHolcim has been holding forums on sustainable building every three years since 2004. Their topics cover the most pressing problems of modern architecture, engineering and construction proper. Speakers and participants include leading experts from these industries from around the world. The program traditionally includes four parallel workshops and visits to landmark projects under construction and completed. check in the VI Forum is open until January 31st.
The key topic of the event in 2019 is “Re-materialization of construction”. The main vectors for discussion will be radical solutions and technologies in the construction industry, which most often functions as if the resources it needs were inexhaustible. Speakers, including Norman Foster, Christina Biswanger (Herzog & de Meuron), Anna Lacaton (Lacaton & Vassal), Diebedo Francis Kere, will consider strategies to reduce consumption at all stages of the "material cycle" - raw materials extraction, processing, transportation, construction, operation and dismantling - which will create a more economical industry with a smaller ecological footprint.
According to the tradition of the forum, the sessions of reports and discussions will be supplemented by four parallel workshops led by Werner Sobek, Anna Heringer and other renowned experts. Each of the workshops consists of two sessions (half a day) and full day excursions to various sites around Cairo. Then the participants will be able to make presentations on their work and exchange experiences.
- Workshop “Paradigm Shift: Materials for a World Not Yet Built” is dedicated to creating a fully recyclable built environment from naturally grown or naturally produced materials.
- The Guiding Streams, Pulling Strings: Inventories, Streams and Dynamics group will explore four time processes: the natural cycles that govern organic material production and energy consumption patterns, the life cycle of a building, human lifestyles and urban evolution.
- During the workshop “From manual to digital and back again: digitalization, labor and construction”, participants will find out where the digitalization trend can offer new opportunities, and where it unintentionally causes harm.
- Trick 22: Material Needs vs Material Implications - An opportunity to rethink sourcing and material efficiency by asking three questions: what is the right material, what is the best material, and how we can minimize the use of materials.
Despite the "instability" of the generally accepted construction methods associated with the large-scale consumption and use of substances that are not always safe for people and the environment, great changes for the better are possible in this area. They will be brought about by the economical use of higher quality materials and reduced energy consumption in finished objects during the life cycle. The development of energy efficient technologies and the use of "green" energy sources are yielding results, but they are still insignificant due to the rapid pace of urbanization and the growing volume of construction. The key idea of the future forum - the transition in the production and use of materials to the recycling of raw materials, their "recovery" - since 2014 have been developed at round tables by Werner Sobek, Alejandro Aravena, Anna Heringer, Michael Braungart. Expert meetings were held at leading technical universities in the world: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Swiss Higher Technical School in Zurich (ETH Zürich) and the Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design at the University of Stuttgart.
The venue of the forum is always conceptually linked to the theme of sustainable development. The first event was held by the LafargeHolcim Foundation at the Swiss Higher Technical School in Zurich (ETH Zürich), and the next platforms for it were rapidly growing metropolitan areas - that is, cities where the topic of "sustainable" development is especially acute - Shanghai, Mexico City, Mumbai, as well as the city with unique potential for redevelopment - Detroit. In 2019, the event will take place in Cairo, the largest city in the Middle East and the entire Arab world, where ambitious urban planning and architectural projects are now being implemented. The VI Forum will be based on the American Institute in Cairo (AUC), an authoritative university with a century of history.
