Expert conference on "Re-materializing construction"

LafargeHolcim Forum for Sustainable Construction 2019 in Egypt

Every three years, the LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction conducts an international conference, bringing together more than 300 renowned experts from architecture, urban design, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, material sciences and related fields from all continents.

The 6th International LafargeHolcim Forum for Sustainable Construction will be hosted by the American University in Cairo from April 4 to 6, 2019. It is dedicated to the topic of "Re-materializing Construction."

The Forum pursues the question of how the building and construction industry can adapt to be leaner: with a smaller ecological footprint and not driven by the pretense of infinitely available raw materials. Hence, the Forum seeks to suggest radical solutions in the use of building materials.

From left to right: Christine Binswanger (Image © Katalin-Deér), Lord Norman Foster (Image courtesy of LafargeHolcim Foundation), Laila Iskandar (Image courtesy Middle East Monitor), Mitchell Joachim (Image courtesy of LafargeHolcim Foundation), Francis Kéré (Image © Eric-Jan Ouwerkerk), Anne Lacaton (Image courtesy of LafargeHolcim Foundation), Rt Hon Simon Upton (Image courtesy of LafargeHolcim Foundation).

Renowned keynote speakers confirmed

Speeches, workshops and site visits will focus on strategies to reduce consumption throughout the material cycle from extraction to processing, transport, installation, maintenance, and removal. Confirmed speakers include Christine Binswanger (Switzerland), Lord Norman Foster (UK), Laila Iskandar (Egypt), Mitchell Joachim (USA), Francis Kéré (Germany), Anne Lacaton (France), and Rt Hon Simon Upton (New Zealand). 

Registration open now

Registration of interest to attend closes January 31, 2019, and the Academic Committee of the LafargeHolcim Foundation selects participants from the registrations made at LafargeHolcim's website. 

The American University in Cairo, Egypt. Image courtesy of American University in Cairo

Concurrent workshops

Four workshops will foster interdisciplinary dialogue, bring forward new ideas, and examine potential solutions. Each workshop will be moderated by renowned experts and include input-presentations by more than 60 specialists from all regions of the world. Contemporary material use in construction will be scrutinized, and strategies will be identified to promote fundamentally sustainable practices. 

• Changing paradigms: Materials for a world not yet built
  A sustainable built environment that is fully recyclable and constructed from renewable materials
• Shifting the flows, pulling the strings: Stocks, flows, and their dynamics
  Exploring interrelated temporal dynamics of materials, life cycles, lifestyles and urban evolution
• From manual to digital and vice-versa: Digitalization, labor, and construction
  From best practices in manual and digital fabrication: consequential, collaborative solutions
• Catch 22: Material needs versus material impact
  The right material, the best material, and minimizing material use

More information on the Forum, workshops, speakers, and moderators at LafargeHolcim Foundation Forum. 

One of the four concurrent mobile workshops of the LafargeHolcim Forum on "archeological heritage" will visit the Grand Egyptian Museum where the 11m high, 83 ton statue of Ramses II will be first monument that visitors will see in the museum’s entrance hall. Image © Dana Smillie

About the LafargeHolcim Forum for Sustainable Construction

The International LafargeHolcim Forum is a tri-annual series of expert conferences for the professional exchange on the topic of sustainable construction. The LafargeHolcim Foundation conducts the Forum in close cooperation with its Academic Committee (based at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology – ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne). The three-day event is an interdisciplinary academic platform for architects, engineers, material scientists, and construction professionals of all generations to exchange information on creating a more sustainably built environment. Each LafargeHolcim Forum is complemented by an academic publication, edited by Ruby Press, Germany. 

About the LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction

The LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction was created in 2003 to raise awareness of the important role that architecture, engineering, urban planning and the building industry have in achieving a more sustainable future. Please visit LarfargeHolcim Foundation for more information.

The Foundation is an independent legal entity that is supported by LafargeHolcim. 

Top image: Participants will visit the Grand Egyptian Museum currently nearing completion. Image © GEM Engineering Committee

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