Durabric: How-tech for cutting-edge structure

The Droneport’s location at the end of the Arsenale in Venice is symbolic as the gateway to a newly opened public park. The possibility of the structure remaining as a permanent legacy is now under consideration.

The construction of the prototype Droneport shell has been made possible by The Norman Foster Foundation together with engineering skills from ETH Zurich, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge University; contributions by students from Madrid, ETH Zurich and MIT; and the support of the LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction and the LafargeHolcim Research Center in Lyon. They have produced a high strength, earth-based Durabric product specifically for the project.

The special Durabric product of stabilised earth is a reliable, affordable and environmentally friendly building material that does not require intensive use of fuel to achieve its performance.

18,000 Durabrics were made available for the Droneport construction in Venice. 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.

Sketch by Lord Norman Foster showing the Durabric sandwich construction used to build the Droneport prototype.

Testing on site: Lord Norman Foster approving a construction sample of “Durabric” compressed earth bricks at his “Droneport” pavilion at the 15th International Architecture Biennale in Venice.

The Research Center of LafargeHolcim in Lyon developed customized bricks to meet the specific requirements of the Droneport vault.

Durabric fabrication: LafargeHolcim developed Durabric, a naturally cured building block made of compressed earth and cement, and launched it commercially in Cameroon, Indonesia, Malawi and Tanzania.