Project Updates

Thanks to strong public support and the establishment of a government committee, an urban swimming pool in the Spree River in central Berlin has taken two steps closer to reality.

“Flussbad Berlin” – the Global LafargeHolcim Awards Bronze 2012 prize-winning urban plan by Jan and Tim Edler will provide a public urban recreation space adjacent to the UNESCO World Heritage site, Museuminsel (Museum Island), for both residents and visitors.

The Seebaldt Project (TSP) – “Grassroots Microgrid” – is truly a community-driven contribution to brighten the future of residents in the “Comeback City” of Detroit: A picnic party including the entire neighborhood was enabled by the LafargeHolcim Foundation to celebrate the Global Awards Bronze 2018, that was later handed over to the winning team of authors at the Waterview Loft, Port Detroit.

Al Borde Arquitectos from Ecuador are redefining their paradigm on the architects’ role in society and have created a documentary about the practice of the post-crisis generation of young architecture studios. The LafargeHolcim Awards 2014 jury for Latin America praised the young architects based in Quito for their urban revitalization project that draws on the rural tradition of barter. This form of non-monetary exchange enables the refurbishment of housing in the historical center of the city for residents without sufficient monetary means. The project was considered “a promising economic model to literally mine cities rather than nature” by the jury.

The LafargeHolcim Awards Bronze 2017 Europe winning zero carbon ZEDpod is a prefabricated home with a difference. The approach decouples housing provision from land prices by installing the units with “air rights” over car parks, offering almost instant high-quality housing solutions without the land and planning issues associated with a conventional new build.

Rotterdam-based Ooze Architects was selected as one of six groups to be featured in short films in the Creative Industries Funds annual report. The project of Eva Pfannes and Sylvain Hartenberg won LafargeHolcim Awards Bronze 2017 Latin America and was praised for creating an active relationship between water management and the community.

Watch the video on Vimeo

A project to drive long-term community engagement has started to make tangible steps forward in suburban Detroit. The Global LafargeHolcim Awards Bronze 2018 winner aims to improve living conditions in an area emerging from economic decline. The components of the project include solar power generation, rainwater collection and urban farming – which all make the neighborhood more attractive for renters and potential home-owners, thereby building momentum for urban recovery.

A construction materials recycling and logistics hub at the Vergotedok in the heart of Brussels has been completed. The LafargeHolcim Acknowledgment prizewinner from Belgium in 2014 by TETRA architecten was praised for applying sustainability principles to the construction of infrastructure – in a warehouse complex for the trade of building materials in the port of Brussels.

The impressive vaulted Droneport prototype of low-carbon compressed earth and cement Durabric developed by LafargeHolcim is still welcoming visitors at the north entrance to the Arsenale in Venice. Created for the 2016 Architecture Biennale, the structure is symbolic as a gateway to the world’s most significant architecture exhibition.

An ambitious project to transform public perceptions of water, and to embed civic amenities into water infrastructure is underway in Mexico City. The Global LafargeHolcim Awards Gold winning project will improve conditions in the dense urban fabric by forming a greenbelt that doubles as water management infrastructure. Hydropuncture consolidates an alternate, decentralized, and sustainable water management system for Mexico City. Work is progressing according to plan. Basic earthworks are completed and the series of terraced platforms and retaining walls of volcanic stones are in place.

Esquimalt Municipal Council has approved a rezoning application enabling the go-ahead of the Corvette Landing development. The building’s 83-units will be in the form of studio and one, two and three-bedroom suites located adjacent to Esquimalt Harbor in the urban area of Victoria, the provincial capital of British Columbia. The 12-storey mass timber pre-fabricated modular construction will provide affordable homes and won the LafargeHolcim Awards Silver for North America in 2017. The design by Vancouver-based Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture is based on “BC-produced mass-timber technology” using engineered wood products and off-site construction methods.