Foundations 19 – Infrastructure Space

Expert workshops

How does Infrastructure Space affect the building materials industry? “We are moving into an entirely new realm that brings together theory and practice of various disciplines that ultimately collaborate.” Marc Angélil, Professor of Architecture at the ETH Zurich; member of the Board of the LafargeHolcim Foundation

At the heart of every LafargeHolcim Forum are the four workshops simultaneously held on specific aspects of the Forum theme. These topics of focus are determined and prepared by the members of the Academic Committee of the Foundation: Marc Angélil, Philippe Block, Harry Gugger, and Guillaume Habert, all professors at ETH Zurich/EPFL Lausanne. In each workshop, experts present case studies or theses to be discussed in plenum. The moderators are free to design each workshop as they see fit – some rely on group work; others hold panel discussions or conduct experimental games. Each workshop has a stationary part, comprising two half days, and a mobile part, comprising a full day. The participants are free to choose which workshop they would like to attend and they may also move from one stationary event to another. In “Infrastructure Space,” they could choose between workshops dealing with interventions at a range of scales: from individual buildings to the planet.

How does Infrastructure Space affect the building materials industry? “The modern idea of infrastructure includes very intangible things – information technology, even social issues. But construction is still a hugely important contribution to infrastructure.” Harry Gugger, Professor of Archi- tectural & Urban Design at the EPFL Lausanne; member of the Board of the LafargeHolcim Foundation

Above: Sarah Nichols, Scientific Coordi- nator of the Academic Committee of the LafargeHolcim Foundation, introduced the full day mobile workshops in the vicinity of her home town Detroit. Right: Discussing the workshop findings (from left): Kathy Velikov, Jason Young, Georges Teyssot, Christian Schmid, and Reed Kroloff.

38