Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction

Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction

Founded	2003
Founder	Holcim
Type	Educational, promotional
Headquarters	Hagenholzestrasse 83, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland
Location	Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, Hagenholzstrasse 83, CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland
Coordinates	47°24′52″N8°33′35″E / 47.414571°N 8.559809°E / 47.414571; 8.559809
Area served	Global
Owner	Holcim Group
Employees	9
Website	https://holcimfoundation.org

The Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting sustainable practices in the fields of architecture, engineering, urban planning, and construction. Its primary aim is to identify, discuss, and democratize the latest advancements and best practices in sustainable construction worldwide.

The organization focuses on three main objectives to address the technological, environmental, socioeconomic, and cultural challenges in building and construction:

• Transferring ideas and knowledge: Facilitating the exchange of innovative ideas and best practices in sustainable construction.
• Empowering a community of changemakers: Supporting and enabling individuals and groups committed to driving sustainable change in the construction industry.
• Showcasing real-world solutions: Highlighting practical examples of sustainable construction to inspire and guide future projects. ^[1]

History

The Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction was established in 2003 in Zurich, Switzerland, by Holcim Ltd, the foundation’s sole sponsor.

As a pioneer in the sustainable design and construction movement, the Holcim Foundation has been a beacon of thought leadership for the building industry since its inception. With six international award competition cycles, over 100 events conducted, and 50 publications produced, the foundation aims to accelerate systems change in the built environment. ^[2]

The organization has adapted its name in response to changes in its sponsor's corporate identity. When Holcim Ltd and Lafarge S.A. completed their global merger and launched LafargeHolcim in July 2015, ^[3] the foundation's name was changed to the LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, and its key initiatives were renamed the LafargeHolcim Awards and LafargeHolcim Forum. ^[4] In July 2021, following the rebranding of LafargeHolcim to Holcim, the foundation reverted to its original name, the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, and updated its branding and identity accordingly. ^[5]

Holcim Foundation Awards for Sustainable Construction

Main article: Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction

The Holcim Foundation Awards competition recognizes and promotes projects that combine sustainable design and construction with architectural excellence. By highlighting visionary projects, the Holcim Foundation Awards contribute to a global dialogue on sustainable development, inspiring a new generation of professionals to embrace holistic and responsible approaches to building design and construction. The competition offers US$1 million in prize money in each two-year cycle. ^[6]

The competition is held concurrently across five geographical regions: Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East & Africa, and North America.

Awards 2025 Now Open for Entries

The next Holcim Foundation Awards competition is now open for entries. Eligibility: projects must be client-supported and at late design phase or already under construction, provided construction is not completed before February 11, 2025.

Previous Competitions

The competition was held over a three-year cycle for the first six competition cycles. In addition to the main category prizes (Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Acknowledgement), an additional Next Generation category was open for students and young professionals not older than 30. ^[7]

The competition cycles to date are:

• 1st Holcim Awards 2004-2006
• 2nd Holcim Awards 2007-2009
• 3rd Holcim Awards 2010-2012
• 4th Holcim Awards 2013-2015
• 5th LafargeHolcim Awards 2016-2019
• 6th Holcim Awards 2020-2021
• 7th Holcim Awards 2023
• 8th Holcim Foundation Awards 2025 (open for entries until February 11, 2025)

Holcim Forum for Sustainable Construction

The Holcim Forum is a series of symposia focused on sustainable construction. These events serve as an academic platform for architects, engineers, construction professionals, and specialists. The forum supports sustainable construction within the scientific community, among experts in the construction sector, business, and society. It promotes interdisciplinary dialogue, brings forward new ideas, and examines potential solutions. ^[8]

Past Forums

• 2004: 1st Holcim Forum on "Basic Needs" at ETH Zurich in Switzerland
• 2007: 2nd Holcim Forum on "Urban_Trans_Formation" at Tongji University in Shanghai, China
• 2010: 3rd Holcim Forum on "Re-inventing Construction" at Universidad Iberoamericana (IBERO) in Mexico City, Mexico
• 2013: 4th Holcim Forum on "Economy of Sustainable Construction" at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Bombay), in Mumbai, India
• 2016: 5th Holcim Forum on "Infrastructure Space" at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI, USA
• 2019: 6th Holcim Forum on "Re-materializing Construction" at The American University in Cairo (AUC), Egypt

Target issues for sustainable construction

The Holcim Foundation measures and evaluates sustainable construction using five "target issues". ^[9] Three of these align with the triple bottom line concept of balanced social, environmental and economic performance. The two further target issues cover the contextual and aesthetic impact, and innovation and transferability. ^[10]

Innovation and transferability - "Progress"

Projects must demonstrate innovative approaches to sustainable development by pushing the envelope of practice and exploring new disciplinary frontiers. Breakthroughs and trend-setting discoveries must also be transferable to a range of other applications. Above all, transferable innovations must comply with the principles of circularity and decarbonization, while demonstrating an awareness of the environmental impact of construction throughout a structure's use-cycle. Possible innovations could include:

• triggering advancements in architecture, urban design, landscape design, and territorial planning, in civil, urban, and environmental engineering, in the material sciences, in manual and digital manufacturing, or in other practices involved in the production of the built environment;
• introducing groundbreaking approaches to design, construction techniques, and material production, or experimental solutions for load-bearing structures, enclosures, mechanical systems, as well as building processes, operations, and maintenance;
• making original contributions to the improvement of social relations and livelihoods via pioneering user-oriented design propositions and novel use scenarios;
• establishing new monitoring methods for evaluating the project's objectives and its performance over time;
• applying novel means of disseminating research findings and practical know-how, including project documentation, communications and public outreach, as well as education and training programs. ^[11]

Ethical standards and social inclusion - "People"

Projects must adhere to the highest ethical standards and promote social inclusion at all stages of the process, from planning and construction to use, servicing, renovation, and decommissioning. To ensure an enduring positive impact on communities, proposals must demonstrate how to enhance the collective realm and how affordable and socially-inclusive habitats can be sustained, including the fair distribution and management of resources. Possible contributions could include:

• adhering to ethical standards in all phases of a project's use-cycle;
• fostering the formation of socially-viable environments, strengthening of shared values, and enabling community empowerment;
• ensuring equal participation of stakeholders, including users, clients, neighborhood affiliations, co-operative members, state and local authorities, as well as non-governmental organizations;
• improving the quality of working conditions in the construction sector, whether pertaining to the provision of on-site amenities, fair compensation, adequate benefits, proper sanitation, and safety measures or guaranteeing
• gender parity and ethnic equality;
• increasing political transparency, promoting unbiased tender processes, demonstrating a commitment to principled interaction among involved parties, upholding codes of conduct for contractors and suppliers, and endorsing just business practices, all in the effort to prevent corruption at any level of planning and construction processes. ^[12]

Resource and environmental performance - "Planet"

Projects must exhibit a sensible deployment and management of resources throughout their entire use-cycle. Long-term environmental concerns, especially in view of optimizing circular flows of material, water, and energy, should be an integral part of the design and construction approach to minimize greenhouse gas emissions, reduce waste, and promote the use of regenerative resources throughout the industry. Possible approaches could include:

• minimizing a project's ecological footprint and maximizing its positive impact on the environment through more lean input-output cycles;
• devising environmentally-conscious land use strategies and policies that preserve the existing landscape and at the same take water and wildlife preservation as well as land reclamation into account;
• emphasizing the use of renewable energy in construction as well as in the
• use and upkeep of the built fabric to lower carbon emissions;
• deploying renewable material resources, while mining existing building stocks, minimizing the consumption of water, and reducing waste;
• using resilient, durable, and environmentally-sound technologies, developing robust construction details, and ensuring the optimal interaction of building systems. ^[13]

Economic viability and compatibility - "Prosperity"

Projects must be economically feasible and able to secure financing, whether from public, commercial, co-operative or concessional sources, while having a positive impact on the social and physical environment. An economy of means in construction must be pursued in order to avoid the wasteful consumption of materials and limit CO₂ emissions. The products used as well as construction processes deployed must adhere to the logic of circular economies. Possible strategies could include:

• relying on legitimate and transparent funding sources, while guaranteeing that any revenues generated are lawfully declared and benefit stakeholder communities as well as the public at large;
• conceiving the project in view of its links to broader economic frameworks of local, regional, national, and global monetary flows;
• seeking robust economic models that take unpriced external costs into consideration from the outset;
• demonstrating a project's flexibility to adapt to future changes of user needs, ownership, laws, and regulations, not to mention adaptability to economic fluctuations;
• introducing long-term economic incentives for reducing waste and harmful emissions throughout a project's entire use-cycle. ^[14]

Contextual and aesthetic impact - "Place"

Projects must convey a high standard of architectural quality in responding to the social and environmental urgencies of the present and those to come. With space, form, and aesthetic impact of utmost significance, the material manifestation of the design must make a positive and lasting contribution to the local context as a prevalent form of cultural expression. Possible measures could include:

• improving existing contextual socio-spatial conditions;
• fostering interdependencies of landscape, infrastructure, urban fabric, and architecture;
• working with the given building stock through sensitive restoration, reuse, or remodeling of the built environment;
• inventing programmatic strategies in terms of new uses, multiplicity of functions, short-term flexibility, and long-term adaptability;
• cultivating architectural excellence and aesthetic impact, specifically with regard to spatial ambiance, sequences of movement, inside-outside relationships, material tactility, light variation, and related place-making qualities. ^[15]

Organisation and management

Board of the Holcim Foundation

The Board of the Holcim Foundation ensures that the activities of the Holcim Foundation are aligned with current interpretations of sustainable construction, and also inspires the Foundation's approach by framing the architectural, scientific, cultural, and policy concerns that are integrated into its initiatives. The Board defines the strategies through which the Holcim Foundation encourages innovative approaches to sustainable construction. The members of the Board of the Holcim Foundation are: ^[16]

• Maria Atkinson (chairperson), Sustainability Business Advisor and Founding CEO, Green Building Council of Australia
• Marilyne Andersen, Professor of Sustainable Construction Technologies and Dean of Architecture, Civil & Environmental Engineering (ENAC), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland
• Magali Anderson, Chief Sustainability & Innovation Officer (CSIO) and a member of the executive committee of Holcim
• Alejandro Aravena, executive director, Elemental, Chile
• Kate Ascher, Principal, BuroHappold Engineering; and Milstein Professor of Urban Development, Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, USA
• Meisa Batayneh Maani, Founder and Principal Architect, Maisam Architects & Engineers, Jordan
• Harry Gugger, Professor Emeritus of Architectural & Urban Design, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland
• Jan Jenisch, CEO of Holcim, Switzerland
• Stuart Smith, Director, Arup, United Kingdom
• Brinda Somaya, Principal Architect & Managing Director, Somaya & Kalappa Consultants, India

Academic Committee and associated universities

Associated universities of the Foundation host the forums, define the evaluation criteria to be used for the Holcim Awards, and put together the panels that judge the competition entries. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne lead the Academic Committee which provides academic and technical support. ^[17]

Associated universities

• The American University in Cairo (AUC), Egypt
• American University of Beirut (AUB), Lebanon
• l’École d’Architecture de Casablanca (EAC), in Casablanca, Morocco
• Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT Chicago), in Chicago, USA
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
• National University of Singapore (NUS), in Singapore
• Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland
• Tongji University in Shanghai, China
• Tsinghua University in Beijing, China
• Universidade de São Paulo (USP) in São Paulo, Brazil
• Universidad Iberoamericana (IBERO), in Mexico City, Mexico
• University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada
• University of Melbourne, Australia
• University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa

^[18]

References

1. "Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction - Our Vision" . Retrieved 8 July 2024.
2. "Democratizing the latest thinking and best practice on sustainable design" . Retrieved 8 July 2024.
3. "Origin" . Retrieved 20 July 2015.
4. "Origin" . Retrieved 20 July 2015.
5. "Origin" . Retrieved 21 July 2021.
6. "Holcim Awards" . Retrieved 8 July 2024.
7. "Holcim Awards History" . Retrieved 8 July 2024.
8. "Introduction - Holcim Forum" . Retrieved 20 July 2021.
9. "target issues"
10. "Target Issues" . Retrieved 21 July 2021.
11. "Progress" . Retrieved 21 July 2021.
12. "People" . Retrieved 21 July 2021.
13. "Planet" . Retrieved 21 July 2021.
14. "Prosperity" . Retrieved 21 July 2021.
15. "Place" . Retrieved 21 July 2021.
16. "Board of the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction" . Retrieved 21 July 2021.
17. "Academic Committee" . Retrieved 8 April 2014.
18. "Associated Universities" . Retrieved 21 July 2021.

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