During the 2023 Architectural Biennale in Venice, Holcim and the Norman Foster Foundation will announce the start of their Essential Houses Research Project. Through this collaboration, the Norman Foster Foundation created necessary housing to give displaced communities safety, comfort, and welfare while allowing them to live in temporary settlements for over 20 years. To make sustainable buildings accessible to everyone, Holcim constructed these necessary homes using various green products, such as Elevate Insulation Boards and ECOPact low-carbon concrete.
During the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, the European Culture Center will host the Time Space Existence exhibition, where the Essential House Research project will be launched. An exhibition will be held in Palazzo Mora and accompanied by an actual prototype on show in the Marinaressa Gardens. This research project activates the discussion on how to offer necessary housing for everyone in a sustainable manner.
This is the second project that the Norman Foster Foundation and Holcim have submitted to the Venezia Architecture Biennale with the intention of addressing a significant social issue. Their initial project, the "Droneport," unveiled at the 15th Biennale in 2016 was the first full-scale model of a drone hangar intended to deliver medical supplies to Africa. Durabric, Holcim's low-carbon earth-based brick for affordable housing, was used to construct the Droneport prototype. Block Research Group at ETH Zurich and MecoConcept Toulouse participated in the partnership.
Related Article
Foster + Partners Unveils Design for Droneport in RwandaTo make sustainable buildings accessible to everyone, Holcim used a variety of green building solutions in the Essential Housing Research project. The project gains resiliency and strength from its ECOPact low-carbon concrete. Elevate boards and Airium foam are only two of its insulation products that offer thermal and acoustic comfort to improve well-being. By allowing water to flow and rehydrate soils and groundwater, its permeable concrete, called Hydromedia, safeguards the environment.
Natural and manmade disasters create a continuous exodus of people seeking instant shelter. Traditionally tents or variations on them are the primary response, offering scant protection from the elements. How can we do better? During the Venice Biennale we show our work-in-progress on this idea – the outcome of a few months of intensive activity in collaboration with Holcim.
--Norman Foster
Alongside the Essential Homes Project, The Time Space Existence exhibition, curated by The European Cultural Center, features completed and innovative proposals of architectural expressions. In keeping with the Biennale's "Laboratory of the Future” theme, many countries have announced their exhibitions for this year’s biennale. The Bulgarian pavilion, “Education is the Movement from Darkness to Light,” focuses on depopulation, urban decline, and rural flight. The Estonian Centre for Architecture has chosen the exhibition “Home Stage” to represent the Pavilion of Estonia, exploring the contradiction between the living room as a home and as an exchange value. Finally, the British Pavilion “Dancing Before the Moon” investigates all architectural phenomenon that is intangible: people, communities, rituals, and customs,
