Research & Innovation

From October 1 to 3, 2008, and for the 2nd year running, Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture organized a series of conferences on materials. The "Solid States: Changing Time for Concrete" conference focused on concrete. In exclusive partnership with Lafarge, leading architects, engineers and academics came together around the theme of concrete and turned the spotlight on its future developments and potential uses at a time of intense urbanization.

From March 13-16, 2007, Lafarge participated for the 2nd time at the Marché International des Professionnels de l'Immobilier (M.I.P.I.M. - International Market of Real Estate Professionals) in Cannes, France. The Group took this opportunity to present a preview of its Ductal® project for the R.A.T.P. bus center in Thiais, France. Lafarge thus reaffirmed its commitment to working in partnership with the architectural profession to design innovative and sustainable projects.

In 2006 and 2007, concrete was the star of the "Bétons: étonnez-vous" exhibition organized by the Museum of Arts & Métiers, Paris, with the support of Lafarge.

This exhibition, which addressed the general public, artists, architects, construction industry professionals and schools, was an opportunity to discover all facets of this remarkable material, from manufacturing techniques to technological innovations, by way of its fascinating history.

From June 2004 to January 2006, the National Building Museum of Washington, D.C., welcomed the exhibition "Liquid Stone: New Architecture in Concrete". The exhibition featured around 30 recent architectural projects, both completed and in progress, which use concrete in an innovative way. It also outlined the history of concrete and explained how it is manufactured.

In late 2005, the theme of the Shanghai Symposium was "How to harmonize infrastructure and landscape in the gigantic urban complexes which are the cities of the 21st century?"

The agenda included 2 days of debates organized by Lafarge in collaboration with the University of Tongji in Shanghai and the School of Architecture, Paris Belleville.

International experts presented 4 major urbanism projects:

• the Barcelona urban project,
• the Athens Olympic Games,
• the Shanghai World Fair,
• the Paris tramway.