Last January, ten architecture students travelled to the city of Bel/Bienne (Switzerland) to take part in the workshop Climate Concrete 4.0, organised by the Chair for Industrialised Construction and the Environment (CEIM) at UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, which took place at the CEMEX Global R&D offices and laboratories. 

Throughout the week the students were able to discover for themselves the potential technology offered not only by cement, but also by the latest generation of additives, and learn about the real applications being used in current research and development projects. The students were joined by the lecturers Oriol París and Andrea Masip, as well as CEMEX Global R&D experts Davide Zampini and Enrique Terrado. 

The students took part in a creative workshop where they developed cement-based prototypes to see the material’s different properties such as its porosity, floatability or thermal insulation potential, as well as developing new skills sought after by industrial and research companies around the world. Climate Concrete is a pioneering initiative that seeks to bridge the gap between universities and industry, fostering multidimensional professional profiles that in turn, generate synergies across the construction sector.