Foundation 23 - Re-materializing Construction

34 Catalyst Award Be good – not less bad! The LafargeHolcim Forum in Cairo had room for a pre- miere: For the first time, a LafargeHolcim Foundation Catalyst Award was presented. It went to the sustain- ability thinker Michael Braungart, who expressed his gratitude with impressive spontaneous words. Sustainable construction is not just an issue for architects and en- gineers. Shaping the future in a sensible way is an interdisciplinary task. The Foundation is underscoring this with the non-monetary LafargeHolcim Foundation Catalyst Award. This accolade for experts who have made a substantial, outstanding, and lasting contribution to the advancement of sustainable development was awarded for the first time. Jan Jenisch, CEO of LafargeHolcim, presented it – not to an architect, engineer, or urban designer – but rather to the chemist Michael Braungart for his work “Cradle to Cradle” and the associated principle that “being less bad is simply not good enough.” “We don’t need to own the stuff; we need the service of using it.”