A world first for the Villa Navarra by Rudy Ricciotti - Lafarge

INNOVATION AT LAFARGE: INVENTING TO BUILD A BETTER TOMORROW
Over 500 people worldwide work for Lafarge in Research & Development, working to
improve products constantly, proposing new solutions which generate value for the entire
building profession and which can help to reduce the environmental imprint of buildings.
The Group boasts the world's leading building materials research facility with the Lafarge
Laboratoire Central de Recherche (LCR) at Isle d’Abeau in France, which houses 6,000m2 of
laboratory space equipped with highly sophisticated testing and analysis instruments. This
research facility was set up in 1990 and now employs over 200 researchers of about ten
different nationalities, working to understand basic mechanisms and validate technological
breakthroughs.
The techniques and instruments developed over the last twenty years have made it possible
to develop a scientific approach to cement and concrete. Today, it is possible to analyze
these materials at the nanometric level, revealing the high technicity of concrete in many
respects (physical and chemical phenomena, sensitivity to external parameters, change in
mechanisms over time, etc.).
The scientists at Lafarge have thus been able to identify and better understand the different
phenomena underlying the behaviour of concrete, knowledge that led to the development of
Ductal®, an ultra-high performance concrete, more ductile, more durable, stronger than
traditional concrete and Agilia®, a range of self-compacting concrete products, which
considerably improve esthetical appearance and on-site implementation. These materials
enable Lafarge to handle the increasingly complex demands made by architects, design
offices, contractors and builders, while working with the other players in the sector to rethink
building systems and to design buildings which consume less energy, and therefore have a
more limited ecological imprint.
The Group worked in partnership with architect Jacques
Ferrier on "Hypergreen", a concept of a tall building
respectful of the environment, presented at the MIPIM
in 2006.
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