Living Tomorrow today with Holcim’s high-value building solutions Hydromedia
“Living tomorrow”. Everyone thinks about what it might be like, but it’s the real trailblazers among us – the quiet revolutionaries – who develop the disruptive solutions and open innovation ecosystems that make tomorrow possible, today.
In the quiet city of Vilvoorde north of Brussels, Belgium, Frank Beliën, Founder and Chairman of Living Tomorrow, and his team are helping facilitate this by creating a space for new ideas to flourish, where innovators come together to solve the world’s most pressing challenges.
An international research organization that realizes projects around living and working in the future, Living Tomorrow’s first campus or "House of the Future" was built in 1995. Then, in 2023, the organization opened its new, sustainable Innovation Campus, which has Holcim’s ECOPact low-carbon concrete and Hydromedia permeable concrete at its core.
The Innovation Campus also features an integrated “Hotel of the Future”, built using blue.sprint, Xella’s state-of-the-art Building Information Modeling (BIM) system. Additionally, Ytong autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) blocks and Silka calcium silicate panels provide sustainable and energy-efficient solutions for Living Tomorrow.
The challenge
In 2019, Beliën — a trained architect, one-time racing driver and serial entrepreneur — decided to build the new Living Tomorrow Innovation Campus, an innovation hub and living lab that explores innovations to support a sustainable future.
Building sustainability into the very fabric of their new campus, Living Tomorrow’s management turned to the most innovative and sustainable building solutions they could find to construct it, which included Holcim’s ECOPact low-carbon concrete and Hydromedia permeable concrete.
ECOPact reduced CO2 by 58%
Hydromedia acts as a drainage system to reduce risk of flooding
One of the largest innovation centers in Europe
The solutionS
ECOPact was chosen for the project because it delivers 100% performance with at least 30% lower CO2 emissions compared to standard (CEM I) concrete, to help our customers achieve advanced sustainability certifications including LEED, BREEAM and WELL.Throughout the construction phase for Living Tomorrow, we supplied 3,124.5 m³ of ECOPact for the new campus and hotel building.
For the campus parking lot, Hydromedia permeable concrete was chosen. As a water-management system, Hydromedia rapidly absorbs rainwater from streets, parking surfaces, driveways and walkways – reducing the risk of flooding.
During the planning phase the hotel was digitally designed using blue.sprint, Xella’s digital planning service. As a building information modeling (BIM) service, we used this to create a 3D model of the building that improved collaboration between all project participants – ensuring that any changes were easily communicated via the model,, a reduced error rate and lower material and labor costs.
For its partition walls, the hotel of the future also incorporates weather-proof Ytong autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) panels. Precision engineered Ytong AAC, minimizes material waste, accelerates construction times and ensures high thermal performance for energy-efficient buildings.
In addition, Silka calcium silicate units deliver excellent acoustic insulation and superior load-bearing strength for high structures. By providing high-performance temperature regulation, they reduce energy costs and ensure a comfortable environment for hotel guests.
The result
Living Tomorrow’s Innovation Campus opened its doors to the public in September 2023. The impressive 50-meter tower has a total usable area of more than 6,700 m2 spread over 14 floors, and is now one of the largest innovation centers in Europe.
Six experience zones in the building let visitors experience what life will be like after 2030, while the tower also houses a hotel, meeting and events center, office spaces and an innovative 'chef's table' on the top floor.
At the time of the campus opening, journalists wrote amazedly about service robots that deliver food and luggage to the hotel’s rooms, a robotic dog called ‘Boogie’ that entertains visitors, and a digital waste bin that scans your rubbish and tells you which compartment to throw it in.
Building with a vision for the future means thinking ahead to reduce our environmental impact. This is why we like to work with Holcim, because they are always thinking about innovative solutions. We value the partnership because we know that Holcim continues to invest in research and development to further reduce its environmental footprint as well.
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