Low-carbon concrete

Concrete is the most used material on earth after water, and cement alone produces about eight percent of global emissions. Most of that carbon comes from one ingredient: clinker.

The project replaces up to half of the clinker with calcined clay and limestone, then tests how the new mixes behave in the real world: how they cure, crack, carry load and age through Swiss winters.

In 2025, students and researchers poured a pavilion on the campus lawn with the first mix. Sensors inside the walls have reported on it every hour since, and the results feed into the next generation of mixes.