The Affordable Housing & Technology focus area is about changing the way low-income families build and live. Here, our work is based on three initiatives: spreading bamboo construction, creating an inclusive housing industry, and building coalitions of impact.

Affordable Housing & Technology is one of the Hilti Foundation's focus areas. That involves more than the well-known Cement Bamboo Frame Technology, which provides safe and sustainable homes for families in need. The Foundation also supports the development and implementation of other solutions to improve the way families live and build.

This was a dream coming true for the talented young musicians of the Sinfonía por el Perú Youth Orchestra when they crossed the ocean this late summer: Performing together with world-renowned tenor and founder of Sinfonía por el Perú, Juan Diego Flórez, at three of the most prestigious and important classical music venues.

Salzburg – Gstaad – Lucerne. These are the places where the Youth Orchestra Sinfonía por el Perú will give concerts during the last days of August and the first days of September. They will perform together with the world-famous tenor Juan Diego Flórez, who founded the social music program in Peru in 2011, and the Spanish conductor Roberto González-Monjas.

As a global phenomenon, the housing situation of the poor is dramatic: An estimated 1.6 billion people live in substandard housing, and this number will almost double until 2030. Most of them will end up in so-called informal settlements, starting to build by themselves. In Lima, Peru, like in many other regions of the world, housing construction is a long-lasting process, not a purchase. For low-income families in particular, construction costs are often more critical than quality, which impacts the families’ safety and health.

To travel abroad and perform at major international festivals is the dream of many young musicians. This dream is now becoming reality for the Youth Orchestra of Sinfonía por el Perú, which is touring Europe for the first time with its founder, the Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez.

July is a member of the National Youth Choir in Sinfonía por el Perú. For her, being part of the program has opened a completely new world. Not only did she discover a talent she didn’t know she had, but she has also found her favorite way to express herself and her feelings through music.

In 2011, together with its long-standing partner organization Swisscontact, the Hilti Foundation launched Construya, a qualification program for the informal construction sector in Colombia. Construya has developed training modules, in cooperation with state vocational training institutions, that teach better construction practices for the informal sector.

Due to the pandemic, many programs in the field of music for social change had to adapt their ways of collaboration.

Ten years ago, the Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez founded the social music programme"Sinfonía por el Perú". Based on the basic idea of the Venezuelan programme "El Sistema", music schools, so-called "Núcleos" were established in the hotspot neighbourhoods of Lima, and soon in the most vulnerable regions of the whole country.

Jahan’s schedule is always busy. He dreams of an international education and a career as an orchestra musician and teacher. A comprehensive, internationally networked music program, supported by the Hilti Foundation, makes this possible.