Concrete Notes

Class Notes:

• popular material in contemporary interior spaces beyond its structural use
• often trying to reference an industrial, urban look and minimalist aesthetic
• composition of concrete is composite material
• The Romans and Egyptians were using a primitive form of concrete and most likely why these structures are still standing (Pantheon, Coliseum, etc)
• Hoover Dam made possible by concrete in the 1930s
• reinforced concrete has metal infused in it to give it greater strength
• Charles- Edouard Jeanneret-Gris (Le Corbusier), 1887-1965 well known for using concrete
• Brutalism



J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, D.C.

• "raw concrete", a phrase used by Le Corbusier to describe the poured board-marked concrete with which he constructed many of his post-World War II buildings.
• Brutalist buildings usually are formed with striking repetitive angular geometries, and, where concrete is used, often revealing the texture of the wooden forms used for the in-situcasting. Although concrete is the material most widely associated with Brutalist architecture, not all Brutalist buildings are formed from concrete. Instead, a building may achieve its Brutalist quality through a rough, blocky appearance, and the expression of its structural materials, forms, and (in some cases) services on its exterior. For example, many of Alison and Peter Smithson's private houses are built from brick. Brutalist building materials also include brick, glass, steel, rough-hewn stone, and gabion (also known as trapion). (exert from wikipedia)
• Concrete can be treated, stained, painted, stamped, sandblasted (exposes the rough aggregate),