Synopses & Reviews
Concrete is now chic, becoming ubiquitous in shops, restaurants, and even homes. The reasons are many, as concrete is a remarkable material that can be used in a huge range of techniques and situations. Its color and texture vary, it can be very affordable and mass produced, or meticulously crafted and manipulated. New developments and increased understanding of the possibilities of concrete architecture are inspiring contemporary architects and designers across the globe. Concrete Architecture looks at recent architectural projects that use concrete for a huge range of projects, and celebrates the intrinsic qualities of concrete in the places where we live, work, and play. This book is an invitation to re-evaluate concrete as a modern material and generator of construction techniques. Examples from USA, Spain, UK, Italy, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, France, New Zealand, Japan, Argentina, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, and more are included.
Synopsis
A favorite subject of fashionable style magazines, concrete is becoming ubiquitous in shops, restaurants, and even homes. It is a fabulous material that can be used in a huge range of techniques and situations. Its color, texture, and constituents vary, it maybe cheaply mass produced or meticulously crafted, and new developments and increased understanding of its possibilities are inspiring contemporary architects and designers. What is concrete? What is its history? How is concrete used? What are the most recent developments in methods and materials? Why has concrete become so fashionable? This book delves into the answers to these questions, and also showcases recent architectural projects that use concrete for a wide variety of building types. Concrete Architecture celebrates the intrinsic qualities of concrete and how it shapes the places where we live, work, and play, as well as the landscape that surrounds us. The range of projects includes the Pulitzer Foundation fro the Arts in Missouri by Tadao Ando Architects & Associates; Canary Wharf Undergound Station in London by Foster & Partners and Roland Paoletti; the Diamond Ranch High School in California by Morphosis; the Tokiwadai House in Tokyo by Naoko Hirakura Architect and Associates; and more than forty other examples of concrete architecture from around the world. Catherine Croft creatively examines concrete as a modern material and generator of previously impossible construction techniques, and showcases a material that has come into its own in the twenty-first century.