Studio Mumbai | Studio Méditerranée | AFF Architekten | Ítala Fulvia Villa | Renée Gailhoustet | Dumont Legrand Architectes | Material Cultures | BC Architects & Studies | EVR Architecten | Architectural Pioneering Consultants with Wolfgang Rossbauer | MAIO
Concrete is the most consumed material on the planet after water, with more than 10 billion tonnes produced each year. Unlike water, it is a human-made product that is wrenched, crushed and sweated out of the environment. Although architects, planners and developers know that the use of concrete must be reduced across the construction industry, its production is instead increasing.
This issue examines the factors that stand in the way of a radical shift away from carbon-intensive building materials such as cement and concrete. It acknowledges their progressive uses in the postwar provision of social housing and public facilities, as seen in the pioneering work of Ítala Fulvia Villa in Argentina and Renée Gailhoustet in France. In many parts of the world, concrete remains a pledge of stability and progress. Formerly a symbol of colonialism, the material has been ‘Africanised’ – as Armelle Choplin argues – and forms part of the socio‑cultural imaginary.
Economies of scale dictate that concrete is still among the cheapest materials to build with, even when it is not necessary or climatically appropriate. There are ways of minimising its ecological impact: in a winery in France, for example, Studio Mumbai and Studio Méditerranée sourced components from demolition and excavation waste, while in Tanzania, concrete blocks used volcanic sand from site. While commendable, these projects are small in scale, and cannot alone challenge the dominance of the concrete industry. As Martha Dillon reminds us, it is the responsibility of a whole ‘ecosystem’ of designers, suppliers, states and regulators to do so.
1515: Concrete
Cover (above) Keren Su
Concrete now covers large portions of the planet – in cities, along roads and coastlines, and even wild, barely inhabited landscapes. The slopes of the small Japanese island of Aogashima, which has a population of 170 people, are draped in a layer of concrete to prevent landslides
Folio (lead image) Félix Candela architectural records and papers, Columbia University
Modernism is synonymous with concrete, allowing architects and engineers to perform spatial feats. Workers stress test a shell vault on the building site of Félix Candela’s Las Aduanas warehouse in Mexico in the 1950s
Keynote
Concrete ceiling
Martha Dillon
Building
Château de Beaucastel winery in Courthézon, France, by Studio Mumbai and Studio Méditerranée
Eleanor Beaumont
Building
Spore and Publix headquarters in Berlin, Germany, by AFF Architekten
Florian Heilmeyer
Outrage
Defining zero-emissions architecture
Steve Webb
Revisit
Sexto Panteón in Buenos Aires, Argentina by Ítala Fulvia Villa
Léa Namer
Reputations
Renée Gailhoustet
Nichola Barrington-Leach
Essay
Healthy hempcrete
Justinien Tribillon
Building
Simba Vision Montessori School in Ngabobo village, Tanzania, by Architectural Pioneering Consultantswith Wolfgang Rossbauer
Ethel-Ruth Tawe
Building
Social housing in Barcelona, Spain, by MAIO
Ethel Baraona Pohl
Essay
Concrete tombs
Owen Hatherley
Interview
Alia Bengana
Manon Mollard
Book review
Material aspirations
AbdouMaliq Simone
Book and exhibitions review
Brutality made concrete
Kuukuwa Manful
The last page
Bunker mania in Albania
