Concrete Home Building Council - 09/09/2004 (Plain Text Version)CHBC Chairman View Graphical Version | Subscribe
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Editor... In this issue: Liquid Stone — The Panache Is Back in ConcreteThough closely associated with modern architecture, concrete was first used more than 2,000 years ago. The ancient Romans combined moistened lime with pozzolana, a volcanic ash, to make a highly effective mortar, which they then mixed with various substances, ranging from crushed stone and broken bricks to milk and even animal blood, to create true concrete. The new material, which was excellent for supporting substantial weight but weak in resisting tensile (pulling) forces, was used in some of the greatest buildings of classical antiquity, including the Pantheon and the Coliseum. After the fall of the Roman Empire, however, concrete-making techniques were largely forgotten for well over a millennium. The National Building Mueseum’s exhibit, made possible by Lafarge of North America, a CHBC member, showcases how designers are now using concrete to develop innovative structures and forms, challenging the drab tradition of one of the world’s most common construction materials. “People think of concrete as being this one kind of thing,” said Martin Moeller, the curator of the show. “In fact it can be almost anything.” The exhibition, “Liquid Stone: New Architecture in Concrete,” explores how architects are using concrete with greater efficiency and panache than ever before. It has four sections: structure, surface, sculptural form and new technologies and formulas. The most confounding display in “Liquid Stone” is a translucent concrete wall at the end of the exhibition. A light shines onto the face of an apparently solid concrete wall but also permeates through small slits in the opposite surface. The wall is made of a new material called LiTraCon that is embedded with fiber optics, which allow light to be transmitted through the solid without compromising the strength of the material. “Liquid Stone” is one for the beginner as well as the concrete expert, from the basic ingredients of concrete to the translucent wall; everyone will learn something new about one of the oldest building materials around. The exhibit will run through Jan. 23 at the National Building Museum, 401 F Street NW, Washington, DC. Photo #1: The Library at the Eberswalde Technical School (1999), in Eberswalde, Germany, by Herzog & de Meuron, uses photoengraved concrete. Image (c) Margherita SpiluttiniPhoto #2: Prototype wall of LiTraCon, a translucent concrete product. Courtesy of LiTraCon, (c) GmbHFor more information or to contact us directly, please visit www.NAHB.org | ©2005, National Association of Home Builders |