This research project focuses on analysing projects in which concrete was used in a certain grammatical way. Attention will be paid, above all, to architects’ design strategies in dealing with the technical and design constraints of exposed concrete.
Paradoxically, a concrete surface with a three-dimensional imprint of the formwork elements on its hardened surface reveals traces of the production process. Technical developments both in the area of formwork technology and the plasticity of concretes have yielded a host of new possibilities to work with it. In that way, façades are becoming increasingly semantic: their surface is the sole bearer of an external meaning. Nonetheless, in recent years, a growing number of architects are making efforts to unite structure, space and material to form one entity, i.e. to work grammatically instead of semantically. This research project focuses on analysing projects in which concrete was used in a certain grammatical way. Attention will be paid, above all, to architects’ design strategies in dealing with the technical design constraints of exposed concrete. Research results are regularly published (journals, books) and disseminated in topic-related conferences.
Projectduration:since 2006Projectmanagement:Institute of Architecture Technology, TU GrazMarisol VidalFinancing:Institute of Architecture Technology, TU Graz