Technology: Visual Concrete - Recent Developments
For the last twenty years we at Meyer Bährle have used concrete not only as a load-bearing element, but also as an attractive, visual feature in its own right. Much has changed in that time, and many new challenges have arisen. In this review of the latest developments in visual concrete technology we draw extensively on our own experience. We start with a photograph (ill. 1), taken in 1925, which shows the sculptor and photographer Constantin Brancusi in his atelier in Paris, with examples of his "Bird in space" series. Physically and metaphorically, these "birds", poised for flight on their solid plinths, epitomize the emergence of concrete in recent years as a medium for sculptural expression in architecture. Our first major projects with this material were the Vitra Conference Pavilion, 1990, (ill. 2) and the Vitra Fire Station (ill. 3). At that time concrete work in Germany was governed by the December 1992 version of DIN 18331. A comparison with the today's version (October 2006) of that standard is instructive in tracing the developments in visual concrete over that period. The new text is vastly more detailed and specific. It represents one of the most important planning tools for designing and building simpler visual concrete structures. We shall now explore the main additions and changes covered in the new version.
