Concrete ideas: Material to shape a city

Book edited by Pina Petricone

Besides plastic itself, concrete stands out as the most plastic of all building elements. And while its omnipresence is felt throughout the world, its visi­bil­ity as a finished surface continually shifts in and out of fashion. This book seeks to elevate the hard-working material to a higher cultural status.

Editor and architect Pina Petricone reminds us that concrete was used throughout the Modernist era to express nakedness and honesty. To that end, Harvard academic Charles Waldheim describes his first encounter with a brutalist building, which made him “bleed, literally.”

Five main chapters interweave academic writing and university studio course investigations (Petricone is a faculty member of the University of Toronto’s architecture school), along with essays by leading designers and theorists. The book contains an encyclopedic compilation of the latest technology that points to an optimistic, sustainable and gorgeous future for concrete – a material that can now bend and weigh significantly less than ever before. It can also be super-fluid – even translucent.

Petricone further presents the material within a larger discussion, including what it can deliver to a city. In concrete-dense Toronto, for example, a number of books on the topic have been published and robust conversations initiated about it. Local architect Graeme Stewart champions the Tower Renewal project, which recognizes the city’s aging residential monoliths from the 1950s to ’80s. The book is not entirely Toronto-centric, though. While many of the contributors hail from that city, they also praise concrete’s international significance, and the image selections illustrate a rich history. 

Published by Oscar Riera Ojeda, Concrete Ideas comes encased in a handsome grey box. The weighty presentation befits a book that celebrates the poetic and technical capabilities of this shape-shifting substance, which Petricone asserts is much more than just “coagulated, colourless gravel.” You may also like:  The 2008 book Concrete Reveries: Consciousness and the City (Penguin Canada). University of Toronto professor Mark Kingwell explores concrete from his perspective as a philosopher and cultural critic.  By Julie Bogdanowicz 

Julie Bogdanowicz works for KPMB Architects in Toronto. She also teaches architecture and is looking forward to the legitimization of concrete. 

Thames & Hudson   ISBN 9780500342817

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Building With Timber: Paths Into the Future

Book edited by Hermann Kaufmann and Winfried Nerdinger

Wood just keeps coming out on top as the most beautiful and versatile building material on the planet. The authors of this book (from Prestel) like to call wood “multi-talented,” and it is. As well as being blessed with sustainability attributes, it has proven adaptable to technical advancements. New solutions now overcome such drawbacks as rotting, combustibility and squeaky floorboards. While much of the book analyzes the typography of forests, it also shows 50 stunning examples of buildings created by timber-loving architects, from a bio-hotel in an apple orchard, to Shigeru Ban’s renowned golf clubhouse in South Korea. Ban’s defining lattice canopy of glue-­laminated timber was made possible by two key factors: advances in digital technology, and the generous pliability of wood.  You may also like: Wood Architecture Now! (Taschen) is an impressive survey of contemporary buildings that make good use of the versatile material.  By Catherine Osborne

Prestel Publishing   ISBN 9783791351810

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