Midterm assessment

Week 8 – 17th November

• Wendell and Burnette, house, Phoenix, post-tensioned concrete blockwork
The structure consists of two parallel rows of monolithic, post-tensioned masonry slabs,
between which the in-situ concrete roof and floors are spanned.
•The 8 mm partitions parallel to the
long external walls consist of plywood
panels suspended from a cable
system. All northsouth pavilions are in
semi-translucent glass.
Santiago Calatrava Tenerife Auditorium
• Peter Zumthor, Art Gallery, Bregenz, Austria
•Enric Miralles, Igualada Cemetery, near Barcelona
The materials in the Igualada Cemetery were chosen to show the passing of time.
For example, the lamps sheathed in metal will rust with time and the concrete will weather.
• Alvaro Siza, Swimming Pool, Leça de
Palmeira
In Remy Zaugg's Estudio project, Herzog & De Meuron deliberately allowed rainwater to drain
over the elevation, so creating rust stripes. This was a controlled effect, so that in the course of
time a splendidly regular pattern developed with a constantly changing structure.
 • Traditional silkscreen processes have
been adapted to concrete forming
processes whereby it is now possible
to transfer dot-matrix images to the
concrete surface.

•Herzog and de Meuron, Eberswalde Technical

School, Germany – silkscreen
Panel from the Library of the Eberswalde Technical School (Eberswalde, Germany, 1994–99). Herzog &
de Meuron, architects (1998).
Glass Reinforced Concrete

New high-tech GRconcrete mixtures can provide a 5 times stronger material with twice the
lifetime of that of the regular concrete.
This is achieved from the addition of small glass fibres dispersed throughout the matrix. These
fibres reinforce the concrete and eliminate the need for reinforcing steel bars. A bridge made
out of GRC can be lighter and thinner than a traditional bridge and requires less maintenance,
hence cost over a period of time is reduced. In addition to that, GRC can bend, thus it will
deflect and show signs of cracking before it fails, unlike regular concrete, which is brittle and
can rupture suddenly under a heavy load.

A light-rail transit station in Calgary, Alberta

• GRC cladding, Bickenhill fire station
LiTraCon

A translucent concrete material that contains glass optical

fibres (the thickness of a hair) that transmit light through the
entire length of the block. It can bring sunlight through a wall.
Smart Concretes

• There is a smart concrete invented in Japan that could enable buildings of the
future to help clean up the urban environment by breaking down harmful nitrogen
dioxide gas into harmless nitrogen and oxygen using a process that is similar to
photosynthesis .

•The self-cleaning concrete keeps buildings from turning black from pollutants in the
atmosphere. The concrete mixture contains particles of the white pigment titanium
dioxide. When titanium dioxide absorbs ultraviolet light, it becomes highly reactive and
breaks down pollutants that come into contact with the concrete's surface. The reactive
material can kill bacteria and fungi and also break down pollutants such as nitric oxide,
sulphur dioxide, and many volatile organic compounds that contribute to concrete's
darkening.
Applications of this new type of cement can be found in several buildings,
including the Dives in Misericordia, a modern church in Rome, by Richard Meier.