CONCRETE BUILDINGS

Sanyukta Hadkar
180101101071
 • David Chipperfield’s Berlin home
D AV I D C H I P P E R F I E L D ’ S B E R L I N H O M E A N D
STUDIO and studio, enlarged last year,
embodies the British architect’s
signature spare minimalism amid
the 19th-century buildings of the
neighborhood. To expand the five-
story brick former piano factory,
built in 1895, he created additional
space with four concrete volumes.
Inside, the walls are left unfinished,
resulting in a rough-hewn effect;
deliberately offset windows lend
variety to the interiors.
 • The Salk Institute, a monumental
THE SALK INSTITUTE research center designed by Louis
Kahn in 1965, is perched on a bluff
overlooking the Pacific Ocean in
La Jolla, California, creating a
symphony of geometry and
shadow. For the two identical six-
story buildings that flank a
courtyard of imported travertine,
Kahn chose poured concrete for its
proven durability and low
maintenance.
 • The Pierre, an Olson Kundig
THE PIERRE project completed in Washington in
2010, was inspired by the client’s
fondness for an imposing stone
deposit on her property. For the
home, conceived as a hideaway
amid the crag, the AD100 architects
cut away portions of the rock,
which were crushed, made into
concrete, and used in other parts of
the house.
 • For two buildings at Chile’s
D I E G O P O RTA L E S U N I V E R S I T Y
new Diego Portales
University campus, Chilean
architects Duque Motta & AA and
Rafael Hevia sought to create a
design that stood out from the other
glass-box structures in the area. To
that end, they incorporated green
space—parks, gardens, and living
walls—into fortified concrete
structures
 • The Cidade das Artes is a
C I D A D E D A S A RT E
cultural complex located in
Barra da Tijuca in the Southwest
Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
which was originally planned to
open in 2004, with the name of
City of Music. The formal
inauguration was in January
2013, with the musical, "Rock in
Rio"
 • The domed and curving rooftops of
SCIENCE HILLS MUSEUM this science museum in Komatsu,
Japan, are covered in grass,
creating a series of rolling hills that
visitors can clamber across
• The building is located on the site
of a former factory in the city that
lent its name to one of the world's
largest manufacturers of mining
and construction equipment, so the
brief was to create a building that
could spark a renewed public
interest in science and industry.
CHURCH OF GOD THE • The concept of the project
MERCIFUL FATHER consisted of a big white
JUBILEE CHURCH
building in a suburban district
of Rome that could only offer
residential low-cost
constructions and urban
discontinuity elements. The
entire complex consists of
three big sails (the “shells”) in
white concrete, that look like
they were blown up by a wind
coming from the East. The
interiors are candid and
illuminated by the light that
makes the environment look
intangible and suspended.
 The Complex Cultural da Republic
(Portuguese for "Cultural Complex of the
MUSEU NACIONAL DA REPÚBLICA
CULTURAL COMPLEX OF THE Republic") is a cultural center located along
REPUBLIC the Eixo Monumental, in the city of Brasília,
Brazil. It is formed by the National Library of
Brasília and the National Museum of the
Republic. Both buildings were designed by
Pritzker Prize-winning Brazilian architect
Oscar Niemeyer and inaugurated in
2006.Brazilian modernist architect Oscar
Niemeyer’s swoops and arches in reinforced
concrete are a testament to the material’s
sculptural quality. For the National Museum
of Brazil, Niemeyer designed what resembles
a planet embedded in the ground, the other
half of the sphere created by a reflection in an
adjacent pool.
 • The Church of the Light is a small structure
CHURCH OF THE LIGHT on the corner of two streets at IbaraThe
church was planned as an add-on to the
wooden chapel and minister's house that
already existed at the site. The Church of
the Light consists of three 5.9m concrete
cubes (5.9 m wide × 17.7 m long × 5.9 m
high) penetrated by a wall angled at 15°,
dividing the cube into the chapel and the
entrance area. One indirectly enters the
church by slipping between the two
volumes, one that contains the Sunday
school and the other that contains the
worship hall. The benches, along with the
floor boards, are made of re-purposed
scaffolding used in the construction. A
cruciform is cut into the concrete behind the
altar, and lit during the day.ki, a residential
neighborhood.
PUNJAB AND HARYANA • Punjab and Haryana High Court
HIGH COURT is the common High Court for
CHANDIGARH the Indian states of Punjab and
Haryana and the Union Territory
of Chandigarh based in
Chandigarh, India.
• Palace of Assembly, Chandigarh
was designed by Le Corbusier with
Pierre Jeanneret in post-
independent India. The swooping
sculptural form at the entrance
contrasts with the building’s linear
concrete columns throughout.
 • Auditorio de Tenerife in Spain cuts a
AUDITORIO DE TENERIFE striking figure against the Atlantic Ocean.
ADÁN MARTÍN The all-concrete building is characterized
by the dramatic sweep of its roof, rising
off the base like a crashing wave.
• The Auditorio de Tenerife "Adán Martín"
is an auditorium in Santa Cruz de
Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.
Designed by architect Santiago
Calatrava, it is located on the Avenue of
the Constitution in the Canarian capital,
and next to the Atlantic Ocean in the
southern part of Port of Santa Cruz de
Tenerife.
VILLA SAITAN

• Villa Saitan, a housing complex

in Kyoto, Japan, by a local firm
Eastern Design Office, is encased
in a concrete shell with
undulating cutouts that mimic
the roots, trunk, and leaves of a
tree
SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
( S Y D N E Y, AU S T R A L I A )
• The Sydney Opera House is a perfect
• An architectural masterpiece, the building
has several roofs, all reaching towards the
Sydney and Farm Coves. It hosts nearly
1,500 events a year, including orchestra,
operatic, and theater resident groups.
Because of its iconic status, guided tours
are offered when there are no
performances.
example of how precast concrete can be
used for its strength as well as its
versatility. At the highest point, the
structure is more than 200 feet above sea
level. The roofs were constructed using
nearly 2,200 precast concrete panels.
These “shells” are supported by reinforced
concrete “ribs.”
L O S M A N AT I A L E S , • This restaurant in Mexico City was
MEXICO CITY designed in the 1950s by Spanish-born
architect Félix Candela. He helped
revolutionise the use of concrete by
demonstrating its incredible ability to
create thin curves and shell-like structures
on a large scale.

• With this building, he used reinforced

concrete to form arches and vaults in the
form of parabolas. It’s thanks to Candela’s
understanding of concrete’s unique
structural qualities that this beautiful
building has stood proudly for over 60
years.
 • Habitat 67 in Montreal was designed by Israeli-
HABITAT 67, MONTREAL Canadian architect Moshe Safdie and
completed in 1967. Its highly unusual layout
comprises over 300 identical precast concrete
blocks in varying configurations over 12
stories.
• Safide’s original concept was to try to
incorporate what he saw as the key benefits of
suburban living — garden space, privacy, fresh
air, and multi-storey housing – into an urban
apartment complex.
• Concrete was the only material that could have
allowed him to so cleverly balance these ideas
in a way that also met the economic
requirements. This inspiring concrete
experiment is still one of the most recognizable
and celebrated buildings in Canada to this day.
P O RT U G U E S E N AT I O N A L • This beautiful building by Alvaro Siza was
PAV I L I O N , L I S B O N designed as the centre piece of the 1998
Lisbon World Exposition and uses
reinforced concrete’s unique ability to
maintain high strength at minimal
thickness to great effect.
• Building on the work of early pioneers
such as Félix Candela, the elegantly
curved concrete sheet almost seems to be
fabric draped across the two blocks. Only
concrete could afford the designer this
delightful balance between lightness and
strength.
• The result is a stunningly simple design
using some surprisingly complex
engineering.
THE HIPOTECARIO NACIONAL This curious building is arguably the most iconic
BANK, BUENOS AIRES example of Argentinian brutalist architecture.
Designed by Clorindo Testa in the 1960s, it is a
far cry from the delicate work of Félix Candela.
Here we have a dramatic and deliberately
imposing structure whose outer layer of rough
concrete looks like it has emerged from the
ground itself.
Vast concrete slabs mark the entranceway to a
building that somehow manages to not look out
of place with the neo-classical buildings that
surround it.
The concrete façade is independently supported
so its relationship with the glass-fronted exterior
creates a layered effect that perfectly balances
openness with enclosure.
U N I T E D ’ H A B I TAT I O N , • This modernist apartment building was
MARSEILLE designed by Le Corbusier and was built in
1952. It was the flagship construct of a
progressive residential housing design
principle that Le Corbusier had developed
with his friend and fellow architect Nadir
Afonso.
• The project was nearly halted however
when the steel frames used in the original
plans were deemed too expensive because
of post-war shortages.
• But béton brut – or ‘raw concrete’ – as a
replacement material saved the day and
went on to be a major influence on the
brutalist architecture movement that was
already gaining momentum at the time.
 • SESC Pompéia is a remarkable adaptive
SESC POMPEIA reuse project by one of Modernism’s best-
known female architects, Lina Bo Bardi.
Originally a drum factory, Bo Bardi
transformed the structure in 1982 into a
highly successful multi-purpose building by
adding two concrete towers connected by
diagonal walkways. She stripped the factory
back to its original concrete and brick to
show the structural tectonics, while also
allowing the program to drive the design in a
socially utopic vision that reflects
Modernism’s highest ideals. The building
continues to thrive to this day, fascinating
lovers of modern architecture around the
world.
 • Architect Felipe Escudero designed and
CLOVER-SHAPED HOUSE BY FELIPE ES built this clover-shaped house near the
C U D E R O B U I LT N E A R C H I M B O R A Z O M O
U N TA I N
Ecuadrian mountain.
• The building's walls are formed of
reinforced concrete aggregate that was
produced using ground material found in
the surroundings. Escudero constructed the
house himself, with help from local
builders.
• Interior wall surfaces are plastered and
painted white, while flooring is wooden.
Large windows were also added to frame
views of the mountain landscape.