Liquid Stone

December 14, 2005 10:38 AM

Liquid Stone: New Architecture in Concrete (Flash). A nice round-up of contemporary concrete architecture, with some stunning pictures, from the National Building Museum. Be sure to follow the "Featured Projects" link on the right.
posted by OmieWise (20 comments total)

nice but tantalizingly few images unless I'm missing some buried navigation somewhere...
posted by marvin at 11:00 AM on December 14, 2005

marvin, the navigation is tortuous. God I hate Flash.
posted by ldenneau at 11:10 AM on December 14, 2005

Yeah, actually click on Featured Projects. If you mouse over it it shows about 6 projects, clicking takes you to about 30 with about 5 pictures a project. Still not enough, but a decent amount.
posted by OmieWise at 11:11 AM on December 14, 2005

marvin -- did you click those little orange squares below the text in "Featured Projects"? This is a great example of UI getting in the way of content -- not only do I have to wait for zooming windows at every turn and return to the master list of projects to navigate to the next one, but the little orange boxes don't even stay in the same place between pictures, which means finding the new location, moving the mouse and clicking for every single picture -- "Next Project" and "Next Image" links would be a wonderful addition.
posted by VulcanMike at 11:11 AM on December 14, 2005

There are a decent number of pictures. Especially check out "The Future of Concrete".

more pictures of translucent concrete
posted by lbergstr at 11:12 AM on December 14, 2005

Tantalizingly few ... be sure to check the "Featured Projects." I always think of concrete as a very un-architecturally pleasant material, particularly when I saw The American Institute of Architects building in D.C., basically just a big concrete box with some curves. But this site showed a lot of varying uses. Translucent concrete seems very interesting.
posted by pithy comment at 11:14 AM on December 14, 2005

Here is an even closer look at the AIA building.
posted by pithy comment at 11:16 AM on December 14, 2005

Mildly confusing nav, but intriguing nonetheless.
posted by Eideteker at 11:36 AM on December 14, 2005

These are very elegant structures (unlike the site navigation). For a little history see The Art of Structural Design. (or read the book)
posted by caddis at 11:52 AM on December 14, 2005

Some beautiful structures here - I particularly like the auditorio in the Canary Islands.

You know when I see buildings like this, and then think of a trip to my grocery store, where they have those self-check out things with the female computer voice giving instructions, and then I see items for sale like digital picture frames and Internet fridges and so on ... I think we're not that far off from the 'sci-fi world' they often show in the movies.

Still waiting for my flying car though.
posted by Zinger at 11:59 AM on December 14, 2005

(click on Featured Projects. If you mouse over it it shows about 6 projects Found it thanks.)
posted by marvin at 12:02 PM on December 14, 2005

Nice, thanks. I'll be checking out the National Building Museum next time I'm in DC.
posted by carter at 2:45 PM on December 14, 2005

I would like to see a close up of the Mexican Embassy in Berlin. The hand finishing to accent the marble chips seems both expensive and laborious.
posted by Cranberry at 3:49 PM on December 14, 2005

translucent concrete? Well I never.
posted by wilful at 4:17 PM on December 14, 2005

I know photos are generally frowned upon here, but many of these structures are wonderfully compelling. So here's a screen grab to try to entice casual browsers to go to the exhibit site.

From left: the White Temple (Kyoto, Japan), the Rohner Office Building (Fussach, Austria).



Many thanks, OmieWise!
posted by rob511 at 4:20 PM on December 14, 2005

Translucent concrete is the most futuristic thing I've seen in a very long time.

Wonderful post - thank you!
posted by Baby_Balrog at 4:53 PM on December 14, 2005

The 200 year old brick building that the AIA building surrounds is actually very interesting -- The Octagon House -- My father is particularly fascinated by the building, he even 'helped' my little sister build a photorealistic scale model of it for a school project.

The Building Museum in DC is also architectually significant. It is a brick building with an enourmous open atrium, big enough to fly model airplanes in.
posted by blasdelf at 7:42 PM on December 14, 2005

If we are posting pictures, I must put in one of my favorites, the Salginatobel Bridge by Robert Maillart:


posted by caddis at 8:13 PM on December 14, 2005

Bad navigation, but some very fascinating works nonetheless. There seems to be a determination to avoid the negative connotations of Brutalism, while being true to the same "honesty of materials" aesthetic.
posted by dhartung at 8:44 PM on December 14, 2005

i've always liked brutalism. well, that's not true, when I first saw the buildings at Umass amherst, I thought they were horrendous. They really don't look great from the outside. But once you get inside them, with those big yawning caverns and those round wall shapes bouncing sound over-head, it's all strangely organic.

not the best link, but still, thanks for the post.
posted by es_de_bah at 10:40 PM on December 14, 2005