Concrete Can Be Beautiful
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 4.08
That is an odd title coming from this TreeHugger, who prefers "Sustainable Cement is Like Vegetarian Meatballs" Nonetheless when a building is made from such a long-lasting material the best thing to do is to maintain it well and use it for a long time. Concrete structures take a lot of energy to build, a lot to knock down, and the recycling value is negligible. So reuse it.
Stephen Bayley writes about Robin Hood Gardens and the nature of concrete, "the fashionable hate material of today." He notes that Alison and Peter Smithson's project was not a smashing success:"Alas, their architectural reach exceeded the grasp of the builders and Robin Hood Gardens suffered from the start with a singular lack of commodity and firmness. Worse, the unintelligent housing policies of Tower Hamlets populated Robin Hood Gardens with the tenants least likely to be able to make sensible use of the accommodation."
He derides the Culture Minister's suggestion that it simply be documented and demolished.
"Mrs Hodge's advisers say it is too costly to refurbish (at £70,000 per unit this is obviously nonsense). The minister herself declares that historical purposes may be served by a detailed digital record of the building, an argument which could, I think, with equal force be applied to Uppark, Windsor Castle or Stonehenge."
He concludes:
"Margaret Hodge's remarks about concrete are ignorant prejudice. Concrete is a fine material, but needs maintenance and care as much as marble and oak need maintenance and care....Robin Hood Gardens is a test for lots of things: a test for taste, for intellect and vision. And a test for the government's ability to seize an interesting opportunity which could act as a model for benign redevelopment in every city in Britain." ::Guardian See also ::Adaptive Reuse
Using what we have is exactly what a 'treehugger' stands for. Although concrete/cement may be a visual blight there are environmentally conscious ways of achieving harmony. Tearing a building down that has potential for a future is ridiculous.
// Concrete is a fine material, //
... fine, if you conveniently forget that creating concrete involves massive mining operations, massive coal-burning, massive emissions of greenhouse gases and heavy metals and fine particulates, and on and on.
Sure, if the horse is out of the barn, don't tear it down. But let's not buy into the greenwashing of concrete/cement.
Preservation is sustainability. The Smithson's work is groundbreaking and deserves to be protected and properly maintained.
If reduced to rubble, to crushed concrete can conceivably be reused as aggregate for new concrete, as roadbed and for other uses. But that would obviously be downcycling.
There is a lot of concrete out there with a 50 year design life. Protecting it from water and freeze/thaw damage, and making repairs to prevent rusting of rebar is critical to its conservation.