After Concrete: Rethinking the Dynamics of a Material takes the most used building material on earth and asks what should come after it—historically, technically and ethically.
About This Book
Concrete built the modern world, and its carbon footprint now ranks among the defining problems of the built environment. This interdisciplinary volume follows the material from ancient mixtures of lime and volcanic ash through the rise of Portland cement and steel reinforcement, before turning to the climate costs that make its future uncertain.
Across 26 essays in four chapters, historians, engineers, designers and conservators consider low-carbon and carbon-neutral formulations, earth-based mixes and new approaches to design and conservation, arguing for a fundamental rethink of how carbon and building materials relate.
Key Features
- 26 essays from historians, engineers, architects and conservators
- Spans concrete's ancient origins to emerging low-carbon alternatives
- Contributors include Philippe Block, John Ochsendorf and Antoine Picon
- An interdisciplinary response to concrete's environmental impact
What You'll Discover
- How concrete evolved from Roman lime mixes to reinforced construction
- Why concrete's carbon footprint matters so much
- Low-carbon, carbon-neutral and earth-based alternatives
- New thinking in concrete design and conservation
About the Author
Lucia Allais is an associate professor and director of the Buell Center at Columbia University in New York. Michael Faciejew is an assistant professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. Forrest Meggers is an associate professor of architecture and co-director of the Architecture and Engineering program at Princeton University.
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Dimensions: 170 × 240 mm
- Pages: 256
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783035628418
- Publisher: Birkhäuser
Perfect For: Architects, engineers, researchers and students working on material history, sustainability and the future of construction.