Concrete and Culture: A Material History

(Paperback)

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Description

Almost three tons of concrete are produced each year for every person on the planet; only water is consumed more per head of population. Now used almost universally in modern construction, concrete polarizes opinion: provoking intense loathing and fervent passion in others.Concrete and Culture breaks new ground by charting concrete's effects onculture since its reinvention in the modern period, examining the ways ithas changed our understanding of nature, of time and of materiality. Thisbook discusses architects' responses to and uses of concrete while also takinginto account the role it has played in politics, literature, cinema and labour relations,as well as in present day arguments about sustainability.

Reviews

"Forty admits that he initially saw Concrete and Culture as an 'entertainment', an enjoyable project that allowed him to travel globally, but that he ended up grappling with a set of problems that were both intellectually difficult and full of rich cultural associations. Taking on a topic that has for the most part--until very recently--been the subject of technical literature, he again shows us a new way of looking at modernity, via one of its most characteristic material manifestations."
-- "Oxford Art Journal"

Author Bio

Adrian Forty is professor emeritus of architectural history at the Bartlett, University College London. His books include Objects of Desire: Design and Society since 1750 and Words and Buildings: A Vocabulary of Modern Architecture.