Raw sensual Timeless
Insite|December 2016
Popularly chronicled in the 20th century for its brutal honesty and expression, exposed concrete has always been championed by yesteryear designers. With advancement in technology, revolutionary surface treatments, expansive scale and the ability to merge with a diverse material pallet, concrete is now being used in unexpected and versatile ways.
Raw sensual Timeless

Our distinguished designers bear witness to the recurring theme of exposed concrete in contemporary interior spaces, with a host of looks inspiring modern, urbane and textured 21st-century concrete styling coupled with its timeless dignified ruggedness, which is both hard wearing and aesthetically striking.

Every material in the field of construction has its own unique characteristics and manifestations. Concrete is one amongst them. Concrete in its most basic form is made up of pebbles, cement, water and sand. It is renowned for its strength and texture. Its adaptation as a construction material took its baby steps after industrialisation. Slowly and gradually as the expenses increased, in using stone as the whole and sole material, alternative materials were under search.

The word ‘concrete’ was used for the first time in 1750, by Bernard Forest de Belidor as a description for mortar in his book ‘Architecture Hydraulique’. Concrete emerged as an alternative material, but now has taken up the construction industry as a revolution. Over the course of decades, the volume of concrete and the amount of the material used has been continually reduced, thanks to the better calculation methods and formwork techniques. Almost no other material manages to carry out such contradictory associations. Stigmatised, on the one hand, celebrated on the other, it evokes highly diverse reactions. Its potential seems almost inexhaustible and continual innovations in how its applications make it a valuable material.

This story is from the December 2016 edition of Insite.

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This story is from the December 2016 edition of Insite.

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