The Aesthetics of Concrete

The Concrete Joint Sustainability Initiative is a multi-association effort of the Concrete Industry supply chain to take unified and integrated action for Sustainable Development

Concrete JSI members have signed a joint agreement committing to act on 9 Declarations. Declaration #4 addresses 8 Social Values of Concrete Structures

Declaration #4: “Our integrated thinking will focus on the following Social Values provided by Concrete Structures”: 1. Resource efficiency5. By-product reduction 2. Safety/protection6. Aesthetics 3. Financial responsibility7. Societal connectivity 4. Operational continuity8. Longevity/durability

Concrete Structures Social Value: The “Aesthetics of Concrete” Joint Sustainability Initiative - Social Value #7

Aesthetics: What it Means “There are three forms of visual art: Painting is art to look at, sculpture is art you can walk around, and architecture is art you can walk through” - Dan Rice “The purpose of architecture is to shelter and enhance man's life on earth and to fulfill his belief in the nobility of his existence” - - Eero Saarinen A branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste.

Vitruvius: fermitas, utilitas, venustas Firmness, Commodity, and Delight Glen Canyon Dam, UtahConfederation Bridges, PEI, Canada Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin

Aesthetics in Concrete “Because of this, originality consists in returning to the origin.” - Antonio Gaudi Hoover Dam, Arizona Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Historic Structures “Architecture is the very mirror of life. You only have to cast your eyes on buildings to feel the presence of the past, the spirit of a place; they are the reflection of society.” - I M Pei Pantheon – Rome circa 112 ad

City Skylines shaped with Concrete “Architecture, of all the arts, is the one which acts the most slowly, but the most surely, on the soul.” - Ernest Dimnet

Concrete Building Systems

Structures for Transportation Beauty can be expressed in the structural efficiency, simplicity, and repetition of a bridge. “Design is not making beauty, beauty emerges from selection, affinities, integration, love.” - Louis Kahn Millau Viaduct, France Rogue River Bridge, Oregon

Structures for the Masses “The purpose of architecture is to shelter and enhance man's life on earth and to fulfill his belief in the nobility of his existence” - Eero Saarinen DULLES International, Virginia TWA Terminal, New York

Structures as Form “A bold architectural statement turns a public building into a landmark, but it is in the details where the architect becomes the real storyteller.” - Curtis Fentress Miami Children’s Museum, Florida

Structures that Serve Fossil Ridge Intermediate School, St. George, UT Public Building, Chandigarh, India “Less is More” Mies van der Rohe

Structures That Celebrate Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin “Every great architect is - necessarily - a great poet. He must be a great original interpreter of his time, his day, his age.” - Frank Lloyd Wright

Structures As Art “The mother art is architecture. Without an architecture of our own we have no soul of our own civilization.” - Frank Lloyd Wright Guggenheim Museum, New York City Sydney Opera House, Australia

Structures that Inspire “Architecture is the learned game, correct and magnificent, of forms assembled in the light.” - Le Corbusier Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France

Structures for the Spirit “Architecture has recorded the great ideas of the human race. Not only every religious symbol, but every human thought has its page in that vast book.” Victor Hugo

Structures for Living “Form follows function.” - Louis Sullivan Kaufman Residence, Pennsylvania Hundertwasserhaus, Austria

Structures for Work “Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness.” – Frank Gehry Johnson Wax, Wisconsin

Structures for Commerce Stapleton B-4, Denver, CO Falls Point Shopping Center Raleigh, NC “Architecture is a visual art, and the buildings speak for themselves.” - Julia Morgan

Sibaya Casino, South Africa “Architecture is the triumph of human imagination over materials, methods, and men, to put man into possession of his own earth. - Frank Lloyd Wright Structures for Entertainment

Structures as Sculpture “All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or stimulates persons in that space.” - Philip Johnson

Structures for Landscapes

Structures as Scenery “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” - Leonardo da Vinci

Concrete Surfaces for Work and Play

Concrete is our Future “Ah, to build, to build! That is the noblest of all the arts.“ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Thank You American Coal Ash Association American Concrete Institute American Concrete Pipe Association American Shotcrete Association American Society of Concrete Contractors Architectural Precast Association American Segmental Bridge Institute Cast Stone Institute Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute Concrete Sawing & Drilling Association Concrete Foundations Association Expanded Shale, Clay and Slate Institute Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute International Concrete Repair Institute National Concrete Masonry Association National Precast Concrete Association National Ready Mixed Concrete Association Portland Cement Association Post-Tensioning Institute Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute RMC Research and Education Foundation Silica Fume Association Slag Cement Association Tile Roofing Institute Tilt-Up Concrete Association Wire Reinforcement Institute