Platform on concrete and steel in construction
Our concrete legacy: unloved but crucial
Dr. Wido Quist with minerals

Our concrete legacy: unloved but crucial

In 2015, Dr. Wido Quist, senior lecturer in Heritage and Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture at TU Delft, was tipped off to make a quick visit to the bankrupt Schokbeton in Zwijndrecht. Upon arrival, he found hundreds of different concrete tiles, a thousand recipes for concrete, and huge folders full of visual material. Wido and his colleagues took as many photos and scans as possible, and even took some with them. Why, "First, we save unique knowledge about the history of architecture. And second, this archive holds a key to the sustainable preservation of our built heritage."

Concrete, a mixture of sand and gravel with cement, is the second most widely used material in the world after water. And popularity brings criticism. Concrete today is virtually synonymous with ugly and uninspiring. Not so with Wido: "Put me down in any city and I can tell you all about concrete architecture. The Holbeinhuis in Rotterdam contains red brick dust, Zutphen station is full of flint chips, the white concrete of the former Banque Lambert in Brussels is polished smooth... All deliberate choices by designers and builders!" So it is coincidental but not surprising that Schokbeton came his way.

Quist2 kopieren
Range of concrete types

From Dutch pride to unwanted child

Schokbeton originated in the 1930s, specializing in thin, aesthetic walls and building elements ... made of concrete. How to do it. As the name suggests, it's a matter of banging on formwork with curing concrete. This "shaking" removes air bubbles and fills the mold perfectly. Wido: "According to the story, this was invented by an employee who was transporting concrete with a broken wheelbarrow. That seems exaggerated to me: the consequence of kicking against formwork had long been known." But Schokbeton made machines that could perform the process on a large scale.

Their timing proved very favorable: after World War II, demand was barely keeping up. Schokbeton became the largest in the Netherlands, supplying thousands of different building elements to homes, offices, and even farms. The company spread its wings internationally: barracks for the U.S. Army in Greenland, the Peugeot headquarters in Paris, the U.S. Embassy in Dublin... Wido: "If you look closely at the styles and colors of their buildings, you can see that a lot of love and attention went into them. Often a new concrete mix was invented for a single project!"

But its heyday came to an end. In the 1970s, architects switched to heavy, load-bearing facades, making Schokbeton's thin elements and special techniques obsolete. They tried experimenting with brutalism and tiled walls, and got a few more major commissions: the Peeperklip and Willemswerf in Rotterdam, the university hospital in Utrecht... Wido: "In their archives I found an ambitious project: an entire residential district in Saudi Arabia! Thousands of concrete elements were shipped, but it didn't bring in enough." After a string of new owners, Schokbeton was forgotten.

Quist1 kopieren
Schokbeton specialized in decorative building elements (left) that were used, for example, for the U.S. Embassy in Dublin (J.M Johansen, 1964)

What we can learn from Schokbeton

So we are back to the beginning: Wido and colleagues at an abandoned factory site. Why are they going to all this trouble to salvage knowledge from a deceased company? The answer is three-part.

1. Restoration is more sustainable than rebuilding

The production of concrete costs a lot of non-renewable raw materials and emits a lot of CO2: not exactly climate-conscious. But with existing concrete structures, the 'harm is already done'. Wido: "That's why we have to preserve or reuse all these so-called obsolete buildings as best we can." The Schokbeton archive teaches us how to repair existing structures. Environmentally a much better option than demolishing, which generates a lot of waste, and building something new, which again releases CO2.

2. Concrete heritage is also cultural heritage

Taste is subjective and constantly changing. Right now, concrete behemoths are not in vogue, but "we can't do it to future generations to demolish concrete heritage for that reason." Wido sees two solutions. "First, draw attention to these buildings. After all, unknown makes unloved. Second, adapt buildings to current needs." And since much of that heritage exists because of Shock Concrete, studying their techniques and concrete types helps with both approaches.

3. Old techniques, new applications

Concrete, both because of CO2 emissions and aesthetics, is increasingly the "black sheep" of construction. Yet it remains hugely popular. After all, concrete has significant advantages: it is cheap, flexible, sturdy, and long-lasting. So if we're going to build with concrete, let's do it right. At the time, the thin elements of Schok concrete were more about aesthetics, but they are also material-efficient. Wido: "When we learn to use those techniques again, we optimize structures where concrete is really needed."

Stop the demolition!

Wido's core message is actually quite simple. Concrete simply lasts a long time, so let's commit to reuse. "If we recognize the financial, cultural and historical value of concrete heritage, we will automatically come up with the best ways to renovate, restore and repurpose it... That way you really make a difference for the environment." With his research, Wido is doing his part, but he can't do it alone. "We need a government that is much stricter with demolition permits: demolition should be the last choice." Also, (student) designers and architects need to be challenged to work with the existing. And to everyone, Wido says, "Learn about concrete! The history, the applications, the potential ... Look around you, see what you have; you will automatically see possibilities."

"*" indicates required fields

Send us a message

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Wij gebruiken cookies. Daarmee analyseren we het gebruik van de website en verbeteren we het gebruiksgemak.

Details

Kunnen we je helpen met zoeken?

Bekijk alle resultaten