Der entfesselte Baustoff

The unbound material. On the reception of the early reinforced concrete and its construction specificity

With the mass introduction of industrial construction materials such as iron and later, reinforced concrete, the existing relationship between materiality and the form which is developed out of it has been changing. Compared with previously used construction materials, the combination of concrete with iron provides much more capability, in almost unlimited forms and with much less structural restrictions. Thereby, however, old typological design concepts of shaping and joining have to first be overcome in lengthy disputes. The shift in the main focus of the designer from joining towards shaping reaches its high point in reinforced concrete: the cast building material disposes of the necessity of binding and can be shaped almost arbitrarily. It attains a substantial expansion of its structural and formal performance in the interaction of the iron specifically arranged to support it and the external formation of the components. For the first time, a building material can unite within itself the desired appearance and an actual structural effect that are decoupled from each other.