| ‘Hardcore – Concrete’s
rise from utility to luxury’ A major public exhibition (260 sq metres) celebrating concrete, from its first appearance in the ancient world to the extraordinary uses to which concrete is put today. While explaining concrete’s rich heritage, Hardcore concentrated on contemporary developments, introducing the audience to the many groundbreaking developments that are set to become a part of our everyday landscape. Practitioners featured included OMA, Herzog & De Meuron, Un Studio, Tadao Ando, Foster and Partners and Santiago Calatrava. Hardcore created an exciting, tactile and immersive experience. Rather than relying solely on photographs and text panels, the exhibition created a world of concrete, using real materials and concrete examples. Gallery One consisted of a concrete underpass with each panel demonstrating a different concrete technique or surface. These high quality precast panels were interspersed with images depicting the history of concrete as well as samples of Roman concrete, John Outrams Blitzcrete and some unusual aggregates such as shells and recycled materials. In the Florence Hall the exhibition examined the contemporary use of concrete, recreating a domestic interior full of concrete elements from seating, lighting, to jewellery demonstrating how concrete has become a luxury material to designers. This section also looked at 10 major contemporary projects utilising concrete in different forms such as Gigon Guyers’ Signal Box in Zurich, Herzog & de Meuron’s Rudin House and Zaha Hadid’s tram terminus in Strasbourg . The final element of the show displayed new developments such as lightweight, pollution absorbing and photo etched concrete. The exhibition was designed to appeal to the general public, as well as those in the profession - architects and designers. Instead of captions cluttering the walls, exhibition text and exhibit information was given in a special exhibition guide which also included further information, which the visitor could take away and keep for future reference. Associated Events: Lectures by renown experts including Adrian Forty (who discussed Concrete on Film), Mark West, David Bennett and David Heathcote. We also devised a competition to win a trip to the town of Concrete – in Washington State, USA, which proved to be very popular. Curators and Exhibition Organisers: Scarlet Projects Photographs taken by Morley Von Sternberg
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