Concrete ways to surprise
Versatile concrete is popping up in all sorts of unexpected ways, writes Caroline Botting.
Crockery, colourful driveways, mock timber walls and furniture – concrete has truly progressed beyond being a foundation for a home.
As an early adopter of using concrete in interiors, Strachan Group Architects’ director Dave Strachan says he likes its raw ‘‘honesty’’. Concrete isn’t designed to look perfect – each pour provides something original.
For the masses
Strachan’s own Auckland house shows concrete’s many uses, both practical and aesthetic. ‘‘But we’ve used it mostly for its thermal mass. Our garage is concrete, 150mm thick, it’s bulletproof. Being on a main road, there are diesel fumes, it’s loud and busy.’’
He likes the way it presents a robust, durable face to the outside world. Internally, concrete is used for its thermal mass on the ground floor and an elevated floor above the living room. ‘‘Thermal mass is heat storage for free,’’ he says. ‘‘There’s a block of flats [along the right side of the house]. There was no way the sun was going to hit that part of the house so we elevated it, so it’s all insulated and acts as a heat store.’’
Concrete is also used to surround a glass shower box and for the kitchen and vanity benchtops. ‘‘Concrete will never leak or rot.’’
An all-rounder
Concrete has moved beyond just giving an industrial feel to a home, says Ross Bannan, who describes himself as concretologist.
Name any shape, form or colour – almost anything can be created from concrete, from colonial skirting boards or a board andbatten look, to a wall designed to appear 100 years old. If you like the look of rough-sawn timber or a weatherboard profile, you can have that too – it’s just a matter of creating the right form and pouring concrete into it. ‘‘Being in a fluid state, you can mirror anything you put on your formwork,’’ Bannan says.
Bannan’s house, which featured on Grand Designs NZ, includes various styles and colours of concrete. ‘‘People will say, ‘Oh, I see you built a timber fireplace.’ They think it’s stained timber but it’s darker concrete with a rough-sawn timber appearance.’’
Yellow, black and terracotta were once the only colours available for concrete. Now you can choose more than 80 hues, says Brennan Fell of Peter Fell Concrete, which specialises in coloured concrete. Concrete is coloured with oxide, which takes it to the desired shade.
‘‘Concrete’s no longer something to be covered over,’’ says Fell, who develops the colours, pigments, textures and finishes. Recent requests included bright white, blue and orange driveways and coloured bar stools. ‘‘With concrete, every product is unique. We embrace its imperfections... and increasingly more people are too.’’
Assemble the team
It takes a team effort to get great results in concrete.
‘‘People see a picture and think, ‘I want to achieve this’,’’ says Bannan. ‘‘It takes a little bit of research and knowledge. Get a team together [the designer or architect and a concrete specialist] and work through the whole methodology of the build. You’ll have the end result that everyone is after and to a budget, without having to rectify problems later.’’
Carbon credentials
Environmentally, concrete has had a bad rap with around 5 per cent of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions caused by cement production.
However, those in favour of concrete point out that over its lifetime it can be a responsible choice due to its strength – it won’t rust, rot or burn and you don’t need to paint, repair or replace it. A study published in scientific journal Nature Geoscience found that over time concrete actually soaks up some carbon, so it’s not as bad as previously thought.
If you exclude the fossil fuels used to make concrete, more than 40 per cent of the carbon will be absorbed over an 83-year period.
In brief
❚ A polished concrete floor helps keep homes warm in winter and is easy to clean.
❚ Concrete can be used for benchtops and vanities and even shelving.
❚ For those wanting the imperfect look of concrete in an existing home, specialist wall paper stores stock faux concrete wallpaper in a range of textures and looks.
❚ Concrete has moved on from its limited colour palette and now comes in up to 80 hues.
❚ Before you pour the concrete, make sure you’ve got the green light from those in the know as if you get it wrong, it can be a very permanent and costly mistake.