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| “Liquid Stone” Exhibition is closing The National Building Museum’s popular exhibition, Liquid Stone: New Architecture in Concrete will close on January 29, 2006 after being on view for over a year and a half. A concluding program with Hungarian architect and inventor of LiTraCon Áron Losonczi on January 24, 2006 will help mark the exhibition closing. Translucent concrete LiTraCon — hailed as one of “the most amazing inventions of 2004” by Time Magazine — is a revolutionary product incorporating fiber-optics, allowing slivers of light to pass through solid concrete. A wall of LiTraCon blocks is the last element in the exhibition Liquid Stone. Losonczi will discuss the product’s genesis, development, and use in several experimental architectural installations, including the Europe Gate, which celebrated Hungary’s entry into the European Union. In addition, a book titled Liquid Stone: New Architecture in Concrete, based on the exhibition, will be released by Princeton Architectural Press in February. The book begins with a series of essays by prominent academics and practitioners exploring the complex history of concrete. Antoine Picon, professor of the history of architecture and technology at Harvard University, writes about the genealogy of concrete within the broader context of technological history. Co-editor Jean-Louis Cohen explores how differences in French and German national building cultures influenced European concrete design and construction. Adrian Forty, professor of architectural history at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, makes the case that concrete should be considered a process rather than a specific material, using examples from post-World War II Italy. Réjean Legault, architectural historian and professor at the École de design at the Université du Québec, Montréal, traces contemporary developments in North America, which reshaped the visible face of concrete. A second set of essays expands upon the themes developed in the National Building Museum’s exhibition Liquid Stone. Structural engineer and Princeton University professor Guy Nordenson examines concrete construction as a kind of theatrical endeavor. New York architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, who designed the Liquid Stone installation, reflect on the vast spectrum of possible concrete surfaces and finishes. Exhibition curator Martin Moeller discusses the surprisingly moralistic arguments that have been invoked in the debate about concrete’s proper form. Finally, Franz-Josef Ulm, professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, reveals amazing new directions in scientific investigation that will undoubtedly shape future design and building in concrete. Liquid Stone: New Architecture in Concrete is sponsored exclusively by Lafarge, the world leader in building materials. It holds top-ranking positions in all four of its divisions: Cement, Aggregates and Concrete, Roofing and Gypsum. In 2004, the Lafarge Group posted sales of 14.4 billion euros. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Construction News :: home page |