‘The sweetest music you will ever hear’: structural and programmatic uses of concrete by Denys Lasdun &amp; Partners

Calder, Barnabas

doi:10.1080/13602365.2015.1039046

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 2 publications

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“…It is important to bear in mind that at the time of these developments concrete was often seen as a prestige material and was not simply a means of keeping costs down. Calder refers to a ‘rumour’ that ‘went round architecture schools in the 1970s’ that it would have been cheaper to clad the National Theatre in London with marble than the existing concrete (Calder, 2015: 337; 2016: 9). He argues, too, that the skills involved in creating good concrete during the 1960s constituted one of the ‘great craft traditions’.…”

Section: Ontology 1: Concrete Is Concretementioning

confidence: 99%

Concrete Culture: The Planning Hearing as a Stage for Cultural Debates

Smith

2021

Cultural Sociology

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This article is an investigation into how cultural debates are staged within the planning hearing for a new concert hall in Edinburgh. Through an analysis of the hearing and interviews with protagonists, it shows how the material, in this case the proposed concrete cladding, functions within a cultural controversy, providing an excellent example of how materials are socially mediated. The findings suggest that the debates over cultural impact and elitism rehearsed in the hearing are inextricably tied to two opposing ontologies of concrete, one very fixed, the other far more open. It is argued that planning hearings are an under-explored area in which cultural policy is effected, though the entwinement – indeed co-constitution – of material and cultural issues shows that the course and eventual conclusion of these debates are highly complex.

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Section: Ontology 1: Concrete Is Concretementioning

confidence: 99%