Micro-structured concrete

Concrete, although already known to the ancient Romans, has been further developed in recent years to become the all-rounder among the building materials of the future. Self-compacting, fiber-reinforced or ultra-high-strength concretes are just a few examples.

The task as part of the practical exercise for the Building Materials Technology 2 course in the 2019 summer semester was to create an individually designed exposed concrete relief as an abstract ornament. The design implementation in concrete could be executed as a low or high relief, penetration, inlay work or flat surface design. The relief formwork was prepared by the students themselves, placed in pre-assembled wooden formwork and then poured with self-compacting concrete (fine-grain mix "Flowstone white") and stripped in the laboratory under the guidance of Winfried Schmidt and Daniel Horn. The external formwork consisted of prefabricated timber modular formwork. The dimensions of each exposed concrete relief are 30 cm x 30 cm and are cast as a positive or negative structure in exposed concrete quality. The height of the relief was limited to 0.5 cm.

The aim of these practical exercises was to train perception for a better understanding in later practical professional life as well as to raise awareness of concrete as a material, to acquire skills in design and formwork construction and to implement them in the concrete laboratory.

This resulted in over 80 individual reliefs made of white exposed concrete which, after the premiere exhibition in the foyer of the Faculty of Architecture in Dortmund, went on tour to be presented to the external public at various events and regional construction fairs.

Daniel Lethert

Dyckerhoff GmbH (cement), GCP Germany GmbH (concrete admixtures), Reckli GmbH (formwork samples)