MEDIA

Concrete Poetry

INTRODUCTION

Reinforced concrete, offers the possibility of an unlimited exploration of structure and shape in architecture. Concrete has conviction, strength and directness, but it has plasticity, too, which makes the possibilities for shape-making almost endless. It is hardly surprising, then, that in the hands of talented architects with the courage to fail, the incontrovertible fusion of concrete plasticity and brute force can be turned into architecture of lyric beauty, intensity and timelessness.

Concrete Poetry > Concrete Architecture in Australia celebrates all the power and grace of concrete in architecture.

In this book, award-winning architecture writer Joe Rollo takes
you on a personal journey through 36 of Australia's most inspiring concrete buildings and structures from the mid-1950's to the present, from the drawing boards of talented architects who have sought to make a difference.

Published by Cement Concrete and Aggregates Australia, Concrete Poetry is designed by Garry Emery Design and illustrated with the superb realist black and white photographs of Max Dupain and David Moore, and the strong colour photography of John Gollings and other Australian photographers who have elevated the art of architectural photography.

Concrete Poetry is about the poetics of concrete as a material in architecture, from a tiny corrugated concrete beach kiosk in Perth to the majestic beauty of the Sydney Opera House.

Concrete Poetry features an essay on concrete by Cecil Balmond, visionary structural engineer, author (informal, a monograph on seminal projects) and Chairman of Arup Europe, whose outside-the-square exploration of form has
led to striking collaborations with some of the biggest names in world architecture, including Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind, Arata Isozaki and Toyo Ito.

Concrete Poetry: Concrete Architecture in Australia
Author: Joe Rollo
Price: $125

Hardcover
171 pages
Fully illustrated, colour & b+w.
ISBN: 1877023108

Publisher: Cement Concrete and Aggregates Australia

Available through specialist bookstores