The Afterlife of Concrete
Reimagine the afterlife of the extraction, production, and consumption zones within concrete lifecycle to liberate perceptions and practices towards concrete as a material
Runjia Chen
Design Research Major Project
Master of Landscape Architecture
2022
As humans, our relationship with concrete is complex. Concrete is the second largest material used on the planet (after water), and the most significant contributor to construction and demolition waste in Victoria. While still in use, concrete is not considered to be of the same aesthetic, cultural and environmental values as other geological materials, such as bluestone.
Designers are concrete consumers. We engage with this anthropogenic geology as a product, yet pay little attention to its life cycle beyond design. The ubiquity of concrete often causes designers to mistreat concrete, which shapes a broader lack of interest in the unique qualities of this material. Landscape architects, however, also function partly as historians. With our power to choose materials and create physical spaces, we also create history when we select particular perspectives and stories.
The afterlife of concrete seeks to expose the life cycle of concrete beyond the designed product. “Tracing” is used to reveal the hidden grounds of extraction, production and demolition of concrete and to uncover the lost values and obscured locality of this everyday material.
Through these acts of tracing, several sites, including the limestone quarry in Batesford, the old Cement Works in Fyansford and various redevelopment sites across the Melbourne CBD have been disclosed and transformed.
The project uses the techniques of drawing, mapping and material experimentation to develop a collection of insights and interventions into the life cycle of concrete at different scales.
The afterlife of concrete demonstrates how we could design with demolished concrete by curating what exists in order to create experiences for everyday, ceremonial and temporal uses.
Demolition is positioned as a transformative opportunity and the path to cultivating a more resilient relationship between humans and concrete that aims to render accessible and legible concrete’s previously under-recognized heritage for future generations.
