We use a lot of concrete. Pretending otherwise, in a practice whose work is largely structural reuse and dense housing, would be dishonest.
What that obliges
It obliges specificity. Cement content, replacement ratio, and where the mix comes from are project decisions we make explicitly, not defaults we inherit from a contractor’s preferred supplier.
Standard practice on our last four projects has been 50% GGBS replacement in foundations and 30% in superstructure, which is unremarkable now and was mildly contentious in 2019.
What we will not pour
We do not pour decorative concrete. If a concrete element is not doing structural or thermal work, it becomes something else — usually timber, occasionally nothing at all.
We also do not demolish sound concrete to pour new concrete. That is the whole argument of the practice, stated as a material policy rather than a value.
Honest, not clean
None of this makes concrete a good material. It makes it an accountable one. The best concrete decision we have made in five years was at Kade 14, where the decision was to leave 1,900 tonnes of it exactly where it was.
Written by
Wouter de Bruin
Studio Director
Wouter runs the studio itself — fees, programme, resourcing — so that the design team can spend its attention on the drawing rather than the schedule.
