Ah, lovely, beautiful sexy concrete. One of Mankind’s greatest inventions, it could be argued. Composite building materials have been in use since the time of the Egyptians, and the Romans first introduced it to Britain.

So, let’s see yer concrete carbuncles. From the small to the tall, the simple to the most elaborate.

Once again, where else can I start??

Colechurch House, London Bridge:

Space House, Holborn:

National Theatre, South Bank:

The multi storey car park in Gateshead that is no more…

😥

I’ve got qualifications in concrete.

EDIT
I do love a good powerfloated floor. Nice shiny concrete 🙂

HTS, is that the Stratosphere?

HTS, is that the Stratosphere?

Dunno.

Got a love hate with this building [and it’s occupants]. Can’t find a better picture of it either not that there are many flattering angles anyway

Are they carved into it PP? Or was it cast?

A great big slab of it in Piccadilly Gardens, which I like.

And in the background the very concrete and truly hideous Piccadilly hotel. And something cool by the same architect:

Pantheon Rome c125 AD

The Education factory (Leeds University) –

The ‘Easy Stoner’ building, Leesd Uni

Hyde Park flats, Sheffield (now demolished)

Dortmund TV Tower (it’s quite windy up there)

Brunel Uni Lecture Theatre (I believe it’s a listed building because of the wood-grain in the concrete):

EDIT – Oh Poo…..they’ve taken the link down or something…….
Found another one….

I tried to find some more pictures of the ‘interesting’ Brunel campus buildings but couldn’t. I believe people find them too disturbing.

EDIT – Oh and some more Brunel-based Trivia. I believe the lecture theatre & Howell Building behind it are meant to look like a Spanish Galleon, when viewed in isolation. But, the buildings around it have encroached so much that you can’t stand far enough back to take it their full beauty.
The sunken garden at the front of the lecture theatre was supposed to be a pond, further strengthening the Spanish Galleon (in water) thing. But, myth says that when it was filled it leaked and so they just left it empty.

Glenfinnan viaduct (as seen in Harry Potter). First structure in the world to use mass concrete technique apparently. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that all of the Roman buildings above are stone, held together with mortar

Canary Wharf underground station

50p Building in Croydon

Better at night

Tricorn Center, Portsmouth

Didn’t look quite as good in daylight…

Fiddlers Ferry Power Station in Warrington. My grandparents lived not far away from it so I’ve driven past it countless times. Horrible place but cooling towers have, for some strange reason always impressed me.

Oh look at all this lovely concrete! 😀

(Weeps at the beauty of it all)

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that all of the Roman buildings above are stone, held together with mortar

Apparently the Pantheon in Rome has the World’s largest unsupported concrete dome.

Nice to see the Italians continuing with the tradition of flamboyant stadia:

San Siro, Milan.

Todao Ando again:

Love the cooling towers – the shape is driven purely by function but is so “right”

Concrete ship!

Anything by Santiago Calatrava

WOW

more here

Ships In Concrete – Best Maritime Inspired Architecture

Apollo Pavillion

Apollo Pavillion

L’Eglise Saint Pierre – Firminy Vert

Cardross Seminary

School of Modern Dance, Cuba (not strictly concrete but still fantastic)

Stumpy… I thought that the Brunel library was supposed to be a representative of the SS Great Britain? I also heard when I was there that it was built the wrong way round, but that could be legend.

i love concrete! – it’s ace stuff.

hoover dam:

and

Lovely Brummy buildings

Stoney Trail – Bow River Bridge Calgary

can’t find a decent picture of this bridge but it is very beautiful in the fleash so to speak

Teh Scottish parliament building – very marmite but I think history will be kind to it as archtecture.

Le Corbusier (I assume it’s concrete).

Tricorn Center, Portsmouth

I have completely forgotten what that looked liked

Mancunian Way – it won a concrete award so it must be good:

I was going to say, the mancunian way … i used to walk past that sign everyday and wonder about it.

Spinnaker Tower:

the Shard:

Concrete is awesome. I’ve just come back from a meeting for an RC building that I’m designing which is cantilevering out over a mainline railway tunnel in Camden.

Terrible material. Shocking levels of embodied energy in the manufacture of concrete. A real shame that more people don’t give a toss about what their houses are made of – but they will slap a few solar panels on the top of it to make them feel a bit better.

TSY – Prado skatepark? Best bit of French architecture on the thread so far.

Gregynog Hall. Made of concrete apparently.

EDIT: it’s concrete clad, but this was apparently the first concrete house in the world, a worker’s cottage on the estate

I’ll bite TooTall. Very few private houses in this country are made from concrete. Also, modern concrete framed buildings are have to pass stringent Building Regs for energy efficiency that are getting tighter all the time.