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The Experts Argue
Exposed concrete came in with a bang. Will it go out with a whimper? In an explosive discussion, the answers are provided by those producing the fireworks.
Puttering with the potential
“Concrete is like stone; it should be in the graveyard,” says A. Farch, a construction superintendent. By puttering with the potential, is the architectural profession making the future of concrete as dead as Farch thinks?
      To the undoubted joy of the concrete industry, the great majority of architects do not share Farch’s cynicism [sic, for skepticism? misgivings?]. They are agreed that, theoretically, the potential of exposed concrete is virtually untapped.
      However, discontent with present performance was as widespread as enthusiasm for its prospects. From Canada to the United States to the Fiji Islands, architects made the same complaints, despite regional boundaries and wide climatic variations. They complained of poor control, lack of contractor responsibility, and design inhibitions caused by codes and labor...
The Enemy Within
      All of concrete’s difficulties do not come from outside the designers’ office. Design concentration upon finicky precision is a hangover from the shiny new metal curtain wall building era strains the use of concrete both technically and economically.
      Is there a justification for manicuring “mud” ?

—

from “Concrete : Where Do We Go from Here?”
in Progressive Architecture (October 1966) : 173
archive.org : link
title of article at ToC : “Puttering with the Potential : Has the structural potential of concrete already been reached?” : link
 

an issue all of whose feature articles are devoted to concrete, 169-236
the first of two epigrams —
“Concrete is mud. I work with concrete, not against it. I like mud.”
Paul Rudolph
 

19 May 2026