Contemporary Concrete Buildings

Stirred and shaken

Naked as it comes out of the mixer: concrete celebrates its comeback

Concrete, isn't that the ugly stuff they make highway bridges and parking garages out of? Yes and no. "Concrete" actually refers to a whole range of stone mixtures and, when used correctly, is one of the finest materials in contemporary architecture. In its liquid state, it can be shaped into astonishing works of engineering art and is both flexible and durable.

This Bibliotheca Universalis edition presents the best concrete buildings of recent years. The master builders include architectural icons such as Herzog & de Meuron, Steven Holl and Zaha Hadid, as well as hip newcomers such as the Russians SPEECH. The volume also presents the work of shooting stars of the international scene and even artists such as James Turrell, who made the famous rotunda of Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum in New York the setting for one of his most impressive works.

The author

Philip Jodidio studied art history and economics at Harvard and was editor-in-chief of the French art magazine Connaissance des Arts for over two decades. His publications with TASCHEN include the Architecture Now! series and his monographs on Tadao Ando, Santiago Calatrava, Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, Richard Meier, Zaha Hadid and, soon, Norman Foster.