CONCRETE OR WOOD?

CONCRETE OR WOOD? In the article I linked to yesterday on the remodeling of Saarinen’s library at the University of Chicago Law School, I counted five references to the use of wood to make the new interior more comfortable. One of the drawbacks for the architecture of the sixties is that reinforced concrete was a fashionable material for buildings. One reason it was fashionable was the enormous influence of the architect Le Corbusier, who is quoted here as saying, “I have given my life to concrete.” This review of an exhibit in Poland begins: “Concrete Legacy: From Le Corbusier to the Homeboys focuses on concrete block housing as one of the gravest consequences of Modernist architectural thought. Large, prefabricated concrete slabs, used in entire housing developments, individual blocks and individual dwellings, continue to determine living conditions for, and shape the thinking of, millions of people.” Not surprisingly, people don’t like interior concrete walls. Architects seemed to know this. The interior walls of concrete buildings were often striated to evoke the feeling that wood gives.