Concrete Arches from 1910

Former water filtration plant in Owen Sound, Ontario

Last weekend in an Open Doors tour in my local town of Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada, I discovered what few people even know exists: the abandoned water filtration plant. It was built in 1910 of poured concrete and you can still see the wood grain on the boards that were used to form the graceful arch structure which makes up two 'rooms' each 160' X 80'. Water from the Sydenham River was let into the chambers where it was filtered through a two-foot depth of sand, then through a 12" pipe six miles to the small town. A crew of 400 took two years to build the filter system.

Every couple of months the sand had to be removed and washed, then put back in the rooms through round holes in the roof. The entire structure was buried in earth and grass grown on the top. Over 2,000,000 gallons of water a day was treated by the system.

The filtration system has been closed since the 1960's and due to vandalism is only open to the public on special occasions. You can still walk over the grass on top of the structure and peek in one locked gate by following a trail in the Inglis Falls Conservation area. Owen Sound and Shallow Lake were early centres for Portland cement production from the 1880's.

http://www.greysauble.on.ca/ca-inglisfalls3.html

Timelessness and Concrete

Thinking about concrete and timelessness, I came across a reference from The Long Now about a web site that archives "the most fascinating abandoned man-made creations." The site is called Artificial Owl and is a wonderful collection of photographs of abandoned man-made creations from around the world. Here I stumbled on this image of a large concrete face sculpture of Ferdinand Marcos; the photograph was taken following an explosion in 2002 that defaced it. There are more images here, with some "before" photographs.

Two comments:
First, it makes one think about how long most concrete art will be around, unless it is willfully destroyed, and even then the rubble will be around for a long time. One of the appeals of concrete for artists is this timelessness.
Second, this makes a great example of how to build a large-scale ferrocement sculpture... Notice the strong armature made from reinforced concrete pillars. The armature has been wrapped and overlaid with steel rebar, and a concrete mix applied to that. The concrete has been applied in sections, whether that is to imitate stone blocks or to control cracking I'm not sure. It looks like the interior space is large enough to be a room - shades of the movie Being Jon Malkovich.

More Girli Concrete

Concrete and linen from Tactility Factory

Girli Concrete has just announced their new web site, called Tactility Factory:
http://www.tactilityfactory.com/

The company's aim is to make more "tactile" concrete, which means adding fabric to the surface of concrete, usually through casting it in place. The web site explains that Tactility Factory both works on specific commissions/installations and also partners with the concrete industry to produce larger quantities of precast objects such as tiles.

'Green' Fibres for Concrete

Here's another way to make concrete a 'greener' material. Instead of using newly manufactured polypropylene or nylon fibres in the mix, you can now get nylon fibers made entirely from recycled used carpeting.

Chopped plastic strands added to concrete prevent or reduce the amount of shrinkage cracking in the initial set. This leads to greater overall strength in the final concrete. In small-scale concrete artwork, fibres make a more workable mix with less separation, easier to apply to vertical surfaces–more clay-like. The fibres improve tensile strength and in some cases can be used to replace or reduce steel reinforcing.

http://www.nycon.com/NyconG.htm

Nycon in Westerly, RI, has developed the technology of harvesting old carpets. This not only saves carpets from going into landfill, but also means fewer petrochemicals are used. Their brand of recycled nylon fibre is called NyconG. One variety called "ConTrol-G-CounterTop" is recommended for applications including castings such as statuary and countertops.

Concrete Art Conflict

An interesting conflict is developing in a community near Liverpool, UK, where a huge concrete sculpture in the shape of a head will be built on a former slag heap. Read an article online here for a description of this all-too-familiar discussion.



Local residents say the project is "bonkers" and that the 2 million pounds could have been better spent helping the 5000 people in the region who are unemployed, or helping local industries through difficult times.

In contrast, this culture website praises the project as "a gateway feature between Liverpool and Manchester." The sculpture "Dream" will stand 66 feet high and is to be constructed of blocks of white concrete. Spanish sculptor Jaume Plesna was commissioned to do the work after a panel of ex-miners chose the design. "We wanted something that was more than just another mining monument. Thanks to this fantastic artist I believe we have a piece of artwork that not only reflects the past heritage of the site but also projects it into the future."

It's interesting to compare the articles in these two web sites: one slams public art as being imposed on the community from outside, the other argues that members of the public have chosen and commissioned the work and were involved at all stages. It's hard to believe they're talking about the same project. Construction is already under way.

Girli Concrete

Two women from Northern Ireland have partnered to experiment with combining concrete and softness, two seemingly opposed concepts.
http://girliconcrete.blogspot.com/
New link (April 16, 2009) http://www.tactilityfactory.com/

"Girli Concrete is an R&D project (for Tactility Factory) that aims to create innovative ‘soft’ building surfaces. It challenges the perception of textiles as the ‘dressing’ to structure and instead integrates textile technologies into the production of building products. Tactility Factory is a collaboration between Belford (textiles) and Morrow (architecture). Its conceptual challenge is MAINSTREAMING TACTILITY in the Built Environment. "

Dragonfly Wings

This is a reduced image of the dragonfly wings I used in the obelisk sculpture shown in the last blog entry. You may have noticed that I've been using images of flight, wings and bird bones, in some of these recent pieces. I like the contrast between the weight of the concrete and the idea of flight. The brass wings were made by photo-transferring this image onto the brass and acid etching the image right through to the other side.