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Abstract:
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In the history of building , the word "concrete" has been used to describe a myriad of concoctions , some of which are hardly related , very few of which resemble the particular agglomeration of materials we know today as "concrete ." As is the case now , concrete has always been an experimental material : hailed as a panacea , only to be disowned as the ill -begotten child of madness or ignorance . Aside from sporadic periods of popularity and experimentation , concrete has been the choice of necessity for many centuries , particularly in utilitarian structures , for its advocates have always espoused its economy , durability and flexibility . A "choice of necessity" cannot be separated from what Iwould call a "choice of opportunity ," for in each instance , the manifestation of concrete as an important building material cannot be separated from the natural resources and the skill of the labor at hand to give the material form . What has emerged from the series of apparent abberations and mutations is instead relatively continuous technological evolution , one form of which has perhaps ended with the concrete era of Sequin ; Texas in the mid -nineteenth century . |