While construction materials often provide plenty of personality by using their inherent properties — the warmth and texture of wood, the veining of marble, the color of tile they are also able to become a canvas for artistic expression.
Particularly, concrete allows great amounts of saying, given the way it is formed and the time needed for it to place. These homes provide inspiration for exploring artistic texture equally on exteriors and in interiors.
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Modern Petroglyphs in Ottawa, Canada
Canadian artist Christopher Griffin likens today’s concrete walls to prehistoric cave walls. His markings in real are “surprisingly similar,” he says, to early cave petroglyphs and pictographs.
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Scenes of character cover his own home in Ottawa, Ontario. Here is a close-up of the whale visible in the preceding photo. Griffin spent the most effort not on the whale itself but on the “water” background, which provides the wall its texture.
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LineBox Studios helped Griffin recognize that the transformation of an early 1900s Prairie-style building using a commercial extension into a residence for his family. The structure also includes an “organic skincare confectionary” his spouse runs.
LineBox Studio
Since the first photograph makes clear, the home is not composed only of concrete surfaces. Reclaimed wood from inside the home was reused on the outside, breaking up the grey. A strong contrast also happens with reclaimed cedar for the fence and deck. Yet it is still the concrete regions that grab the eye, like the person with the bull on the next floor in this photo.
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This detail of a concrete wall really captures Griffin’s comparison with cave walls. The simplified animals not just recall the famous pictures of cave paintings, but they also appear to tell a story. The colour of the various panels functions together with the graphics, so the animals trek across the green ground.
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Zooming out a little, we can realize that the walls are a yarn for even more artistic expression.
S2 layout
Laser-Cut Designs in Victoria, Australia
S2 Design created three townhouses constructed around a landmark 1920s electric substation in Balaclava, Victoria, Australia. Of concern here is really a precast concrete wall which forms the south edge of the residences. You are able to see the undulating line of the wall in the center of the photo.
S2 layout
Most of the 100-foot-long wall is approximately 20 feet high, but in its high point it tops off near 30 feet. Rough aggregate marks the tops of almost all of the panels, but the significant expressions would be the reliefs by artist Damon Kowarsky.
S2 layout
Kowarsky’s artwork was transferred to electronic files which were used to cut the shapes into formwork. So unlike Christopher Griffin’s quick marks in moist cement, Kowarsky’s art is figured out and aided by intermediate measures ahead of the concrete is mixed.
S2 layout
In a few areas, glass blocks are put into the concrete panels, serving baths in the residences on the opposite side of the wall. Kowarsky and S2’s work comes together at those minutes.
Design Platform
A Cutting-Edge Kitchen Colorado
Colorado’s Design Platform built a midcentury ranch’s kitchen round an island confronted with reclaimed barnwood. From this perspective we could see that something interesting is happening under the surface of the cantilevered table.
Design Platform
A closer look shows an aesthetic treatment of the surface, together with abstract tree-like shapes visible through cuts from the reclaimed wood. This layered artwork is the handiwork of Tandi Venter, whose paintings and jewelry are motivated by midcentury style; a lot of her pieces actually incorporate Eames furniture and so on.
