Exceptional design with microstructure concrete

The Department of Architecture at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Art in Germany is known for its creative handling of concrete as construction material. Here, teachers again and again succeed in motivating the students in lectures and workshops to quite exceptional design ideas – supported by innovative Dyckerhoff products such as Flowstone. Many of these designs were featured at the Dyckerhoff stand at the BAU-Messe in Munich. Currently there is an exhibition on the topic of Microstructure Concrete, which shows the results of practical exercises in the course Construction Materials Technology 2 in the form of 80 individual ornamental panels of white architectural concrete.

Dyckerhoff supports study project at FH Dortmund

As the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Art reports on its website, the task set within the scope of the practical exercise was the implementation of an individually designed architectural concrete relief as abstract ornament. The students had the choice of implementing their designs in concrete, alternatively as sunk or high relief, penetration, inlay work or plane surface design. They also prepared the relief formwork themselves. The students cast the forms with self-compacting concrete (fine-particle mix Flowstone White) and demolded them in the laboratory under the expert guidance of Winfried Schmidt and Daniel Horn. The objective of this practical exercise was “… to train awareness, to facilitate better understanding in later professional life, to sensitize students for concrete as a building material, to attain capabilities for design thinking as well as  construction of formwork all the way up to implementation in the concrete laboratory,” reports FH Dortmund.

Following the premiere exhibition in the lobby of the Architecture Department, the exhibits went on a tour for presentation at various events as well as at regional construction shows. The starting shot was given at Baumesse NRW, which took place in the Westfalenhallen in Dortmund. After this, the projects were shown in the lobby of Dortmund University of Applied Sciences at Sonnenstrasse, before being presented in the library on Campus North for the winter.