When we think of concrete buildings, gray color generally comes to mind, but colored concrete makes everything appear more vibrant. The traditional mix of this building material usually contains cement, gravel, sand and water. However, it can vary in color depending on the elements and admixtures and of course impress with light or dark shades. Pigmenting the concrete can go beyond the aesthetic function. It can enhance the impression of a private home, contextualize a public building in its surroundings, or even reference the design concept. Below you will find a selection of construction projects in which this material is optimally used.
Colored concrete for more liveliness
So compounds that add pigments to the mix are becoming more common and popular because they infuse colored concrete with more stable nuances than paint. These shades result from the addition of the oxides yellow and red. Their derivatives, such as brown, are obtained by adding iron oxide. Chromium and cobalt oxide form the green and blue respectively. For black concrete, black iron oxide and carbon oxide are commonly used in combination with pozzolanic cement.
Black concrete
In the first example we show you Villa Моntagnola from Atillo Panzieri & Partners from Switzerland, which is located on a property with a wonderful view of Lake Lugano. The suggestive views and the impressive presence of the rock mass behind the site have dictated the principles of inclusion of the entire building. The modern house relates to the rock in a dynamic dialogue and at the same time extends towards the lake. The intrinsic morphology of the site and its southwest orientation towards the lake guided the designer's choice.
The building looks like a block of black pigmented exposed concrete. It is the black color that comes from the rock and rough boards extending in the same direction. This feature brings the facade to life and emphasizes the alternation of full and empty openings. The light penetrates through the openings, filling the interiors of the villa and creating a warm and cozy atmosphere. Doors and windows made of natural oak reinforce this special feature. The internal contrast between the white of the plaster and the black of the concrete creates suggestive games that are underlined by the insights.
Dark for more contrast
A concrete wall rising from the ground frames the house in our next example, designed by Portuguese architects Pitagoras Group. However, the wall overcomes the different heights of the landscape. Regarding the materials used, a seemingly dark colored concrete defines the volume of the structure. The architects also chose anthracite-colored zinc as a covering material for some facade panels.
The designer chose basalt for the exterior decks for car access. On pedestrian walkways or living spaces, wooden pallets predominate as an extension of interior floors. However, the outer buildings are primarily made of black aluminum. The cladding has a significant impact on the overall appearance of this house as it is fully visible from the entrance to the property. For this reason, the architects opted for a cover made of porous concrete to create an absolutely even drainage surface. Somehow, this cover itself helps to understand the volume of the building as the occupants move forward on the ground.
Red as an accent
The suspended concrete volume in this case protects the living areas on the ground floor with spatial deviations from the design of the pavement at different heights. The wooden decking connects the entrance to the pool and unfolds in the room. The concrete wall also supports the structure and divides the site lengthwise. This creates independent areas for furnishings. The Brazilian architects UNA Arquitetos colored the colored block with iron oxide. The presence of the shaped wall also extends from the light reflections and follows a transition from external to internal areas.
Two concrete columns complete the supports of this level, allowing for obvious asymmetry in the regular structure. The contrast to the first level, where the bedrooms are located, is evident in the opacity of the volume. So this suggests a certain intimacy while these rooms convey the view through re-entering balconies. These exhausts provide a diagonal view, multiple light and ventilation openings that also emphasize the path of the sun. A winter garden finally completes the climb to the roof.
In red as facade cladding
Here, architects Mauricio Pezo and Sofia von Ellrichshausen from Chile decided to test the archetypal features of this suburban house. This exercise was never as clear-cut as the arbitration required by some of the formalities of the case: a suburban oneConcrete apartmentin a neighborhood of single-family homes. They planned a piece that would unify the silhouette of four sloping roofs, but not be too different from the naive outlines of a child's drawing.
A house has emerged as a local expression referring to the undisputed strength of concrete structures that will never age. The team built a secondary colored concrete wall that changed multiple times during construction and was done in layers. The builders poured each new layer over the previous one.
Yellow colored building material for building a house
Both housings by the Spanish architectural firm Azpilicueta Arquitectura Y Paisaje are determined by the complex local geometry in two different shapes. They elevate the House M and the House P as elements of a single material. Colored concrete integrates the strong earring that speaks to the typical local constructions. The houses consist of solid walls and enclosed earthen clay walls, typical of the local architecture. Priority was also given to ensuring that the kitchen of the housing in the southern part had an ideal orientation.
The architects set budget limits for the construction right from the start. The housings therefore take aspects of energy efficiency into account with good energy qualifications. The structural system was created with the help of walls made of yellow-colored reinforced concrete in mass and in accordance with sandblasting. Furthermore, the panels made from photovoltaic energy fit appropriately into the roof. The texture created has a double external expression, which allows to play with the contrast of sufficiently experienced materials and good care, reinterpreting the constructive traditional system of “earth” walls. The objectives pursued were integration into the locality, optimization of economic resources and simplicity of execution.
In public buildings
The body of this building by architects Gonçalo Byrne Arquitectos evokes the tactility of traditional medieval construction, presenting rough textured surfaces achieved through the use of pigmented red concrete with a raw and irregular expression, very close to the original structures of the human hand. The architects further enhanced the texture of the museum in Portugal by inserting gray lines of slate into the horizontal joints of the building.
Overall, the building creates a feeling of gravity, almost like a sculpture colored in its own hues, evoking time in the spontaneous patina patterns, looking like a stained vertical battlefield between a small body and a larger one. The combined use of concrete walls and a structure of concrete columns, beams and slabs enabled maximum use of space and the presentation of generous exhibition areas.
Red concrete material for the fire department
Italian studio Pedevilla Architects designed a minimalist, pink building that serves as a fire station for the town of Vierschach in South Tyrol. Built in the remote Puster Valley near the Austrian border, the obviously simply designed building is located on the main street. Although the design prioritizes simplicity and improvement in detail, in reality the building is an experiment in itself. The outer shell made of lightweight concrete challenges structural and static parameters, but also takes into account the requirements for insulation.
The red color underlines the originality of the new fire department. Colored concrete is the building material for all surfaces. This underlines the monolithic character of the building. The dimensions of the construction remain visible from the outside. Rather, it reinforces the massive appearance of the structures. The main feature of the project is certainly the prefabrication of the external shell, which allowed the team to minimize the necessary rework on the structure and building equipment. However, irregularities or deviations in the concrete only add more charm to the material and the character of the building.
Yellow as a color for cultural buildings
An ocher-yellow colored concrete represents the warm color of the floor in this impressive Brazilian city museum by architects Brasil Arquitetura. Using a sophisticated prestressed concrete structure, the architects have designed a large span of approximately 65 meters of light. They have thus created a large covered space, as well as a true urban balcony. However, this is practically protected from the city's strong sun and precipitation. The covered space can be used in a variety of ways, from festivals to fairs, from shows to nothing, to enjoy a good shade or view of the reefs.
The result is a building that metaphorically reveals the main thematic axes in various, sometimes subtle, sometimes obtuse ways. Cais do Sertão has offered its visitors a welcoming, unique experience, both intellectual and affective. In summary, it is about the encounter of technology with poetics, high-tech with technically simple, rigorous and extensive content with the possibility of free interpretation and enjoyment. It is a place for aesthetic enjoyment where emotion, surprise and discovery go hand in hand. A place of urban gentleness.
