Board-Formed Concrete in Architecture and Design: Styles, Pairings, Precedents

Move over it to light it

Finish

Light

Closer

ReadingsIn use 1950 to now

WeightVery heavy

WarmthIn between

CostIn between

PermanenceLasts centuries

PrecisionIn between

CarbonModerate

Making one kilo releases about 0.13 kg of CO₂: as concrete, plus the formwork timber.

It saysArtisan textureRaw authorityTactile craft

Best for: Contemporary residential, Cultural buildings, Textured facades.

01The building that proves it

Unité d'Habitation

Le Corbusier · Marseille · 1952

Board-Formed Concrete here: béton brut with the board marks left in, the origin of the word.

About the building ↗

02Try it on a board

Pick up to three materials to sit beside board-formed concrete. The board shows the styles that use all of them, and writes a prompt you can take to an image or video generator.

Board-Formed Concrete Cor-Ten Steel

Styles that use all of themCritical Regionalism Structuralism

Setting

Scale

Light

Camera

Output

A house, on a dense urban street. Materials: board-formed concrete that reads as artisan texture, cor-ten steel that reads as character. Golden hour, warm raking light. Eye level from across the street, 35mm. Architectural photograph, medium format, no people, no text.

03The styles built on it

Brutalist Architecture Critical Regionalism Structuralism

04Questions

Which design styles use board-formed concrete?

Brutalist Architecture, Critical Regionalism and Structuralism.

What goes well with board-formed concrete?

Board-Formed Concrete pairs well with cedar, structural steel and zinc cladding.

What does board-formed concrete communicate?

Artisan texture, Raw authority and Tactile craft. It suits contemporary residential, cultural buildings and textured facades.

What is the carbon footprint of board-formed concrete?

Making one kilo of board-formed concrete releases about 0.13 kg of CO₂, cradle to gate: as concrete, plus the formwork timber.

05More concrete

Exposed Concrete Polished Concrete Precast Concrete Panel Glass-Fibre Reinforced Concrete Sprayed Concrete

Every materialOpen the materials sampler →

Marble Limestone Granite Travertine Basalt Sandstone Slate Structural Steel Cor-Ten Steel Titanium Copper Wrought Iron Anodized Aluminum Chrome Bronze Zinc Cladding Cast Iron Plate Glass Glass Block Leaded Art Glass Structural Glass ETFE Membrane Electrochromic Glazing Oak Teak Bamboo Cedar CLT Reclaimed Timber Birch Plywood Pine Fired Brick Terracotta Tile Adobe Brick Ceramic Mosaic Glazed Faïence Roman Brick Polychrome Brick Rammed Earth Hempcrete Clay Plaster Living Roof Substrate Exposed Concrete Board-Formed Concrete Polished Concrete Precast Concrete Panel Glass-Fibre Reinforced Concrete Sprayed Concrete Fibreglass Shell Carbon Fibre Composite Aluminium Composite Panel Tensile Fabric Perforated Steel Screen Polycarbonate Vitrolite Porcelain Enamel Panel