Mary Soderstrom - Concrete: From Ancient Origins to a Problematic Future

2020 Mary Soderstrom

All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any meansgraphic, electronic, or mechanicalwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. Any request for photocopying, recording, taping or placement in information storage and retrieval systems of any sort shall be directed in writing to Access Copyright.

Printed and bound in Canada at Imprimerie Gauvin. The text of this book is printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper with earth-friendly vegetable-based inks.

Cover art: Modern concrete background by Bernulius/ Adobe Stock.

Cover and text design: Duncan Campbell, University of Regina Press

Copy editor: Marionne Cronin

Proofreader : Kendra Ward

Indexer : Sergey Lobachev, Brookfield Indexing Services

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Concrete : from ancient origins to a problematic future / Mary Soderstrom.

Names: Soderstrom, Mary, 1942 author.

Description : Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200245627 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200245686 | ISBN 9780889777804 (softcover) | ISBN 9780889777866 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780889777828 (PDF) | ISBN 9780889777842 ( HTML )

Subjects: LCSH : ConcreteHistory.

Classification: LCC TA439 .S63 2020 | DDC 620.1/36 dc23

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

University of Regina Press, University of Regina Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, s4s 0a2 tel: (306) 585-4758 fax: (306) 585-4699 web :

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada. / Nous reconnaissons lappui financier du gouvernement du Canada. This publication was made possible with support from Creative Saskatchewans Book Publishing Production Grant Program.

For absent friends . . .

Contents

Cement means concrete; concrete means stone; and stone spells eternity, so far as our finite minds can comprehend. The development of methods to manufacture great quantities of synthetic stone has given our present civilization the durability it so much needed . . . . The rapid progress of science and engineering in our country has been made possible by our cement mills, which have given us the essential material on which to found our prosperity.

Floyd W. Parsons, 1924

History of the Portland Cement Industry , 2

Chapter 1

Solid as Rock

Concrete? my friend said. Youre going to write a book about what?

I suppose the reaction shouldnt have surprised me. Concrete has a bad rap in many quarters, particularly among people who pride themselves on being eco-friendly, nature loving, and sensitive to aesthetics. Many of my friends count themselves among them, and I suppose that most of the time Id include myself on their team. Certainly my little inner-city garden with its billows of native plants in August suggests that.

But concrete is responsible, for good or ill, for the world we live in today, and not to appreciate it is to ignore both its menace and its beauty. Without it there would be no high-rises, no grand irrigation projects, no lettuce from California in the winter, no green golf courses in Arizona, a penury of hydroelectricity, more mud in some places, more solitude in others, and, very likely, little prospect of the disastrous climate change that is going to rain on our parade.

Dont believe me? Look out the nearest window, then try to imagine what the view would look like without concrete. Say your view is a cityscape; youll have to mentally erase the apartment building across the street because the foundation is certainly made from concrete, and so might be the walls and the flooring.