During the second weekend of February, I joined a small group of Historic Preservation students in the Architectural Conservation Labto participate in a two day workshop of the conservation of concrete and concrete architecture. Led by Irene Matteini, we learned about the history and craftsmanship of concrete production, concrete deterioration and diagnostics, and met virtually with scholars from around the world to discuss their work on sites ranging from Carlo Scarpa’s Tomb Brion to the Guggenheim Museum in New York. In between the lectures, we got our hands dirty trying to mix our own concrete formulation (figure 1) which we then compared with an established concrete formulation. At the end of the first day, we took turns testing out some of concrete conservations' technical tools like ground penetrating radar (figure 2) and a Schmitt hammer. Although the pace was quick, the experience taught me so much about concrete as an architectural medium and how much skill and technique goes into the creation of a concrete building.
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