Architectural concrete is a high-tech building material that opens up a wide range of possibilities. There are three main areas of application of concrete: to create structures, objects and foundations (monolithic, reinforced concrete, etc.); the use of concrete for decorative purposes, as a material for finishing finished surfaces; the creation of voluminous art objects – the third direction combines the constructive and decorative properties of architectural concrete: the form is combined, in fact, with texture and texture. Phrases: “polymer concrete”, “acrylic concrete”, “art concrete”, “artistic concrete”, “exposed concrete” are synonymous with the architectural concrete concept.
By changing the mixture composition, it shall be possible to obtain concrete with structural or decorative properties:
The concrete structural properties predominance, to create monolithic structures of various configurations using formwork (geometric concrete);
The mixture decorative properties predominance: concrete used for finishing and decorating finished surfaces (decorative concrete);
The constructive and decorative properties combination to create three-dimensional artistic and decorative products: sculptures, bas-reliefs and wild stone (sculptural concrete).
Decorative concrete technologies were patented in the US in the 1960s. Stamped, spraying and colored concrete for coatings are used. The concrete decorative properties are used to imitate natural masonry (internal and external walls finishing). A characteristic feature of the decorative concrete use is the use of ready-made rubber and plastic molds with different textures – matrix finishing. For greater realism of the natural stone surface, concrete is painted with special dyes.