more fun with concrete

Very famous building here. Small bathrooms, however.

Concrete, aside from being an indispensable architectural material, enjoys positive, metaphorical usage.
A concrete idea or vision is a solid one. The connotation is unambiguous. However concrete's chief virtue is its plasticity and malleability. It goes from liquid to solid with astonishing reliability. It's longevity is the result of careful treatment and protection from the elements. Picking the appropriate location for concrete architecture is the most important design decision if durability is the desired objective. Architects and the general public often have diverging points of view as to the aesthetic effect. I lean towards a favorable point of view when it is used in engineering/infrastructure projects but I advocate limited exposure in human spaces. Concrete, despite its occasional fragility, may overwhelm a user's sense of control and comfort in an architectural setting. Surfaces that are less durable help to establish a sense of commonly held mortality. A person walking on a concrete floor knows that they are being worn out, but the floor holds no trace of passage. On a wood floor, the wear is shared and both human and surface have to bend a little in passing.