Devil in the Details – A Question
09 Nov 2007
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I’m intrigued by the facade of this building – most likely a shop for ultra hip clothing or cell phone charms – in the Harajuku district of Tokyo.
The colors in the dyed concrete align perfectly with what I’m assuming is the formwork. Does anybody know how this striping was done? I’m guessing that the formwork was painted? But could the color really have transferred while the concrete was drying?
Anyone wanna back me up or hazard a different guess?
Written by Jimmy Stamp in Architecture &
4 comments
9 November, 2007 at 11:27 pm
hmm last shot of the film 35 mm?
12 November, 2007 at 11:29 pm
I’ve done some exprimentation with concrete and the heat from the curing process can transfer many things (like color) from different types of formwork liners.
26 December, 2007 at 8:48 pm
I would be more inclined to think it was done with a concrete stain applied after the formwork was removed. Even if it was something on the forms, I would expect some shifting, blurring and redistribution as the concrete filled the forms. And we don’t see this in close enough detail to see how exactly it follows the line of the formwork, but that’s something that could probably be used as a guide for someone with stain afterward without too much difficulty.
31 January, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I tend to agree with phillip…
However – It looks like board form concrete.
Perhaps they stained the boards when they built the formwork? I’m not certain if a stain would transfer from the form to the concrete.
But – If you can photo engrave form liners ( http://www.reckli.de/en/start_en.htm ) – I would think there would be a way to transfer stain in a similar maner…