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Lanxess presented its second Colored Concrete Works Award in February to Akihisa Hirata for his design of the Alp apartment complex in Akabane-Nishi, Tokyo, Japan, completed in March 2010.
A total of 425m3 of coloured concrete went into the construction project. The desired charcoal shade was provided by Bayferrox 4330/3 iron oxide black pigment.
The first Colored Concrete Works Award was given to UK architect David Chipperfield for his Ciutat de la Justícia project in Barcelona, Spain.
The jury selected ‘Alp’ from among the entries because of its impressive selection of colour, functionality and significance. The apartment complex, according to the jury, expresses a deep understanding of the relationship between the natural and the artificial and it stands in perfect harmony with the urban environment.
Jörg Hellwig, Senior VP of Lanxess’ Inorganic Pigments business unit, presented the award, designed in coloured concrete, at the speciality chemical company’s offices in Berlin. "Our Colored Concrete Works initiative is directed at architects and planners and aims to sharpen their focus on the aesthetic qualities of concrete. The charcoal-coloured building in Japan, the winner of our award this year, is a prime example of how perfectly concrete can be adapted to the landscape and how it can offer a new form of expression as a building material,” Hellwig said.
Merely painting the building was not an option for Hirata when it came to his ‘Alp’ project. He felt it was of essential importance to preserve the surface texture and appearance of the concrete, something that would have been impossible with a façade coating. "These considerations prompted the decision in favour of integrally and thus permanently colouring the concrete with Bayferrox-brand pigments from Lanxess,” he concluded.
Second place this year was awarded to Minsuk Cho, founder of Mass Studies Architects, for the corporate headquarters of Daum Kakao, an IT company in South Korea.
