A Very Modern Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution that took place in the United Kingdom in the 18th an 19th centuries was hugely important for many reasons. In engineering terms it led to the use of new materials, the capability to mass produce goods and to bring them to a bigger market.

In interior design the industrial revolution allowed the population to have access to items that were once only available to the few who could afford to pay someone to manufacture their own design, or replicate another.

Of course with all revolutions there is rebellion. The Arts and Crafts movement saw this mass production as having nothing to do with craftsmanship and strove to create interior products of quality. But of course this invariably led to their products being more expensive and unaffordable to many.

 Our new interior design industrial revolution seems focused on using industrial materials in a new way in the home.

While concrete was seen solely as a material to be used in the architecture and building industry, it is now seen to form sinks, be used in its natural state for flooring and increasingly in kitchen work surfaces. Polished and hardwearing, it is certainly a material with great possibilities in interiors.

Exposed brickwork is now lauded, rather than plastered over and covered with some hideous shade of paint. While not everyone may have great exposed walls, faux brick panels offer an alternative.

Pipework once almost always condemned to be concealed is becomingly more obvious. Copper as a material is regaining renewed popularity. As a material that does not allow bacteria to thrive one does wonder why it is not used more in areas where hygiene is of importance.

While this new design revolution relies on basic materials it is ironically not too far from the thoughts of the Arts and Crafts fathers. After all it is the craftsmanship of the materials that is priority, rather than a mass produced item widely available.

There is nothing here that suggests minimalist, if that was the term for stripped back bland design. Rather there is much in the way of great design. Exciting that some manufacturers recreate concrete and leather floors with vinyl tiles, Everday household objects are brought to new life as in the mason jar chandelier.

What we love here is the honesty in designing interior elements with an industrial feel.

It is a recognition of the materials that brought this country and many others into the 20th century.

We even think that William Morris might approve.

Concrete Design

Interesting to read that there is a project underway to archive all the tower blocks built from the 1940's on in the UK. Most of them were built to replace the devastating loss of housing after bombing, but also to create new homes for a growing population.

Many people might not have such great  memories of growing up in one of these high rise structures, the elevators were essential but high maintenance. The buildings swayed a bit in high winds, there always seemed to be some drippy wet patch running down the concrete. Your own experience of a high rise tower block might be watching a UK series on two brothers who lived in a high rise building in Peckham, London.

Many of these structures were made from concrete and this did form a particular landscape in old areas decimated by the bombing during the Second World War, as well as being a prominent feature in the design of New Towns. A lot of tall concrete structures still exist and are well used. However the evidence that many were being demolished was enough for the architectural historians at Edinburgh College of Art to begin. ( Interestingly, that is where I began studying Town Planning).

Design meets need of social built environment. Does it?

Charles Edouard Jeannert, also known as LeCorbusier, was an architect who believed in the versatility of concrete. It's a tough material. The aggregates have to be impervious, porosity in any form will hinder it worthless. Water is crucial, sufficient to allow the correct chemical reaction which allows it to set and harden is what makes this material viable. Yet it can be formed in so many ways.

Town planners probably saw concrete as an inexpensive material in which to build their landscapes of the future. Preformed concrete, concrete and instead of steel structure, more concrete.This should have made the advancement of good architecture, houses  people would dream to live in.

Sadly again town planners and builders didn't get it right.
It's a long study to consider social housing in all of this, but mostly this is what it was, council housing. They did their best, improving housing, providing extra housing. Kids running around streets now ran up and down stairs. When the tenements and streets  were demolished this was at the same time Green City was  being evolved.

Communities were expected to live on top of each other, no back doors or fences.
People need space in communities, fences of any time work.

Despite what planners and architects have done with a great and versatile material, I am here to praise it. Concrete is resilient, you will see a lot of it soon.