We Forgot How to Make Concrete
Concrete has become so intrinsic in our everyday lives that it feels impossible to imagine a world without it. And yet, the recipe itself was almost lost to time. What secrets lie behind this crucial construction material?
Our modern world, and the infrastructure we all rely on, owes a huge debt of gratitude to the techniques, developments and innovations that were first crafted by Ancient Roman hands. And one of those innovations was concrete.
It was a remarkable material that directly contributed to the strength, durability of versatility of Roman architecture and engineering. Its earliest uses can traced back to the third century BC, in the construction of harbours where an incredibly resilient and water resistant material was essential. Using the material known as Pozzolana, they mixed it with lime, water, and other aggregate materials, creating cement.
But when Rome fell, so too, did its technology fall into obscurity. They remained hidden under the metaphorical rubble of the empire, as Western Europe fell into the Dark ages.
It was only in 1414, in the library of St. Gall Abbey in Switzerland, that Italian scholar Poggio Bracciolini found De Architectura. With it, we were able to revive the use of cement, constructing The Thames Tunnel, The Suez Canal, and the Hoover Dam, amongst other engineering icons.
But mass produced as it is now, concrete and its long lifecycle raises environmental alarms. The hard work to improve upon and innovate on the formula continues, as we step into the future paved for us by the Romans.
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