Liquid Stone: New Architecture in Concrete The exhibition at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., presents recent or current projects that use concrete in new or unconventional ways. The 30 projects on view showcasing concrete's strength, versatility, and potential are organized into three curatorial categories-structure, surface, and sculptural form-and are represented with photographs, drawings, models, and material samples. Featured works include Santiago Calatrava's new Auditorio de Tenerife in the Canary Islands, and the longitudinal house(s) by Vincent James Associates in which spaces are defined by an undulating ribbon of concrete that alternately serves as floor, wall, and ceiling. The show, designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, with graphics by Pure+Applied, has been extended until April 17. The museum and Princeton Architectural Press are developing a book to be based on the exhibition and a related Princeton symposium.S.H.

Ricciotti will test the architectural capabilities of Ductal again at the Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée, in Marseilles, which won't be completed until 2009. In this project, he plans to weave solid strands of the material into a delicate concrete lattice (another oxymoron), forming a warp-and-woof pattern. The effect will be an abstract interpretation of Islamic decorative motifs, while the whole museum will emerge as what Ricciotti calls a "vertical casbah"-the modern version of a traditional North African citadel.

Closer to home, creative use of concrete thrives, even if the circumstances are less paradoxical. Santa Monica−based Pugh + Scarpa Architects have designed a house in Silverlake, the architecturally affected neighborhood of Los Angeles. Innovation happens in straightforward problem-solving as often as it happens in formal experimentation, and Pugh + Scarpa have illustrated this with the design of the Vail-Grant Residence. The site is a steep hillside with the added problem of being adjacent to a Neutra house. The architects strove to preserve views of this iconic structure while meeting a complex set of zoning requirements.

Architect Jim Jennings, artist David Rabinowitch, and owner Steven Oliver collaborated on a guest house for visiting artists in Geyserville, California. The space is defined by two concrete walls etched with fluid lines in the polished surface. Photography: © Tim Griffith

They discovered that encroaching on the steep topography could be managed better with structural-concrete-insulating panels (SCIPs), rather than poured-in-place concrete and tall retaining walls. Custom designed by Green Sandwich Technologies, the panels are lightweight and easy to install. They are more cost-effective than poured-in-place concrete, too. By limiting the width to 15 feet throughout, the architects reduced spans and further simplified construction.

The use of SCIPs reflects the effort manufacturers are making to demonstrate how green concrete can be. The Green Sandwich Panels at the Vail-Grant Residence provide an R-40 insulating performance(as well as high sound-coefficient protection). Their composition is impressive: Their recycled-material content is 40 percent by weight and 60 percent by volume; fly ash accounts for 50 percent of the content; waste is 100 percent recyclable. This is a clear indication of how both innovation and invention are being applied to all aspects of this highly versatile material.