The Secret to Quality in Architectural Concrete: Knowing Construction
Revisiting a lesson from Reginald D. Hough, FAIA, more than forty years later
By Kenneth Miller
President | RHa Concrete Consultants LLC | Reg Hough Associates LLC
I didn’t always believe that the secret to great architectural concrete had much to do with construction. Like many young people entering this industry, I assumed quality came from better materials, better mix designs, better specifications, better contractors, and better testing.
Over the last thirty years, I’ve learned something different. The most successful and prestigious architectural concrete projects I’ve worked on didn’t succeed simply because someone designed beautiful concrete or developed the perfect concrete mix. They succeeded because someone understood how that concrete was actually going to be built. That realization changed the way I look at every project.
Ironically, it isn’t a new idea.
In 1982, Architectural Record assembled an exceptional group of architects, engineers, contractors, and concrete experts to discuss the future of architectural concrete. The conversation was ambitious. They spoke about taller buildings, new technologies, better materials, structural expression, and the growing role of exposed concrete in architecture.
Among the participants was Reginald D. Hough, FAIA. Years later, I had the privilege of working alongside Reg. He wasn’t simply a respected figure in our industry; he became my mentor. While others in that 1982 discussion considered what concrete could become, Reg focused on something more fundamental. He argued that architects needed to understand concrete construction as thoroughly as contractors if they expected to achieve truly exceptional architectural concrete results.
Of course, I had to read those words years later, I was still fairly young in 1982. But the statement has stayed with me throughout my career.
More than forty years later, I believe Reg was right. I also believe the idea behind his statement extends beyond architects. Architectural concrete requires design knowledge, material knowledge, and construction knowledge to come together early. Architects, engineers, contractors, suppliers, and specialists each bring expertise that the others cannot replace. The challenge is making sure that expertise influences the project while there is still time to impact the outcome.
The answer is not for architects to become contractors or for contractors to become designers. Architectural concrete simply demands enough understanding of both design intent and construction reality for the two to inform one another from the beginning.
Despite every technological advancement we’ve made, we still have a tendency to ask the wrong question.
When an architectural concrete project disappoints, the first conversation almost always sounds the same: “What’s wrong with the concrete?” Did the contractor add water? Was the concrete mix inconsistent? Did the supplier make a mistake at the plant? Should we redesign the mix? Should we use different admixtures?
We examine cylinders, review batch tickets, order laboratory testing, and analyze petrographic reports. Hours are spent searching for answers inside the concrete itself.
Eventually, someone asks a very different question.
“How was it built?”
That is usually when the conversation changes.
The formwork, placement sequence, concrete rheology, vibration, release agent, stripping schedule, curing, weather, and dozens of other decisions can influence what ultimately appears on the finished surface. Some of those decisions begin with design, some belong to construction, and others develop collaboratively as the project moves forward.
That is why many architectural concrete problems are not simply material failures. They are the result of decisions made throughout the design and construction process, often long before the first concrete truck arrives.
"Concrete Never Lies"
Concrete is unlike almost every other architectural finish. Steel can be fabricated, stone can be selected, glass can be replaced, drywall can be repaired, and paint can be reapplied. Concrete does not offer the same luxury. Once it is placed, it becomes a permanent record of nearly every decision that came before it, the form joints and tie holes, the vibration and consolidation, changes in placement rate, delays, shortcuts, and compromises made along the way. Concrete has a way of remembering all of it. It does not easily hide mistakes; it records them in the finished surface. That is what makes architectural concrete so unforgiving. It is not simply a material or a finish, but a permanent record of the construction process that produced it.
We Have Better Concrete Than Ever Before
Today’s industry possesses tools and technologies that designers in 1982 could hardly have imagined. Self-consolidating concrete (SCC), ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC), cement replacements (SCM’s), advanced chemical admixtures, mineral stains, high performance pigments, sophisticated form liners, digital modeling, laser scanning, total stations, and three-dimensional fabrication have all expanded what can be designed and built with concrete.
Yet walk almost any construction site and many of the same conversations still occur. The color does not match. The finish is not what the architect expected. Tie patterns appear random, cold joints are more visible than anticipated, surface voids become unacceptable, and mockups fail to resolve expectations before construction begins. Owners become frustrated, contractors become defensive, architects become disappointed, and eventually everyone starts looking for someone to blame.
The irony is difficult to ignore. We have dramatically improved concrete technology, but we have not made the same progress in integrating construction knowledge into the design process.
The Biggest Design Decision Is Rarely Drawn
Architectural drawings define dimensions, geometry, finishes, and tolerances, but drawings alone cannot fully communicate something equally important: how the concrete will actually be built. Construction sequencing, lift heights, placement direction, forming systems, release agents, concrete rheology, vibration strategy, stripping schedules, and curing procedures can all influence the appearance of the finished concrete. These may ultimately be contractor means and methods, but their effect on the architecture cannot be separated from the design intent.
Too often, these issues are not seriously discussed until construction is underway. Imagine designing a steel building without considering how the steel will be fabricated or designing a curtain wall without understanding how it will be installed. We would never approach those systems that way. Yet with architectural concrete, many critical decisions affecting the finished appearance cannot be fully resolved through drawings alone and are ultimately worked out during preconstruction or in the field. Then we wonder why the finished concrete does not match the rendering.
Specifications Are Not Construction Knowledge
Over the years, I’ve seen specifications become longer, more detailed, more restrictive, and more performance based. Yet I’ve never seen a specification vibrate concrete correctly. I’ve never seen one properly sequence a complex wall placement, eliminate bugholes, predict the weather, or prevent color variation. Specifications are essential, but specifications are not experience. They cannot replace conversations between architects, contractors, suppliers, and consultants while ideas are still evolving.
The best architectural concrete projects are rarely the ones with the thickest project manual. They are the ones where construction expertise influenced the design before the construction documents were complete.
Mockups Should Teach, Not Merely Approve
Too often, mockups are treated simply as contractual milestones: build one, approve it, and move on. That approach misses much of their value. Mockups are not simply approval samples; they are opportunities to learn. Small tabletop studies, material evaluations, formwork experiments, color development, surface treatments, aggregate exposure, and placement trials all give the project team an opportunity to explore what works and, just as importantly, what does not.
Each of these exercises can reveal things that drawings and specifications alone cannot. By the time a project reaches a full-scale mockup, many of the variables should already have been evaluated, and by the time construction begins, there should be very few surprises left. That’s not luck. That’s collaboration.
Design Intent and Constructability Must Evolve Together
Architectural concrete requires countless decisions about tie patterns, joints, placement sequencing, finishing procedures, forming systems, and ultimately how the design intent will be translated into finished work. Some of those decisions belong to the designer, some belong to the contractor, and many require input from both.
The challenge comes when decisions that significantly influence the architectural outcome are made independently or too late in the process. Contractors bring expertise in how concrete can be formed, placed, consolidated, finished, and cured. Architects bring an understanding of the design intent, and which visual characteristics are most important to achieving it. Suppliers, engineers, and specialists bring still other perspectives. The best results occur when that knowledge comes together early enough to influence the outcome.
Exceptional architectural concrete is not created by design or construction working independently. It is created when design and construction evolve together.
The Secret Isn’t Concrete
Forty-four years ago, Reg Hough challenged architects to better understand construction. The industry listened, but I’m not sure we truly heard him. Since then, we’ve developed stronger concrete, smarter software, more sophisticated testing, and more advanced materials. Yet the defining characteristic of every successful architectural concrete project remains remarkably unchanged: someone understood how it was going to be built.
Not eventually. Not after bidding, after award, or after the first mockup. From the very beginning.
Because architectural concrete is not simply designed. It is constructed. And the quality of that construction begins long before the first yard of concrete is delivered.
Perhaps that’s the lesson we’ve been trying to learn all along. The secret to quality in architectural concrete isn’t concrete. It never was.
It’s knowing construction.
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