Teaching
ARCH509 Design Build Studio
Concrete Lines in the Air
University of Kansas
2025 Spring
Students:
Breydan Oliver
Kayla Duong
Chris Truong
Fernando Zarate
Max Newman
Kathryn Fesler
Sponsored by:
BuildEx
Concrete Lines in the Air is a student-led design-build project from the ARCH509 studio at the University of Kansas that challenges conventional notions of material strength and structure. In this project, students explored the idea of making concrete light—not just in weight, but in expression. Departing from the typical use of concrete as a heavy, compressive material, they developed a system of slender concrete tubes reinforced with PVC pipes, resulting in components that are both lightweight and flexible.
The use of PVC as reinforcement inverts the typical material relationship between concrete and plastic. Here, concrete—the traditionally strong and rigid material—takes on a more fragile role, while plastic—the typically weak and flexible material—gives the system its structural integrity. The outcome is a composite element that is neither fully strong nor weak, but instead elastic. This elasticity allows the components to bend and shift slightly under load, offering a degree of resilience not usually associated with concrete construction.
Assembled together, these components form a coherent, self-supporting structure. While each piece may seem delicate on its own, the collective system gains strength through repetition, alignment, and geometric logic. The resulting installation appears as if lines of concrete are drawn in the air—floating, weaving, and curving to create spatial rhythm. This fusion of material experimentation and formal lightness reflects a radical rethinking of both how we use concrete and how we define structural performance. The project ultimately reveals a new vocabulary for building with concrete: one that values flexibility, precision, and imagination.
The use of PVC as reinforcement inverts the typical material relationship between concrete and plastic. Here, concrete—the traditionally strong and rigid material—takes on a more fragile role, while plastic—the typically weak and flexible material—gives the system its structural integrity. The outcome is a composite element that is neither fully strong nor weak, but instead elastic. This elasticity allows the components to bend and shift slightly under load, offering a degree of resilience not usually associated with concrete construction.
Assembled together, these components form a coherent, self-supporting structure. While each piece may seem delicate on its own, the collective system gains strength through repetition, alignment, and geometric logic. The resulting installation appears as if lines of concrete are drawn in the air—floating, weaving, and curving to create spatial rhythm. This fusion of material experimentation and formal lightness reflects a radical rethinking of both how we use concrete and how we define structural performance. The project ultimately reveals a new vocabulary for building with concrete: one that values flexibility, precision, and imagination.
