A Concrete for the “Other Half”? (Bauhaus Taschenbuch 25)

One sulphur concrete block, archived in the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, served to inspire the 2020 Bauhaus Lab. The block was the result of various experiments performed by an international research group at McGill University in Montreal, who explored self-building using materials and systems that would present an alternative to the functionalistic logic of development aid programmes tied to the Western construction industry. But what does “A Concrete for the ‘Other Half’” actually mean? The title comes with its own complications and double meaning. In the 1970s, this “Other Half” signified the recently decolonized countries and urban populations living in informal housing. They were the subject of research for professionals like the Minimum Cost Housing Group, who experimented with alternative building solutions.

The participants of the Bauhaus Lab report on the historical controversies which materialised in the sulphur concrete block and place them in the context of contemporary decolonial approaches to discourse and practice.