The Sunday Times

Architectural concrete is about to come out of the jungle and join the rest of the civilised world. That is, if the message of a new book, Exploring Concrete Architecture, to be launched in Dublin on Thursday, is to be believed. Despite concrete's revolutionary role in shaping some of the greatest architecture of the 20th century, its design and specification has often appeared to be a black art. Everyone envies the silky raw concrete finishes that Japanese architect, Tadao Ando, regularly achieves, but almost nobody in the West can tell you how he does it. The tales of volunteer student armies using toothbrushes to give the master's freshly cast walls a gentle rubdown are legion.