I'm actually wondering why don't we make things out of liquid stone (aka lava).
Like 3d printing but with stone. I guess the next years will figure this years and we'll go all neoclassical with granite statues, pylons and stuff.
Like 3d printing but with stone. I guess the next years will figure this years and we'll go all neoclassical with granite statues, pylons and stuff.
And that's exactly what it is: liquid stone that can be poured at room temperature. And if you add some rebar the compound material can have some pretty good tensile properties too.
That's why stones tend to be round, erosion gets the better of them over time. Concrete takes a long time to really set (depending on the thickness of the pour: up to centuries!) but can be used relatively quickly after the pouring in a load bearing construction.
And even if you don't particularly like the material, in the end it is what you can make out of it that is ugly or beautiful (Compare a bunker with say the CN Tower in Toronto or the Sydney Opera).
For the general use case of 'poured stone' concrete does quite well.