Reden wir über Zement: Blinde Flecken in der Architektur- und Umweltgeschichte

Cement is a building material that is of relevance for the climate, a look should be taken at its characteristics as a social construct. In the history of modern architecture, the cement works is ascribed hardly any importance and yet it represents a key technology of early industrial globalisation, and the history of mentality demonstrates a naturalisation of technology.(e narrative of the process of producing cement as an “organism” ignored both positive and negative environmental effects: for instance, the problem of the “dust plague”, which in Holderbank was first addressed in the 1960s. A further blind spot is the place where the raw material was extracted. It was only through the spatial planning legislation of1979 that the damaged nature resulting from the interplay of market, state, politics, and design was seen and recultivated from the 1980s onwards – however, in Holderbank this went little further than greenwashing. In this context, as well as climate-friendly construction architecture can also show what practical implementation and the connection of growth critique, post growth and degrowth, looks like.