Beautiful Concrete

Inspired by comments from an Eastern European Architect (and to a lesser extent, a recent visit to Split, Croatia), a close friend of mine wrote a poem, boldly titled: Beautiful Concrete.

While the places mentioned are towns in former Yugoslavia, the poem is really an ode to a construction material that has fascinated architects, builders, dictators and planners of the last 100 or so years.

It's also a longing love song.

I'm currently writing the music. It's meant to be composed of simple acoustic guitar chords and sung, in a sort of douche-bag style reminiscent of John Mayer. One that young Daniel Libeskind-wannabes could sing on the lawn in front of nameless architecture faculties from Singapore to Berlin (just change place names), to an audience composed of two or three other Daniel Libeskind-wannabes. If their designs are any good, that is.

Here goes...

Beautiful Concrete

Arriving in Zagreb by aeroplane
We would surely crash
If it wasn't for the
concrete runway

Went to see the old town
But got lost on the way
Stayed in Avenue Mall
and got some Gucci history instead

Ban Jelacic wasn't so bad

But after hours of walking

I really dig the
concrete stairs

Beautiful, beautiful, concrete
What can you build instead?
If only we were so concrete
we would have it made

----------------------------------------

When I went to Rijeka
the fumes weren't so bad
I actually swam and watched the
oil tankers ahead

But nothing beats Split,
you can split for the riva
just enjoy the heat
far from any forests or trees

I asked my friend if i should travel
to Sarajevo instead

He told me the war is over
and there is some nice buildings being made

But can he guarantee
it isn't going to be a waste
Paying for a trip and being
knee-deep in nature instead

Beautiful, beautiful, concrete
What can you build instead?
If only we were so concrete
we would have it made

Out of all the places
I like Belgrade the best
It doesn't pretend that
all that green stuff is worth a damn

Isn't it much nicer to wonder in the streets,
to look up and see stuff that
will be around for
another 70 years...

by R. Zaper

Index of place names:

Zagreb - Capital of Croatia, not much interest there, smooth concrete observed upon landing
Belgrade - Capital of Serbia and concrete fetishists paradise
Sarajevo - formerly war torn capital of Bosnia, now a speculative backyard of property developers with curious aesthetic tastes
Rijeka - Croatia's biggest port city; If you dig oil tankers, rafineries and ocassional feces in the sea, you wont mind this Czech tourists' favourite holiday spot
Split - Seaside town that abounds in Roman history and is contemorary Croatian architects' favourite concrete experimentation playground. The world famous historical Riva was recently dug out, and ancient stone pavers replaced by concrete ones. It's called progress.

You tube video clip to come...

Architecture in the service of post-war reconstruction efforts. This too was made possible by concrete. The Twisted Tower of Sarajevo - Twisted Indeed

Photo By Brian 395 - Flickr