© Z.S. Makowski, Räumliche Tragwerke aus Stahl, Düsseldorf, 1963
Continuing developments in the field of concrete technology have led to major innovations and technical advances over the past two decades. One outcome of this is the development of high-performance types, including textile-reinforced concrete.This new material is at present undergoing development in the context of a special research project sponsored by the German Research Society (DFG) at the Rhenish-Westphalian University of Technology (RWTH) in Aachen. It is the theme of an interdisciplinary collaboration between a number of different university institutes. In this context, the Department for Building Construction 2 is investigating the scope for applying textile-reinforced concrete in architecture. One aspect of this work is the development of model building components. Textile-reinforced concrete is a new material that is based on woven textile layers consisting of glass fibres or carbon. A firm bond between the textile reinforcement and the surrounding concrete matrix is a precondition for the proper functioning of this composite form of construction. Highly fluid, fine-grained concrete mixes (1 mm maximum grain size) are best suited for this purpose.