So many of the things in life that once generated so much excitement have become watered down versions of what they once were.
The sublime skills and ball-wizardry of rugby league half-backs like Andrew Johns and Alfie Langer have been replaced with the sterile, robotic play of Mitchell Pearce and Cooper Cronk. The horsepower and grunt of our favourite V8s has been traded in for a V6 or LPG alternatives. Even a stubbie of VB was (literally) watered down for a short period of time before common sense prevailed.
In a world where efficiency rules and regular cost-cutting is an accepted part of business, few dare think outside the box and those who do, battle the conundrum of how to achieve the desired bespoke outcomes.
If you’ve taken a walk through any major city in Australia in the past decade you would have noticed that much of our built environment has experienced a similar watering down. Architects and designers often forego their expressiveness in favour of designs that fit budgets, fit timelines and win contracts.
The concrete column is one element where design opportunities have not been explored to anywhere near full potential.
While there has been the possibility to specify and source columns that deviate from the standard design, the available choices have been expensive, with transportation and installation both difficult and time-consuming. This has resulted in design considerations rarely extending beyond the default choice of standard column shapes.
However, in just the past few years, two award-winning constructions have bucked this trend, with unique, eye-catching concrete columns that have been used to create a truly unique structure.
Both located in Sydney, the 1 Blight Street skyscraper and the Frank Gehry designed Dr Chau Chak Wing Building UTS utilised bespoke column formwork solutions from revolutionary Australian company Ezytube.
Ezytube developed revolutionary forming tubes to simplify the process of concrete column formwork, providing architects design flexibility, whiles addressing the requirements to minimise cost and construction times.
Ezytube can create columns in a range of different shapes including round, square, oval and polygons, as well as working with designers to create custom shaped columns. Ezytube offers tried and proven systems to form sloped columns or angled columns that can help take a project to the next level and slow the procession of watered down building design in Australia.
To find out more about how Ezytube is shaping the future of concrete column formwork in Australia, CLICK HERE to download ‘Achieving Form & Function – Customised Concrete Column Formwork’
