Concrete Housing, 'Chameleon of Construction'

Homeowners are increasingly drawn to concrete in their home design for its durability and resilience, energy savings, easier maintenance, and aesthetic appeal. 

Concrete homes are not a new phenomenon, rather an updated one. Realtor.com reports that concrete homes today "can be poured in place into forms made of plywood or steel plate and lined with everything from pine boards to mirror-smooth plastic laminate," or can be built using precast concrete walls and blocks. Fu-Tung Cheng, owner of Berkeley, Calif.-based firm Cheng Design explains, “Most people’s immediate response about concrete is to think of freeways and parking lots—but if you use it properly, it’s like stone was in the old days, sculptural with a real feeling of timelessness.”

Step inside Sudnya Shroff’s cast-concrete home in Los Altos Hills, Calif., and you will find glossy kitchen countertops, also made of concrete, sculptural bathroom sinks and staircases—concrete—and floors with fossils and tiny semiprecious stones embedded in, yes, concrete. “There’s a very strong emotional draw for me toward concrete—it’s the one material that accepts imperfections,” said Ms. Shroff, a 44-year-old painter and fashion designer whose 7,000-square-foot home, completed in 2013, cost over $5 million to create.

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