In 1928 Sigfried Giedion characterised concrete as a “laboratory product”. In fact, the countless experiments with concrete provided an important basis for the processes of creating and distributing knowledge in the field in the 19th and early 20th century. The experimental practice though was very heterogeneous: from single trials to systematic series of experiments. The protagonists were as heterogeneous as the experiments carried out. They ranged from often empirically working, early concrete pioneers, over engineers with university degrees to the materials testing laboratories established at many polytechnic schools in the 19th century.

The proposed paper analyses the development of experimental cultures in concrete construction in a broader focus and, in particular, looks at the actors involved, their backgrounds and strategies. The central thesis is that until the early 20th century concrete pioneers and their companies gave the main impetus for the experiments. Moreover, the impetus from the building practice was an important basis for the later scientification of the field. There are different phases in the development of experimental cultures: Firstly, concrete pioneers carried out experiments on their own. Hereby they laid the basis in terms of material sciences and explored new areas of application for concrete especially in the field of engineering construction. Secondly, concrete companies carried out spectacular public experiments and published the results extensively to persuade customers of their building technique. In short: experiments became important arguments in advertising. To evoke a more “neutral”, scientific appearance of the experiments the companies awarded contracts for testings to materials testing laboratories. However, the lack of theoretical superstructure compared to iron constructions became a competitive disadvantage that the concrete companies tried to fight with own research. The engineer Emil Mörsch, for example, developed as employee of Wayss & Freytag a “theory of reinforced concrete construction” which was published in 1902. Its enormous success mainly resulted from the verification by series of testings. With the appointment of engineers from leading concrete companies as professors at technical universities the development of theories of concrete construction in connection with systematic experiments became subject of the academic field.

The paper focuses on the actual development of experimental cultures in Germany in the 19th and early 20th century as well as on the means by which the results were spread such as pointed texts or photos.