One year ago...
Architects and designers' obsessions with concrete were epitomised by the projects we featured this time last year, such as this house that has concrete walls both inside and out (above).
Our most popular story of the week was Zaha Hadid's Olympic Aquatic Centre (above), as readers praised the curved concrete diving boards, although a year on the building has proved controversial after tickets were sold for seats with restricted views at this summer's games.
Elsewhere in London, raw concrete was left exposed on the walls of a gelato shop (above), where the only injection of colour comes from inside the ice cream cabinet.
Concrete also started cropping up on products as well as architecture, including a set of desktop stationery (above) and a collection of stools made from wet fabric impregnated with cement (below).
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