Architect Intervention: Operation Siporex

Abstract: Operation Siporex presents the opportunism arising out of industrial architectural components by following the movement of a single material across continents. Siporex, a brand of autoclaved aerated concrete, was a building block developed in Scandinavia that transformed the building industries in postwar Europe before spreading globally. With its revolutionarily lightweight material properties, Siporex was a material that was designed to move from its inception. First comprised as a set of building elements, the company rapidly developed an all-encompassing ecosystem that was hailed as the system that could meet every need and complete constructions in record time. Simultaneously, away from the building site, Siporex made its way into local vocabularies that in turn began defining new contexts. Following the material from a small town in Norway to the former capital of Cote d'Ivoire, this contribution outlines a larger story of negotiations, strategic uses of governmental development aid, and corporate profitability. Siporex, a hidden building block that transformed the city of Abidjan, remains not only a simple building element but as a promise left behind.