Concrete canoe
A likely source of the popularity of concrete canoe races is the fascination with seeing something made of the ‘heavy’ concrete, floating. Concrete canoe competitions have a long-standing tradition in the United States, but they are also gaining popularity in Europe. The canoes participating in the competitions are made of ferrocement, a special kind of concrete. One of the aims of the competition is to learn about, and utilize the specific behavior and technical parameters of the material, which differ from the traditional reinforced concrete structures. The competition provides an opportunity to experience the relationships of geometry, material composition and technology directly through the design and construction of the canoe. Since 2013, the departmental team has been participating in the Hungarian national competitions. Due to faculty traditions and potential, we primarily strive to optimise the geometry of the ship – but we also experiment with material composition and formwork technologies. In recent years, we have taken the overall first and second place, and several times our canoes have been awarded the Innovation Special Prize.
Other participants include:
Alumni: Dr. Károly Juhász (and many others)