Show HN: Brutalist Concrete Laptop Stand (2024)

https://sam-burns.com/posts/concrete-laptop-stand/

139•sam-bee•3h ago

Comments

jb1991•2h ago

There are some subtly weak desks out there, quite a few actually, where placing this on top could be brutal.

ramon156•2h ago

Next up: Brutalist desk

mft_•1h ago

Next up: structural engineering assessment of my office floor

HPsquared•1h ago

There are some subtly weak floors out there, where placing such a desk could be fatal.

rob74•27m ago

Never mind placing it, bringing it to the place where it should be, er, placed might also be a challenge. Unless you can drive a forklift into your office...

sam-bee•21m ago

I took it to the office on a little trolley thing

mmsimanga•5m ago

Turtles all the way down.

pjc50•53m ago

I've seen quite a few blog posts of "old door on breeze blocks", the canonical brutalist/abandoned warehouse desk.

aquir•12m ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_fFqBhLBcE

bpavuk•2h ago

if we give it a little more polish, colder/greyer tones and "newness," it would fit very nicely for a Control fan :)

EDIT: https://store.steampowered.com/app/870780/Control_Ultimate_E...

jesse_faden•1h ago

as a control fan, i agree. the art direction in that game is something else.

pwython•25m ago

At first I thought you were talking about an actual rotating fan, which would be an awesome addition to this. Just a small PC fan running at a very low RPM built into the side in a circular cutout, with that worn metal patina look.

xpe•2h ago

Also known as an inertial mass dampener for your sit-stand desk.

I appreciate++ the design except for the too-perfect rebar and the exposed wire directly _in_ the concrete. Pros would use a conduit methinks.

sam-bee•1h ago

The conduit is a good idea. I'm working on a Raspberry Pi stand in leather and walnut right now. Think I'm going to incorporate that somehow

crimsontech•1h ago

This is pretty cool looking, I like it, it must be really heavy though.

> For a medium-sized piece like this, a vibrating dildo is actually the best thing to use. Just think of it like any other power tool.For a medium-sized piece like this, a vibrating dildo is actually the best thing to use. Just think of it like any other power tool.

I used work on foundations for warehouses, huge concrete blocks as anchor points and this is exactly how we got the bubbles out, we had a huge metal vibrator they call them high-frequency concrete pokers.

sam-bee•19m ago

Felt a little silly doing the work, but to be fair it did get the bubbles out.

tokai•1h ago

Isn't the ornamental 'urban decay' detail kinda the opposite of the utilitarian and functional style of brutalism?

seeeeebt•1h ago

Yes, Sam is probably just having a bit of fun here, but I think it's worth presenting brutalism correctly as it's often so misunderstood.

Concrete is simply the mass production medium of the time, many of the patterns and moulds used in Barbican for example feature pretty timber imprints, scalloping patterns, painstakingly pick-hammered textured panels, or pleasing swooping shapes.

Further there is always space for glass, brass, Terrazzo and lighting.

Sam's design does feel cold, unnatural and broken, definitely not what brutalist living is about.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/feb/22...

https://www.structuralrenovations.co.uk/portfolio/barbican-e...

https://www.barbicanliving.co.uk/barbican-story/construction...

pjc50•50m ago

> cold, unnatural and broken, definitely not what brutalist living is about.

This can often be the actual experience of it, though. Part of why it's so divisive. Personally I'm on the "looks great, wouldn't want to actually live there" side.

The Barbican is an example of how good it can be when properly maintained by a community. There are plenty of less prestigious examples where the community cheered their demolition.

isolli•46m ago

My subjective appreciation of building materials depends essentially on how gracefully they age. I find that concrete does not age well... and dislike brutalism for this specific reason.

BariumBlue•51m ago

Yes I had the same thought.

Imo brutalism is monolithic and unyielding. This is opposite, with the sturdy concrete yielding into plant overgrowth and exposed rebar.

bluGill•18m ago

Most brutalism was never intended to last. It was intended to be a quick/cheap answer to get people acceptable housing in the cities. Then they would build something nicer for people to live in as the economy gets richer. Which is why it so often is associated with decay these days - the structure still stands, but it has outlasted the expected lifespan.

There are burtalism structures that were intended to be beautiful and last. They do that well (well beauty is in the eye of the beholder), but the majority was quick and cheap above all else.

gcr•1h ago

If you like brutalism, you might also enjoy the Quake Brutalist Map Jam 3, which released last month: https://www.slipseer.com/index.php?resources/quake-brutalist...

My favorite map is ‘One Need Not Be a House’ by Robert Yang, which was inspired by Louis Kahn's "brick brutalism" masterpieces in Bangladesh and India, as well as contemporary level design like The Silent Cartographer. The artist writes about their process on their blog post, https://www.blog.radiator.debacle.us/2026/01/one-need-not-be...

The map jam is standalone and uses custom assets so you don’t need a copy of Quake to enjoy it. Check the website for the ‘standalone’ variant.

Sorry for derailing! Cool laptop stand!

mock-possum•16m ago

Yang also regularly writes really interesting blog posts, mostly around game design. Very much recommend keeping tabs on him.

cm2187•1h ago

You just need to cover it with graffitis to fully depict the experience of the poor souls living in brutalist buildings.

xgulfie•47m ago

The author mentions urban decay and dilapidation multiple times and very clearly worked that into the design here

mghackerlady•54m ago

I've always loved this style of architecture. People think commie blocks are ugly but I've always appreciated their simple utilitarianism

CSP_LIBRARY•51m ago

post-apocalyptic vibes

jagged-chisel•37m ago

Did they actually show the tools used to remove bubbles?

sam-bee•19m ago

That got cropped out of all photos in the interest of taste and decency.

pjc50•46m ago

I wonder what the practical limit is on how thin and light you can make concrete for non-structural items? I can see someone selling concrete mugs on Etsy, for example. Maybe with clever use of fillers and thin walls you could have a version of this you could actually lift. It looks great, especially in contrast to a white IKEA-style office.

Re: decay, I regret not taking more photos of the final days of the RBS "Ziggurat": https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/stark-ph... ; at the end it had plants growing from much of the upper levels, making it look extremely Horizon Zero Dawn.

swiftcoder•25m ago

> Maybe with clever use of fillers and thin walls you could have a version of this you could actually lift

You could likely also pour something like this out of aircrete, which would make it a lot lighter even at the same thickness

throwthrowuknow•22m ago

People who make concrete counter tops use a lot of fibreglass fillers to get them fairly thin but if you wanted it truly light weight you’d probably need to make it out of a dense foam and coat it with something that looks like concrete.

jnwatson•43m ago

I certainly haven't heard of that technique to get rid of bubbles in the cement.

jagged-chisel•39m ago

Vibration? Thought it was pretty common.

Rygian•36m ago

The article does mention a very specific choice of vibration equipment.

jagged-chisel•33m ago

Same method though. There's a plethora of vibrating things to choose from. I suppose you could mold a large silicone tentacle to put on a jackhammer, too, and use that to fish for bubbles in your cement soup. Call the tool what you want, you haven't changed the method.

sam-bee•6m ago

Yes, I did feel a bit silly buying and using it, but to be fair it did get the bubbles out.

alnwlsn•36m ago

They make industrial versions of the same specifically for concrete.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=concrete+vibrator

xgulfie•39m ago

When I first look at this I think "hey it would be nicer if it wasn't falling apart", but you could argue that's kind of the point. Well done

qwertytyyuu•36m ago

Is that surface concrete? Will it scratch the laptop?

sam-bee•5m ago

My laptop has little rubber feet, so it dosn't scratch on its underside. But yes, the piece is solid concrete, so you wouldn't want to bash anything fragile against it.

weirdmantis69•31m ago

I love concrete as a medium but that's got to be heavy af and I would manage to smack my elbow on it all the time as well as smash my coffee mug on it.

sam-bee•4m ago

Yeah, getting it into the office was non-trivial!

gwbas1c•31m ago

Related: Anyone know where to get that kind of keyboard in the photo? Specifically, where the number pad and arrow keys are on the left?

I've been looking and looking, but the best I can find is using a narrow keyboard with a separate number-pad only keyboard on the left. I'm in the US.

(It's better for your right shoulder to keep the mouse closer to your body like in the picture.)

chipaca•16m ago

I went to https://www.keyboardco.com/ and searched for left-handed and the keyboard in the photo popped up, as well as a bunch of weirder and wonderfuler ones.

wmwragg•11m ago

I believe it's this keyboard[1] from Posturite, but doing a web search for "Left-Side Numpad" of "Left handed keyboard" should show a few options.

[1] https://www.posturite.co.uk/left-handed-mechanical-keyboard

sushibowl•11m ago

keychron does make one: https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-q12-max-qmk-via-w...

found this one as well, don't know the brand: https://www.bloodyusa.com/product.php?pid=11&id=166

sam-bee•7m ago

The keyboard in the photo was bought from Amazon in the UK, as "Black Left-Handed Mechanical Keyboard".

I am indeed a right-handed user, which is why I want my mouse within reach on the right.

ssenssei•26m ago

Is it just me or can you all hear the sound of the metal/aluminum scratching against the concrete?

Loved the brutalist movie, this actually seems quite nice assthetically.

bpavuk•14m ago

try playing Control then! that's your dream come true :) (well, maybe except the Hiss part)

robotsquidward•16m ago

This is sick but sad that it has to live in that open office cubicle world :[

aquir•14m ago

Looks awesome! I like raw concrete. Plays well with the tech around it.

sam-bee•9m ago

Thank you!

Qwuke•14m ago

@dang, I'm not sure what's changed with the Show HN lately, but it's been much more lovely to read. Thank you for whatever changes which were made.

einpoklum•11m ago

Such a heavy stand might serve as a nice heat sink too, I would think. Doesn't have fins, but it could radiate evenly, and not even get that hot.

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