Aybars Asci is fascinated by concrete’s shape-shifting nature. “When I see a concrete surface,” the Brooklyn architect says, “I always imagine its liquid state, its movement as it was poured.” So when it came time to design a concrete tile for a competition held by manufacturer Walker Zanger in partnership with Architectural Digest, he chose to marry the material’s two phases. His winning entry, Liquid Forms, features a fluid articulate surface that highlights concrete’s nature and plasticity. And although a single design, the 33⁄4-by-191⁄2-inch tiles can be combined in multiple orientations to generate 10 patterns.

“Liquid Forms is aesthetically versatile,” says Jared Becker, vice president of design and marketing for Los Angeles–based Walker Zanger. “Its unique visual qualities give architects and interior designers a rich palette to work with.” He adds that the design’s seeming movement makes the tile a perfect complement to the company’s existing Kaza collection, a line of three-dimensional concrete tiles designed and manufactured in Hungary.

The tile, which is available in four colors, is suitable for interior and exterior applications alike. Asci recommends it for feature walls in particular, where there’s enough space to exploit the myriad configurations. “Tiling is about repetition,” he says. “But just as in the minimalist music of Steve Reich and Philip Glass, repetition is more powerful when there is complexity and variation in the pattern.”