Within the last decades, the performance of concrete has been significantly improved by applying different kinds of micro- and nanoparticles and by applying analytical methods from fundamental research disciplines that had not been used for construction materials before, e.g. atomic force microscopy. One prominent result is Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) with its steel-like compressive strength which allows for slender but nevertheless very long lasting and thus sustainable concrete structures. On top of that several research projects performed at the University of Kassel, which this contribution likes to review, aim at making concrete an impervious, ceramic-like, acid resistant multifunctional "smart" material with added values by further changing its nano- and microstructure and/or applying reactive coatings e.g. with the ability to degenerate air pollutants. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.