2021 DCC Award Winner

St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station, Musselman & Hall
First Place: Cast-in-Place Special Finishes, Under 5,000 SF

St. Louis Union Station, an amazing collective adventure of a giant ferris wheel, fire and light shows, delicious dining, an old-time carousel, 18-hole mini golf, and a ropes course, recently opened a grand aquarium featuring one-of-a-kind exhibits and marine environments.

The building is 120,000-sq-ft, and two-stories built inside the footprint of a nearly 500,000-sq-ft, 19th century iron umbrella train shed designated a National Historic Landmark.

PGAV Destinations, known for their design work on 50 fantastical aquariums around the world, had been searching for the right finish for the "River Pavement" for the exterior plaza feature. After discovering their original design of epoxy terrazzo was not recommended for exterior use, the search ended when the designer attended a lunch and learn presented by our company. Pictures and samples were shared of the revealed decorative concrete system and the decision was made. Musselman & Hall's proposal to install an architectural concrete with varying exposure depths, using decorative aggregates with advanced application procedures to produce a finished product that showcases the seeded aggregate was selected.

 Forms designed to emulate the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers were set, followed by blackouts for the "railroad bridges" to be installed later with pavers. A plain concrete base slab held down ½" from the finish elevation was poured first. Once the base was placed, the Revealed was mixed on site, adding the selected blue integral concrete color, a combination of three different colors of blue glass aggregates and clear glass aggregate. This mixture was applied at a½" thickness directly over the primed base concrete for a monolithic bond. Engraving the river names completed the work.