American Society of Concrete Contractors

USF Polytechnic 555 Building

SuperUser Account — Fri, 25 Nov 2016 16:25:00 GMT

Baker Concrete Construction, Ft. Lauderdale Office

2016

Some call this building a modern architectural marvel. ENR Magazine awarded it Global Project of the Year for 2015. The innovative design in architectural concrete, by Santiago Calatrava and Festina Lente, includes an elliptical-shaped structure highlighted with exposed concrete raker portals. Due to the challenges of the elliptical shape, the entrance ends were initially left off to allow for construction access to the building's main area.

The first architectural concrete constructed were the retaining walls, with integral concrete seating caps. These walls defined the building's perimeter from the reflection ponds. The architectural site seat walls not only separate the building from the adjacent reflection ponds, but also separate the reflection ponds across the entire site where together they total a mile in length.

The main building's architectural concrete began with 142 column portals spaced at eight feet on center in a curving layout, framing the endless hallway and supporting the second story of the building’s perimeter. The shape of these portals required triangular bracing between two columns, using self-consolidating concrete to monolithically pour. After column construction, the second-level elevated beams and slabs were completed and followed by the polished concrete ground floor slabs.

The two main entrances began with perimeter architectural concrete columns connecting to each of the 16 unique raker portals. These portals support the roof and tie into an oval concrete skylight that illuminates the grand entry polished concrete stairs. Outside of the architectural concrete challenges, the owner required local vendors to be used. With the high standards required for this building, the GC paired the smaller local vendors with larger vendors to monitor the work and ensure a quality product.

Santa Cruz Roundabout

rzuellig — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 19:21:00 GMT

2016 DCC Award Winner
Santa Cruz Roundabout, Tom Ralston Concrete

First Place: Multiple Applications, Under 5000 SF
First Place: Project Video

Tom Ralston Concrete, Santa Cruz, CA, was asked to help design the roundabout in front of the Santa Cruz Wharf near the beach boardwalk.

Rather than using unattractive and industrial feeling arrows, Ralston used dolphins to point traffic in the correct direction. "Leaping" dolphins go around and around pointing the way. Secondly, traffic Islands around the roundabout centerpiece are set in a nautical genre. An antique amber color with black barnacles and green seaweed give it a unique and organically oceanesque look. We also wanted to break it up with a nice aesthetic, so rocks were flipped up to resemble dorsal fins, and the mounds look like rock covered and bared by the tides. The islands have the look and feel of windswept dunes.

Traffic was a big issue. This is a four-way stop leading to the beach boardwalk, the wharf, and to scenic West Cliff Dr. On some weekends as many as 50,000 visitors drive through this area. It had to remain open, so traffic control was an issue.

Dolphins:

The dolphins have embedded beach glass, seashells, and aquarium sand, and each has custom abalone eyes. They were acid stained in a way that gives them a variegated and organic look.

Logistics and Mix Design:

The dolphins had to be strong enough to be driven over by heavy trucks. We used our proprietary 5000 PSI mix design and they are holding up perfectly. The dolphins were made in 3-sizes: 8'; 6'; and 4' and weighed almost 1000 lbs. They were trucked in from Ralston’s yard, then craned in at dark so traffic was less of an issue. We used break away forms so when we lifted the dolphins only two pieces of plywood remained for the straps that surrounded them for hoisting. All dolphins were placed on strategically placed pillars sloped toward the street. These pillars allowed the concrete to flow around and under each dolphin for additional strength and support. We poured our proprietary mix around the dolphins as well, then moved on to building and creating the 12-splinter islands.

Splinter Islands:

The islands were fashioned into mounds of all different shapes and sizes with the same proprietary TRC mix. Each island has multi-colored acid staining and uses starfish, oyster shells, various seashells and small pebbles. In order to create veins that would not run down in errant patterns, we had to develop a system of staining. Four different varieties of large flat rock were turned on their sides and wind up and down throughout the mounds. They look like rock outcroppings on a windswept cliff.

Creative Addition

rzuellig — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 19:18:00 GMT

2016 DCC Award Winner
Creative Addition, Greystone Masonry

First Place: Cast-in-Place Stamped Concrete, Under 5000 SF

This project began with a patio coming out of the basement and a walkway with multiple steps leading to the driveway. Once the first project was complete the homeowner's ultimate backyard dream took root. The existing grade was the largest challenge and took a lot of creative ideas and artistic talent to make this hilly backyard functional and aesthetical pleasing. This home in Virginia sat on a sloping lot, and required a design to accommodate it. Greystone Masonry used the yard's topography to its advantage, creating several layers for multi-grade entertaining. From the beginning this project was a challenge due to the access to the pool area. A concrete pump was used to get the concrete up the enormous hill. The beautiful multi-level(3) stamped concrete pool deck sits on top of the hill and terraces down with the elevation. Four sets of curved steps connect to a 60' walkway with 20 steps leading to the lower patio. This beautiful finished project took 25 skilled artisans and more than ten days to complete.

Tarbut V’Torah Community Day School

rzuellig — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 16:03:00 GMT

2016 DCC Award Winner
Tarbut V’Torah Community Day School, Trademark Concrete Systems

First Place: Multiple Applications / Over 5000 SF

This project encompassed new ‘outdoor classroom’ and exterior space to provide teachers and students an additional 7,000 square feet of programmed teaching space at a private school.

Trademark constructed the cast-in-place radius, amphitheatre seating, concrete sub-slabs for flagstone and dry riverbed paving, the decorative paving for the meandering walks at the playground, two new basketball courts, a cast-in-place lunch table and a template for sandblasting new vertical surfaces.

Scope included 400 LF of cast-in-place radius amphitheatre seating, 7,500 SF of integral color sand finish walkways, 2,500 of integral color 3/8” Inyo Bronze seeded aggregate and an additional 2,500 SF of sub- slab below flagstone and dry riverbed paving. Maintaining consistent radiuses and finishes at the radius amphitheatre seating and the compact project site made construction difficult.

Stealth

rzuellig — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 16:01:00 GMT

2016 DCC Award Winner
Stealth, Sinclair Construction Group

First Place: Concrete Artistry / Under 5000 SF

Rising 33’ amidst the bustle of downtown Atlanta, Stealth twists and contorts in artistic fashion. It gleams with the characteristics of steel, but don’t be fooled by its shiny and sharp-edged nature – what you’re seeing is solid black concrete.

Designed by Tristan Al-Haddad, an award-winning designer and visual artist, Stealth’s formwork was modeled in Rhino Software down to bolt level, then created using a 5-Axis CNC Router. Each piece, individually numbered, was built from three layers of ¼” bent marine-grade plywood. The process used in assembling was very similar to boat building. The plywood face was sanded and filled with gypsum, sealed and urethaned to create a smooth surface. The forms were stacked in sections to allow multiple lifts to be performed as it continued to go vertical. The concrete had to be expertly designed to decrease the variation of color from pour to pour as well as prevent honeycombing due to improper consolidations. Forta Ferro Macrofibers were used to ensure the angled sections would resist cracking and breaking off. Eight tons of rebar helped give Stealth its shape; each rod hand cut, bent, and placed with ultimate precision to allow proper coverage. Due to its exterior location, extra precautions were made to protect the open air site, as we battled a rainy spring. Stealth is unlike anything we have ever seen or done. Anyone in the industry can tell you how concrete can take any shape, and Stealth proves that – in astounding fashion.

Preston Trails Community Church

rzuellig — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 15:57:00 GMT

2016 DCC Award Winner
Preston Trails Community Church, Texas Bomanite

First Place: Polished / Over 5000 SF

Preston Trails Community Church relocated to the new campus which included a 1,600 seat worship center. Texas Bomanite was called on to complete 21,725 SF of diamond polished concrete using the Bomanite system, polished to a 1,500 grit finish.

TB utilized a Salt & Pepper Aggregate Exposure for added interest and effect. To complete the engaging look and feel, they used Black Orchid, Pineapple and Root Beer Bomanite dyes and employed 1,465 linear feet of decorative scoring.

Mehaffey Park

rzuellig — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 15:53:00 GMT

2016 DCC Award Winner
Mehaffey Park, Colorado Hardscapes

First Place: Vertical Application / Under 5000 SF

The owner originally contacted Colorado Hardscapes for this project because of a problem they were facing with a stacked rock wall. The original design called for a 14’ tall wall made out of stacked sandstone.

Not only did it cost more than the city wanted to pay, it also looked like Mayan ruins instead of the Colorado terrain they were going for. Through many conversations, meetings and budgeting, they came to the solution to use GFRC (glass fiber reinforced concrete) rock panels to create the walls in this playground. Using the di Giacomo maquette method and rock castings, the team at Colorado Hardscapes created structurally sound, aesthetically pleasing, and naturally playful playground walls out of concrete. In addition to the walls, the crew also crafted the Sandscape and cobble streambed and the custom concrete log structures.

Main Street Temecula Bridge

rzuellig — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 15:51:00 GMT

2016 DCC Award Winner
Main Street Temecula Bridge, T.B. Penick & Sons, Inc.

First Place: Cast-in-place – Stamped / Over 5000 SF

When the City of Temecula, CA wanted to create a new Main Street Bridge they reached out to T.B. Penick & Sons to construct one that was both functional and would complement the old town feel. The bridge is located in Old Town Temecula where there are still real wood walkways throughout the town.

The city wanted the bridge to look like it belonged to the surrounding areas. They also wanted to create a safer walking space for pedestrians by adding 10 foot sidewalks along each side of the bridge.

Penick was awarded this project because we were able to adhere to the design intent that the city wanted, continuing the look and texture of real wood. We achieved this by utilizing various lengths of Bomanite’s Boardwalk pattern as well as Bomanite’s Ashlar Slate Bomacron.

The bridge was poured over a steel truss structure that required two large pours at 8” thick. The adjacent sidewalks required two pours at 4” think and the adjacent flatwork leading up to the bridge was poured in multiple pours. The overall bridge is 152 feet long and 47 feet wide including two 10 foot exterior sidewalks.

Legacy Learning Studios

rzuellig — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 15:47:00 GMT

2016 DCC Award Winner
Legacy Learning Studios, Concrete Mystique Engraving

First Place: Polished / Under 5000 SF

This floor was on the second level of a very old and famous building in Nashville, the Roy Acuff Building, where many famous songwriters recorded.

Legacy Learning Systems bought the building and decided to renovate. They had a major crack traveling through the main room of their offices. We patched it and stained everything using multiple dye colors including blue, green, brown, and black to help hide the crack. Then we hand drew and hand engraved a huge pattern that matched the outside vertical wall of the building to bring some of the historical elements in without making it too busy. It was polished to 800 grit and burnished to 1500 grit.

Kaiser Panorama City

rzuellig — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 15:43:00 GMT

2016 DCC Award Winner
Kaiser Panorama City, Trademark Concrete Systems

First Place: Cast-in-place – Special Finishes / Under 5000 SF

A new 72,000 square foot addition to the Kaiser Panorama City campus in Panorama City, CA houses 12 clinical departments including audiology, diagnostic imaging, gastroenterology, head and neck surgery, and pain management. Trademark provided the decorative concrete work within the courtyard of the new expansion. 1,800 SF of Dark Gray EcoCast© paving, 250 LF of cast in place EcoCast© walls with a light gray integral color and an additional 1,000 SF of light gray integral color concrete seeded with 3/8” black granite were used for the hardscapes. The main challenges were meeting a tight schedule with a large amount of paving in a small area, and the placing sequencing.

Hype DC Hurtsville

rzuellig — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 15:39:00 GMT

2016 DCC Award Winner
Hype DC Hurtsville, Honestone Pty. Ltd.

First Place: Overlays – ¼” - 2” / Under 5000 SF

HypeDC had been using a 2mm cement overlay for their continuing growth in the retail shoe market. The head of design expressed her longing for a true polished concrete floor with exposed aggregate, to complete the corporate look she desired.

Every store fit out required a thin set topping (less than 40mm) that could meet project timeframes.

Though previously unavailable in Australia, successful collaboration with an interstate manufacturer gained access to a rapid cure polished concrete topping. Once final colour options were confirmed and presented to Hype, they fell in love with the latest flooring available to the Australian market.

Initial site inspection revealed Hurtsville store not to be straightforward. The existing substrate was far from ready to receive a 12mm architectural floor finish. With more rolls than Thanksgiving dinner it required extensive subfloor preparation – adding days to the program and significantly blowing a sensitive budget.

Rather than make works level, we proposed creating a flat floor that ramped into the tenancy, an option all parties agreed upon.

Installation of decorative floors is always a challenge, more so in an operating mall. The containment of dust and minimizing noise meant our crew being environmentally compliant.

HypeDC expressed their appreciation of the final product and high level of finish, commenting…. “being market leaders, we are extremely happy with the overall look of our HypeDC stores – and feel the floor of a light ‘French Grey’ with river pebble aggregate gives a natural organic visual and complimented by Hype’s gloss black brick feature wall, completes the space we wanted to create.”

Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino Biloxi

rzuellig — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 15:33:00 GMT

2016 DCC Award Winner
Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino Biloxi, Concrete Coatings, Inc.

First Place: Overlays – less than ¼” / Over 5000 SF

Concrete Coatings, Inc. jumped at the chance to “cash in” on a challenging project before the 2014 season kicked into high gear. 17,500 sq. ft. awaited us in Biloxi, MS at the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino.

This three color, Classic Texture designed pool deck was to be the centerpiece of the newest hotel and casino on the Gulf Coast. Six crew members spent five weeks working 12 plus hours a day installing section by section as the deck became available and the other subs moved on to other areas. As most commercial projects go, we had our share of plan changes, weather delays, and unrealistic deadlines, but the crews persevered and completed the project before the grand opening. The finished product is a fantastic backdrop for guests as they enjoy live bands, cool water, and outdoor gaming tables with their drink of choice.

Floating Landing

rzuellig — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 15:29:00 GMT

2016 DCC Award Winner
Floating Landing, Scottworks Construction, LLC

First Place: Architectural Cast-in-Place Concrete Structures / Under 5000 SF

This residential client needed a way to access a newly constructed guest home from the main house. No big deal, except the entry landings needed to pass through a 300 year old tree root mass.

The job location was such that access with a ready mix truck was not possible and a line pump option was not available (live on an island and sometimes have to make due with limited resources). After careful excavation the contractor decided it would be possible to bag mix the whole project. Since all landings were independent from each other, one was cast per day, working from the bottom to the top. 200 bags later, and with some careful and well thought out forming procedures, they produced a functional and handsome series of entry landings. All the landings have good Sonotube bearing to spaces between the root system.

Contemporary Summer Retreat

rzuellig — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 15:21:00 GMT

2016 DCC Award Winner
Contemporary Summer Retreat, Salzano Custom Concrete

First Place: Overlays – less than ¼” / Under 5000 SF

This backyard in-ground pool was constructed about a year ago and Salzano Custom Concrete was called in to rescue the troubled pool deck. We proposed to prepare the surface and apply a new decorative overlay.

The first challenge was working with the existing concrete. Removing the pool deck was not an option. Not so straight deck joints and other inconsistencies made the resurfacing process a challenge. We were able to work with the joints to blend them into the pattern and able to fill some low spots to reduce puddling.

Coming up with a contemporary design to suit the surroundings was the second challenge. The customer wanted to carry their contemporary interior style out to the pool deck. Bluestone pool coping was already in place and had to stay. We used the basic color of the coping, but created an extra-large “quarry block” style stone pattern. We stained alternating tiles in subtly different colors tones to maintain an elegant and natural look. Finally, the customer wanted something unique under the deck. They had just had gray hardwood laid in the basement, somewhat driftwood style. We were able to match it reasonably well in an area outside of the basement doors. Customer loved their total transformation from aggregate gone bad to a beautiful Contemporary Summer Retreat.

Canapp Residence

rzuellig — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 15:18:00 GMT

2016 DCC Award Winner
Canapp Residence, Hyde Concrete

First Place: Stained / Under 5000 SF

The Canapp residence is a newly constructed architectural residence. The owners, both veterinarians, were looking for a beautiful, yet durable floor that would withstand their numerous animals.

The architect wanted an earthy floor that complemented the other wood accents in the space. In particular, she wanted a wood inlay that mirrored the wood beams in the ceiling. She also wanted a tiny bit of texture in the otherwise smooth self-leveling overlay.

Once the ¾” walnut inlays were in place, we started on our portion of the work. We primed the substrate and then stapled in a metal lathe. To this we placed ½” self-levelling underlayment. After prepping the surface we placed a ¼” self-levelling overlayment to which we strategically broadcast patterns of shake on color hardeners (this was done to achieve a colored void in the surface for final effect). After cleaning and prepping again, we acid stained the floor and sealed it with epoxy primer and a urethane topcoat.

Aruba Residence

rzuellig — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 15:15:00 GMT

2016 DCC Award Winner
Aruba Residence, Tom Ralston Concrete

First Place: Cast-in-place – Special Finishes / Over 5000 SF

The owner’s motif for the “beach home” would be modern architecture; 8,000 SF with an additional 8,000 SF of concrete for the exterior work. The scope of the concrete work included upper floors, lower floors, cantilever stairs and a pool deck; as well as side and front entries.

The concrete work was laden with an array of challenges. Distance was the first factor: we are based in California and this project is south of Cuba which is over 4,000 miles. The logistics of getting specialty supplies to the site for an architectural pour was complicated. We needed to transport special colors to blend, special tools and work out travel for our manpower. The upper and lower floors for this new home each had separate blended colors, as did the pool deck and the front and side entries (4-different blends in all). We had to crate all of our specialty tools, jointers, special concrete saws, finishing tools, etc. We made at least 15 samples for the owner, and since he was so busy we had to mail small pieces to Berkeley from Santa Cruz. It took 7 crack finishers plus laborers from a Dutch Construction Company to pour the concrete.

Blending Colors: We decided to go with Brickform Color because they were extremely accommodating and excited with this project. We have had problems with color hardener consistencies with various manufacturers in the past and Brickform assured us that he would set out all of the color hardeners that we needed that were made from the same batches. Over 300 pails of color were eventually shipped from Brickform to Aruba from Florida. Blending 4-different blends of colors and keeping them straight was tricky and required tight quality control for the mixing and clear labeling. So it was one of our first tasks was blending all of these 300 pails of color hardeners and separating them into 4-different categories.

Mix Design: Prior to the trip I worked extensively with the Director of Concrete Products at the Granite Rock Concrete headquarters in Northern California. We did batch tests and as many as 20 samples with various mix designs and blending various colors and textures before we flew to Aruba. We did our best and were confident that the 5000 PSI mix design we had could perform well and withstand the fierce elements in Aruba. We didn’t add any water to the concrete when it arrived, only special additives. I insisted on pouring a ¾” mix design which required using a boom pump throughout the house. A year later we could only find 4-hairline cracks in all of the concrete we poured.

Pouring Concrete: The wind and sun are daily occurrences in Aruba where wind gusts average 28 knots and temperatures hover around 80 degrees. Over 18 pours were made so we could assure that the finishes were perfect. Because we had to fight the elements many of our pours were made in the dark when it was cool; or as we liked to say at “zero dark thirty.”

Special Finishes: We used an acid sand wash on the exterior and a Monet finish on the inside floors. The sand wash was produced by using an acid/water solution. The Monet finish produces an acid stain like variegation in the colored floors which require a special technique. We also used a jointing tool and system developed in house to mimic saw cuts without using a saw. This allowed us to make very clean, thin lines without the usual spalling

Hydration: There were not many expansion joints in the floors as per the design, so we had to take extra precautions against cracking. Due to the wind and sun, we hydrated the slab 15-20 times per day.

Sealing: All of the concrete was sealed with an impregnating sealer to give it more of a natural and organic look.