Precast Concrete

Reinforce your knowledge and make structurally strong concrete countertops.

Most decorative concrete artisans don’t submit their work into juried art shows, but that’s the world that Thomas Lancaster is trying to ease into.

Sisters Cindee Lundin and Chenoa Pickrain were raised on a dairy farm near Perham, Minnesota. Lundin is an expert in faux finishing and horizontal and vertical carved concrete. Pickrain is a graphic designer and photographer.

Jenkins offered a rock bench as a gesture of friendship, but the biologist wouldn’t accept it without his wife’s approval. Turns out, the wife desired a bench in the shape of a whale’s tail.

“Graceful Curves.” That’s what Scott Cohen and his team at Green Scene Landscaping and Swimming Pools call a recent backyard masterpiece in Malibu, California. Cohen describes it as the ultimate entertaining backyard that has everything and then some — including a pool that makes you feel like you’re in a giant lake.

Concrete lounge chairs are one of the hottest applications of concrete furniture made with glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC).

Once you have successfully cast your parts and finished them completely, you are ready to install your cast concrete range hood.

Hundreds of people showed up to witness the dedication of the Veterans Monument at Ken-Caryl Ranch in Ken Caryl, Colorado, which was officially presented to the community just in time for Veterans Day 2015.

In FuTung Cheng’s view, the term “decorative concrete” fails to convey the full measure of the material’s prowess in enhancing design. Coloring, texturing, stamping or staining don’t begin to tell the whole story.

Here, the Concrete Decor staff shares its top 10 favorite out-of-the-ordinary concrete creations that were featured or almost featured in the past 99 issues. The thin-shell pavilion and fabric-formed planter tied for first place, while the faux bois sconce and slippers tied for second.

A white concrete extension of precast panels added onto an apartment in the city of Innsbruck, Austria, has revitalized a century-old building.

Concrete rivals or surpasses many common architectural materials when it comes to versatility of design and application. Its customizability is well-known, and more fabricators are starting to realize how they can capitalize on its versatility in expanding their market.

Perhaps it was a throwback to his old “smoking in the boy’s room” days but a homeowner in Zurich, Switzerland, yearned to have his own private smoking pavilion in his backyard. Instead of a crowded room filled with rule-breaking teenagers, he wanted a quiet, relaxing place where he could sit back and smoke.

When you enter the showroom of Faciliteq, a company headquartered in Las Vegas that specializes in high-performance architectural interiors and sells Artego panels, you’ll be wowed by the artful possibilities of raised flooring.

After an afternoon spent walking around the Rocketown campus, Jason Geiser and his team saw a great opportunity to not only enhance the area but also showcase the unlimited possibilities of concrete.

A beam is a horizontal structural member that spans some open space and is supported near the ends. The beam can then support some weight placed on top of it somewhere between the end supports. A floor joist is a beam. Concrete countertops are also beams.

Architect Michael Arad, along with landscape architect Peter Walker, designed the memorial to honor the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon and in a field near Shanksville, Pa. The memorial also honors the six people killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

When Steve Moore, a retired escape artist and Harry Houdini historian, went looking for someone to help restore a damaged bust from Houdini’s grave, Bart Sacco’s was the first name to come up.

For contractors who want a rock finish on the exterior of an ICF structure, M a variety of panelized stone veneer systems and interlocking structural insulated home-building panel systems are available.

Since the cranes for a rooftop hardscape project had moved on before the precast concrete furniture was ready, a helicopter was hired to do the heavy lifting.

Curiosity: Stay eternally curious about better methods, collaborative opportunities and advances in sustainability.
Artistry: Remember that concrete is an artisan’s canvas.
Innovation: Employ state-of-the-art techniques to achieve a very dense and reliable concrete product.

Buildings don’t often sparkle like jewelry, but in the case of the chiller plant on the Ohio State University campus, it does just that, thanks to a highly polished RetroPlate finish and the application of dichroic glass.

Ken Tucker, a resourceful contractor solves a potential color problem with a new process - turning tilt-up concrete panels upside down.