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Decorative Concrete: Growth and Creativity (Part 2)

by Joe Nasvik

What decorative concrete adds to a project

Kevin Crehan is a landscape architect with Nuszer Kopatz, Denver. His firm designs hardscape areas for developers of retail centers and housing developments. He almost always specifies decorative pavement for retail frontages, designing whatever the budget will permit. His firm uses decorative pavement and vertical elements to create themes that say "this is a special area." In housing developments, he specifies different pavements and treatments to designate outdoor "rooms," such as pool decks, picnic areas, and shade areas.

Decorative concrete is important for marketing, too. Crehan states that developers can justify the cost for a creative design in terms of how it will affect the sales pace and create a legacy that ultimately becomes part of the developer's reputation. He adds that his firm always uses decorative treatments with discretion.

The synergistic effect

Clients retain landscape architects, designers, and architects to add creativity to their projects. Decorative concrete contractors, on the other hand, are constantly playing with ideas and using materials in new ways. So does the creativity for a project come from the designer or the contractor? Both. The most interesting ideas are generated when a creative designer gets together with a creative contractor to explore the possibilities. These sessions can be fun, and often long-term relationships develop.

An example of such a relationship is Jim Hyatt, a principal partner of EDAW, Denver, and Mike Miller, owner of "the concretist," Benecia, Calif. EDAW is the largest landscape firm in the world, with offices in 23 cities and a staff of 750. Hyatt regularly specifies decorative concrete and has for many years. He likes concrete because of the many unique things that can be done with it. When his firm decides to use concrete, "the effort is always to be creative and original." He met Miller several years ago, and they have worked on many projects together. "These days, when I'm involved with a particularly creative design, I like to get together with Mike during the idea phase of the design process and kick around the possibilities. Mike's very creative, and I like what we come up with together," Hyatt says. He knows that without Miller's involvement many of their projects wouldn't have turned out to be as interesting. "Mike gets us going, and we create," he adds.

The driving force behind the decorative concrete movement

Brad Bowman started the decorative concrete movement in the early 1950s when he developed the process for stamping concrete impressions. Until he died in 2000 at the age of 90, his mind played with new, creative ways to use this material. He particularly liked concrete for its unlimited range of possibility. Those who are currently moving this industry forward follow in his footsteps - enjoying the creative process and always keeping an open mind about new ways to use concrete.

Building a unique house

Dennis Britton, a designer in Carmel, Calif., likes rehabbing older homes--especially "cottage houses," which he describes as homes built with the floor at the same elevation as the ground surrounding the home. In the old days, these homes often had dirt floors. Later the floors were covered with paving stones or concrete. Britton is finishing a vacation home of this type very close to the ocean in the Santa Cruz, Calif., area. He wanted the floor in the living room to look as if the sea regularly washed over it, eroding the concrete. During the concept stage, he met Tom Ralston of Tom Ralston Concrete, Santa Cruz, Calif., who was willing to try "off-the-wall stuff." Ralston made samples first and then cast the floor. His team broadcast different kinds of aggregates sporadically, randomly embedded seashells, intentionally created cracks that drain water toward the ocean, and then randomly applied a retarding agent with turkey basters to give the concrete an eroded appearance. Sandblasting exposed the special aggregates and seashells.

Britton says that people who see the work "are blown away by the result and are fascinated!"

Source: CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION MAGAZINE (www.concreteconstructiononline.com)
Publication date: 05/15/2002

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