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Starbucks Brookside (Modena SL)

The General Contractor, J.E. Foster Building Company, contacted Bomanite Licensee, Musselman & Hall Contractors, LLC about a new Starbucks Coffeehouse being built in the Brookside community of Kansas City. Starbucks was considering the incorporation of new flooring material in a prototype store.

Starbucks design studios are located around the world so that their designers can fully understand the communities they serve. The mission of each designer is to create a spectacular Starbucks café experience that is steeped in the local culture and reflects the unique characteristics of each neighborhood.

Starbucks believes a coffeehouse should be a welcoming, inviting and familiar place for people to connect, so they design their stores to reflect the unique character of the neighborhoods they serve. They are also interested in the way design can connect everyone to sustainable building practices and provoke thoughtful questions and engagement with the built environment. To guide their building and design efforts, Starbucks uses the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED® certification program as a benchmark for success.  In addition to reducing energy and water consumption, they incorporate reused and recycled materials wherever possible and often use locally inspired design details and materials in their stores.

After some research and several references, the general contractor worked with the local contractor Musselman & Hall for assistance. Based on a tile sample provided by the Starbucks design team and an overall design concept, Musselman & Hall produced a series of Bomanite Custom Polishing Modena SL samples for the client’s consideration. The samples immediately impressed the Starbucks staff.

The Modena System, unique to Bomanite, is a trowel applied cementitious overlay that contains zero VOC and no solvents in the chemically hardening product with attributes to its “Low-Emitting Materials” LEED credits. Modena is polished to a highly durable finish and is commonly used to renovate floors that are unacceptable candidates for polished concrete. It can be applied as thin as 1/8” or as thick as ¾” dependent upon existing elevations. Modena can be either highly decorative with aggregate exposure or simpler with light aggregate exposure similar to finely ground concrete.

The Modena system contributes to additional LEED accrual points in “Innovation by Design” by its ability to renovate an existing concrete slab that would otherwise be unsuitable for concrete polishing. This provides specifiers the ability to use polished concrete much as they would traditionally select a manufactured tile or other flooring system only without the maintenance requirements. Bomanite Modena is more economical than typical terrazzo, is breathable which minimizes moisture vapor issues, can be colored in any color, lessens the amount of product brought to a jobsite compared to stone or tile and provides all the benefits of polished concrete.

The relatively small project (600 SF) utilized the Bomanite Nickel Gray Integrally Colored Bomanite Modena SL system. The polished overlay was placed at approximately ½” thick. The overlay was ground and polished to a 400-grit finish. Musselman & Hall coordinated with Starbucks artist who utilized a portion of the floor as a canvas to paint a fun and colorful mural. This is the first Starbucks location in the region to utilize the Bomanite Custom Polishing Modena SL flooring system.

The finished floor is a simple, but elegant representation of the design flexibility of decorative architectural concrete and Bomanite’s diverse sustainable offering of floor systems.

AWARDS: 2018 Bomanite Custom Polishing Project – Honorable Mention

Infinite Campus (Modena Monolithic, Renassiance)

Infinite Campus is the largest U.S. owned K-12 student information management firm that is nestled among natural wetlands and a city park. Wanting to allow views to the exterior natural elements, the Finn Daniels Architect firm made sure the design incorporated architectural precast concrete wall panels, a glass curtain wall, and metal panels to provide views as well as creating an energy efficient building. The interior features open work spaces, two story garden elements with crossing bridges, a central rotunda, training rooms, and a full food service cafeteria.

When planning the cafeteria, the owner, Infinite Campus and Finn Daniels Architects wanted a free-flowing design that would complement existing epoxy terrazzo floors and carpet. The area needed to work with the natural elements already set and required low maintenance with a reflective sheen. During the conceptual stage the design team determined that the decorative concrete indoor flooring project should emulate the feeling of a sandy beach or shoreline which would shimmer and glisten like shells and sea glass in the sun. Bomanite Licensee Concrete Arts, Inc. provided the natural beach look by installing the Bomanite Custom Polishing Systems with Bomanite Modena Monolithic for the winding middle sea shell area and Bomanite Renaissance Deep Grind for the shoreline perimeter.

The two unique appearances were accomplished by first pouring the two perimeter pours of Bomanite Renaissance utilizing integral color to achieve the desired shade of concrete. Then the Bomanite Modena Monolithic portion was poured to complete the winding area in between. The soft gray color of the Bomanite Modena Monolithic was enhanced with black and blue natural aggregates blended with blue recycled glass. Mirrored glass, sea shells and mother of pearl were also hand-seeded to create the shimmer and iridescence reminiscent of that perfect beach feel.

Bomanite Modena Monolithic is a poured-in-place monolithically bonded concrete overlay utilizing integral colorants blended with engineered cements and aggregates. Bomanite Renaissance Deep Grind is a poured-in-place colored concrete slab with selected aggregates ready-mixed and finished to receive a deep grind and polish. Once both areas were placed and sufficiently hardened, Concrete Arts began the grinding and polishing process. This exposed the beauty of the glass and aggregate while providing a low maintenance, durable surface with great sheen and light reflectivity.  When the sun shines through the glass curtain wall on the new cafeteria floor it evokes that happy feeling like a day at the beach.

The American Fallen Soldiers Project

The American Fallen Soldiers Project was borne of an idea that professional artist, Phil Taylor, had upon learning that his childhood friend, Capt. Blake Russell, had been killed in Iraq in 2006. Inspired by stories of Blake’s patriotism and courage during the funeral, Phil knew that he wanted to contribute to the Russell family’s healing process, so he painted a portrait of his childhood friend for them.

The family’s reaction to the portrait changed Phil’s life forever and he began the American Fallen Soldiers Project. Since its inception in 2007, hundreds of portraits have been painted and presented to families of fallen soldiers all over the country.

The American Fallen Soldiers Project National Gallery opened its doors in mid-2016, with 5,000 Square feet of gallery and office space. Texas Bomanite polished and dyed 3,040 square feet of concrete in Bomanite’s Black Orchid using the Bomanite Patene Teres system and polished it to a 400 grit. The Polyurea Joint Filler was in the color Gauntlet Grey. To keep costs down for this very special project, Texas Bomanite discounted the retail price as a donation towards the project’s success.

This beautiful gallery and tribute to American’s fallen heroes is located at 4275 Kellway Circle, Suite 132 in Addison each weekday from 10AM-5PM. Texas Bomanite was honored to be a part of this special space. For more information, visit https://americanfallensoldiers.com.