Tag Archives: Bomanite Artistic Concrete

Bomanite Artistic Concrete Awarded Gold for Vertically Stained Concrete Panels for Multi-Generational Center

The Beast Urban Park in El Paso, TX, recently renamed from Eastside Regional Park, has completed Phase I of a 92-acre development. Once completely finished it will be the largest city operated park in the area. Featuring world-class aquatic amenities, the Beast Urban Park brings much needed public facilities to a residential community that grew faster than anticipated and greatly outpaced recreational resources. The new, three-part complex will include a state-of-the-art natatorium with a 50-meter competition swimming pool, a multi-generational community center with a gymnasium and multipurpose classrooms, and an outdoor waterpark highlighted by El Paso’s first wave simulator. All of these facilities will be surrounded by a landscaped walking path and public art. With Perkins + Will Architects selected for the Phase 1 Design, Sundt Construction was contracted for the build.

Bomanite Artistic Concrete colored the Bomanite chemically stained concrete wall panels installed by Sundt Construction for the Eastside Regional Park Rec Center known as the Beast Urban Park by the community of El Paso.
Photo Credit: Sundt Construction

Among the project’s many complexities, assembling the building form of the recreation center had been a puzzle of literal proportions. Constructed of concrete tilt-up panels, Sundt Construction leveraged their knowledge of concrete, as the panels were constructed on-site, framed, reinforced, cast, and erected as the building’s primary structure and exterior skin.

Bomanite Artistic Concrete colored the Bomanite chemically stained concrete wall panels installed by Sundt Construction for the Eastside Regional Park Rec Center known as the Beast Urban Park by the community of El Paso.
Photo Credit: Sundt Construction

“The challenge in these precast panels begins with their unusual shape,” shares Sundt Construction Project Manager Enrique Esplain, of the Z-shaped monolithic, exterior wall sections, which are 40 feet tall and 18 feet wide. “We are used to casting concrete panels this large, but the awkward angles made them hard to lift and hard to erect. Color is also an issue. There is an inconsistency received on the finish with site-cast concrete. This is based on placement, weather, casting techniques, timing, and application of curing compounds and bond breakers. The City didn’t want grey concrete, so we needed to come up with something that feels very much like El Paso.”

Colorized concrete can be achieved in many different ways including adding an integral color to the concrete mix before it is poured or applying any of many different types of dyes, paints, or stains to the concrete after it has cured. Initially, in El Paso, the design called for using an integral color, which is one of the most common ways of adding color to concrete. By adding color pigment admixtures to the concrete before it is poured, contractors are generally able to create a layered sense of color that results in a multi-tonal appearance similar to natural stone. After developing two different 3’ x3’ panel mock-ups using integral color mixes that didn’t secure the City of El Paso’s approval, the Sundt team recommended trying a stain instead.

Bomanite Artistic Concrete colored the Bomanite chemically stained concrete wall panels installed by Sundt Construction for the Eastside Regional Park Rec Center known as the Beast Urban Park by the community of El Paso.Sundt Construction approached Bomanite Licensee, Bomanite Artistic Concrete, about doing an acid stain on the concrete panels for the Beast Urban Park. Bomanite Artistic Concrete was thrilled with the opportunity to participate in such a dynamic public commission. The process of staining the panels began with clearly establishing the city’s desired aesthetic, which was less than exact in the beginning. Bomanite Artistic Concrete’s President Aaron Echaniz noted that “the City wanted a treatment that made the panels fit in with the surrounding landscape but also complements the unique, very modern architecture. We did several different mock-ups before finally settling on a treatment that falls somewhere between deep rust and old leather.”

Bomanite Artistic Concrete colored the Bomanite chemically stained concrete wall panels installed by Sundt Construction for the Eastside Regional Park Rec Center known as the Beast Urban Park by the community of El Paso.The chosen solution was Bomanite’s Patène Artectura System, a topically-applied coloration system that simulates a semi-weathered, antiquing effect. Because the acid-based stain was to be applied to the panels once they were tilted-up in their final place, the process for staining them had to be dialed in and approved before the work could begin. Using a compressor and an industrial sprayer, the acid-based Patène Artectura was sprayed on the vertical panels by hand working from the top down. Workers had to be very mindful of maintaining a consistent distance between the sprayer and the panels to eliminate unintended blotching while troweling away any drips.

“On the technical side, one thing that was really important was prepping each panel to receive the stain,” says Echaniz of the process’s potential complications. Burs were carefully scraped off panels before each was thoroughly sandblasted to open the concrete’s pores so that the stain could fully penetrate the surface. Once the stain was applied, an acrylic sealant was added to give the colorized panels a fade-free permanence that will last a lifetime in El Paso’s arid climate.

“We are very proud to be a part of this magnificent project” finishes Echaniz of his firm’s role in El Paso’s newest park, which is expected to open to the public in 2021. “Craftsmanship is very important in our work and this community-enhancing project is going to bring a lot of joy to the people of El Paso for generations to come.”

Bomanite Artistic Concrete received the Gold Award for the Best Bomanite Toppings Systems Project for their dedication in exceptional solutions to concrete challenges of all sorts and scales.

Bomanite Artistic Concrete creates native habitat with Bomanite Imprint Systems for the El Paso Zoo Chihuahuan Desert Exhibit

“The El Paso Zoo celebrates the value of animals and natural resources and creates opportunities for people to rediscover their connection to nature.”

Looking for an activity to do for Earth Day, visit the El Paso Zoo and its latest exhibit, the Chihuahuan Desert. The El Paso Zoo is a 35-acre facility that houses animals representing over 220 species, including critically endangered species. Accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA), the El Paso Zoo celebrates the value of animals and natural resources and creates opportunities for people to rediscover their connection to nature.

The Chihuahuan Desert Exhibit showcases North America’s most diverse desert that encompasses the El Paso and Northern Mexico regions. The exhibit tells the story of the Chihuahuan Desert giving visitors the opportunity to experience not only the land, but the animals that surround them every day such as peccaries, wild turkeys, jack rabbits and includes key mammals such as Mexican grey wolves, mountain lions, and jaguars; birds including sand hill cranes, and barn owls; reptiles such as the bolson tortoise and coach whip snake; and arachnids such as scorpions, tarantulas, and black widow spiders.

Illustrating the habitat of an El Paso Texas Backyard, El Paso Zoo director Steve Marshall states “Our central goal with the new Chihuahuan Desert Exhibit is to inspire our visitors to go explore these biomes in our nearby, fantastic National and State Parks and even their own backyards – where they can make a personal, incredible impact on conservation.”

PGAV Destinations, a global attraction and exhibit design firm, worked on this mega million-dollar project that encompasses just 2.3 acres. “One of the greatest challenges of El Paso’s new exhibit space is incorporating an expansive set of animals into just over two acres, while ensuring that it is beautiful, tells a rich and cohesive story, and is healthy for the animals,” said John Kemper,vice president PGAV Destinations. “By overcoming that challenge, we intend to instill wonder in guests at the vast biodiversity in their own backyards and inspire them to explore the nearby wilderness and take action in conservation.”

With plans in place and everyone working towards the same design goals, Bomanite Artistic Concrete & Pools worked with PGAV Destinations and the El Paso Zoo on the decorative concrete surfaces that consisted of three different styles of implementation. To achieve the desert landscape with the natural ecosystem of plants and animals, natural stone patterns and aggregates were chosen.

As Visitors enter the exhibit they come through a recreated arroyo (a dry riverbed, which in nature, floods with water during times of heavy rain), The Bomacron Garden Stone pattern with a natural English slate texture consists of varying sizes of stones that range from ½” x 1” up to 15” x 21” providing a realistic approach to replicating the desert rock riverbed landscape of boulders down to small pebbles. A total of 15,000 square feet of imprinted concrete pattern was installed using Bomanite Sand Integral Color for the base along with varying Bomanite Color Hardeners of Autumn Brown and Forrest Brown. A Bomanite Clear Sealer was applied for future protection from the outdoor elements.

Upon entrance, visitors are greeted with a striking new Mexican Grey Wolf sculpture by artist Andy Dufford. The exhibit design was carefully composed to preserve a large number of existing mature trees; which, along with ample new shade structures, make the area comfortable and inviting for visitors while maintaining their sustainability goals. The nearby prairie dog habitat offers an interactive feature for visitors to meet the animals nose-to-nose through pop-up domes and crawl spaces.

An essential part of the overall geography and lifelike scene was an implemented 45’ mountain, inspired by incredible rock features in the nearby Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site. To reveal the power and dangers of storms in the nearby deserts, the mountain recirculates 10,000 gallons of water every five minutes to give visitors a simulation of a flash flood. The central habitat of the mountain range is home to jaguars and mountain lions, which allows the zoo to be able to rotate animals through the exhibits and be visible from all sides. A mesh barrier separates the big cats from habitats at the base of the mountain where numerous herbivores graze among native plants, all seemingly inhabiting the same exhibit.

An additional feature of walking paths invite visitors to pass beneath two abandoned bridges that allow jaguars to cross between the mountain and their individual exhibit spaces. The native desert trail of 850 square feet was composed of a Natural Exposed Aggregate Concrete Finish that winds its way in and out of areas and directs visitors also to covered viewing bridge decks. The dilapidated designed bridges provide shade for visitors and viewing areas of many other animals such as the Harris Hawk, Thick-billed Parrot, Ocelot and the White Nose Coati. The Bomacron 6” Random Boardwalk pattern was used with Autumn Brown Color Hardener and a Walnut Brown Bomanite Release Agent. To give it that worn aged look accents in Forest Brown were added and then the 717 square feet of textured and imprinted concrete was given a final seal.

El Paso Zoo Chihauhuan Desert Exhibits with Bomanite Imprinted Concrete Systems using the Bomacron 6” Random Boardwalk pattern that resembles wood plank for the viewing bridge decks.

Bomanite Imprint Systems is a cast-in-place concrete that adds a distinctive architectural touch to any project, that also incorporates durability to stand up to the toughest traffic loads and environmental conditions. You can choose from many natural textures including slate, granite, limestone, sandstone, cobblestone, used brick and wood to upgrade plain concrete or asphalt, or alternatively reduce the cost and maintenance of natural paving materials and simulate real world habitats.

“With the opening of the Chihuahuan Desert, we aim to motivate guests and their families to go and explore these stunning and varied environments in our surrounding State and National Parks,” said El Paso Zoo director Joe Montisano. “From the wonders of wildlife in their own backyards to the natural Chihuahuan Desert itself, we hope to facilitate personal connections that inspire real conservation action on the part of our visitors.”

To visit the zoo and view the animals virtually visit http://www.elpasozoo.org/zoo-cameras

AWARDS: Bomanite Artistic Concrete received the Best Bomanite Imprint Systems 2019 Silver Award for their creative native habitat work on the El Paso Chihuahuan Desert Exhibit