A crashing concrete
wave created with acid stain and sandblasting is
a piece of public art paying homage to Santa Cruz's
surfing culture.
The Santa Cruz project involved some detailed engineering
and concrete work. The first challenge was logistics.
The park was bounded by a river and canal, so work had
to be staged from one end to the other, not approached
from all sides. The second was evaluating - and eventually
strengthening - the retaining wall next to the canal.
Third was the water table, just a foot or two below
grade. Vasconi installed a French drain system of slotted
pipe and crushed gravel to relieve water pressure that
could have heaved the concrete above. Then he built
up walls to contain engineered fill material so he could
build the park above the original grade.
Then the fun began. The team poured concrete for the
pools, bowls, decks and curved transitions that are
the signature features of skate parks. Empty swimming
pools are favorites of skaters, so this design included
a large pool with bull-nose coping on top of a tile
surround to duplicate the swimming pool skate experience,
right down to the sound created by skating over tile.
Tile is fragile, so Wormhoudt specified stamped concrete
instead. Vasconi's team imprinted a design around the
pool edge and artist Dave Gardner hand-colored each
"tile" with stain to create the look of a
swimming pool.
The skate park
is the first to have every concrete surface colored
with acid stain.
