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Bringing the
Seashore Inside
with Decorative
Concrete
The impression of a tidal
pool created for an oceanfront house
BY TOM
RALSTON
The
1evitt House overhangs a cliff in Santa Cruz and sits about
50 yd (45 in) away from the picturesque surf breaking at scenic
Pleasure Point on the coast of California. In late November
2000, we were asked by Santa Cruz building contractor Steve
Hansen and Carmel, Calif., architectural designer Dennis Britton
to help remodel this house and create something "unique."
They asked if it would be possible to fashion concrete in
such a way that the interior of the house looked as if it
had been worn and washed by the ocean.
We like the aesthetical concept,
but how to accomplish it? It took some heavy thinking, a little
inspiration, encouragement, discussion, and of course, sample
mock-ups to pave the way (no pun intended) to our goals. We
began by testing seeding combinations of seashells, aquarium
sand, and beach?worn glass on fresh concrete; we tried blending
acid stains with various colors; we sprayed liquid retardant,
and we even dropped a turkey baster on the fresh concrete
surface to mimic the crater like effects seen on seashore
rocks. The cratering, however, would appear only in certain
areas of the floor in the house. Overall, there would be a
series of artifacts placed in the concrete and blended amid
a rocklike finish.
SIMULATED CRACKING
As another interesting step in the design, we decided to first
set wrinkled plastic and hard foam through the flooring to
eventually simulate the random cracking or fissuring in rock.
Later, after the flooring was cast, we pulled the foam and
filled the remaining fissures with an agglomeration of seashells,
glass, and aquarium sand that we had acid stained with a dark
brown color. In some locations, fabricators fastened stainless
steel gridwork to the subfloors to eventually provide a more
structured appearance on completion of the floors. Select
portions of the gridded concrete formed were sandblasted with
custom?designed motifs to further enhance the floor's appearance.
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