Even a seemingly standard project takes a creative mind to prepare, place and install a concrete structure. Concrete offers a near limitless possibility in the design of decorative concrete projects. For the artistic concrete contractors and designers, the medium allows an uncountable number of options to produce a lasting hardscape, floor, or monument.
Let’s look back at a few concrete projects memorializing our nation’s veterans. Before we begin, thank you for your service.
Here are three concrete U.S. veteran memorials from years past.
The National Veterans Memorial & Museum
The Columbus, Ohio, National Veterans Memorial and Museum completed the placement of concrete in 2018. Occupying 21 acres along the Scioto River, the building features concentric arches that cross and interweave forming the museum’s walls also supporting an upper-level sanctuary.
- Concrete contractor: Baker Concrete
- Formwork supplier: PERI USA
- Design: Allied Works Architecture
About 100,000 sq. ft. of wall forms using PERI’s VARIO system and the PERI UP scaffolding and shoring were used. Nothing in the design was repeated. Every form panel had to be built to the exact curve and specifications based on location. Almost the entire structure was designed to be exposed architectural concrete, and originally was slated for sandblasting to ensure a uniform surface. However, the early concrete finish turned out so well off the form that the architect decided to forgo the sandblasting.
Designed as a tribute to veterans, rather than as a war memorial or military museum, the Memorial Museum will feature interactive and educational exhibits, beautiful landscaping, and iconic architecture, including the spiral processional rising to a rooftop sanctuary. It will also include permanent and temporary exhibits and meeting rooms for veterans groups.
A compass rose emblem depicting military and patriotic icons is a focal point of the decorative concrete work at Ballard Western Kentucky Veterans Center.Ballard Western Kentucky Veterans Center
The Ballard Western Kentucky Veterans Center
In 2013, volunteers from the Decorative Concrete Council of the American Society of Concrete Contractors converted an underutilized outdoor space at the Ballard Western Kentucky Veterans Center into a therapeutic garden.
Approximately 5,000 sq. ft. of concrete was cleaned and stained a darker color. A compass rose emblem depicting military and patriotic icons as well as a large checkerboard was sawcut into the project.
- Volunteers: Todd Scharich (project manager); Chris Klemaske and T.B. Penick & Sons (planning and project coordination),; Jim Mullins of Butterfield Color; Paul Schneider of Patterned Concrete of Cincinnati; Andy Espinoza of T.B. Penick & Sons; Russell Mackenzie of Belarde Co.; Neil Roach of Creative Construction by Design; and Wyatt Brandt, Ryan Jessie and Mary Michael Jett, (students of Middle Tennessee State University).
- Tool & Material Suppliers: Butterfield Color; Euclid Chemical Co.; Decorative Concrete Resources; Patterned Concrete of Cincinnati; and Surface Gel Tek.
- Design: Zone 7 Landscaping, Seneca, S.C.
The completed Veteran’s Memorial contrasts the starkness of concrete and polished granite with the vitality of landscape in a solemn, reflective setting.Rubicon Photography, Inc., Mount Vernon, IA
The Mount Vernon Memorial Cemetery Entrance
A memorial was added to the landscape along The Lincoln Highway in eastern Iowa, within the town of Mount Vernon. At one time, the only monument was limited to a plaque anchored to a concrete pylon within a weather-proof display. The Hahn Howard Post 480 of the American Legion connected with James Baty of Sauter, Baty & Bloomquist Inc. and turned “a few sketches into a vision and subsequent reality.”
Baty explained the design, “The modernism of the two concrete walls depict two hands that reach out; one a hand of veteran service displayed in the wall of honor; and another the hand of present, experienced by those sitting along the wall of contemplation. Both approach each other for an eternal handshake around the flag of freedom that was won and continues to be maintained by these selfless acts and preserved in the memories formed.”
The memorial sits near the entrance to the Mount Vernon Memorial Cemetery – standing as a reminder of sacrifice, loss, and service. The structure was formed of cast-in-place concrete with textured columns transitioning from the panels.
- Design: James Baty, Sauter, Baty & Bloomquist Inc.
- Subcontractors & Suppliers: Chad Kelly, Kelly Concrete; Buck Scott, Scott Systems Inc.; Kings Materials; and Elite Stone
