Pattern-Crete, Inc., a decorative flatwork construction company in Villa Park, Illinois has constructed a 4,000-square-foot colored and stamped concrete tilt-up office/warehouse structure. This structure is possibly the first ever colored and stamped concrete tilt-up construction project.

     “We have combined tilt-up, precast concrete construction with the cast-in-place decorative concrete industry,” says Ken Tucker, owner of Pattern-Crete, Inc.

     Tucker designed, engineered, constructed and erected the panels of the structure on site. Each panel is 24’ tall and weighs approximately 23,000 lbs.

     According to Tucker, existing procedures for a decorative tilt-up concrete building face require a form liner placed on the bottom of the pour, which when tilted up into place, becomes the face of the building. This current form of combining decorative concrete with tilt-up construction is labor intensive and simply not practical. This project was done completely opposite of existing methods—the top of the pour was the face of the building.

     The color hardener was broadcast and pattern stamped into the panels as typical procedures for outside colored and stamped flatwork (driveways, patios, walkways). The tilt-up panel forming, reinforcement, embedded plates and lifting hardware were done according to tilt-up/precast concrete panel construction procedures.

     How do you construct a building or residential home out of concrete efficiently and make it beautiful? “It’s time to allow architects to ‘have at it’—incorporate architecture, creativity and beauty to tilt-up/precast concrete construction. Joint lines, reveals and industrial paint coatings have not done justice to the tilt-up construction industry,” explains Tucker.

     Tucker believes that concrete will soon become the building material of choice for commercial/industrial buildings and residential homes that are located in hurricane, tornado, natural disaster areas of the world, adding, “The need for these two fields of construction to work together is long past due, and we would like to promote this process.” There is a patented pending on this process.