Olathe West High School Makes the Right Investment with Bomanite Renaissance Polished Concrete

Olathe West High School opened in the fall of 2017, designed using architecturally advanced techniques to create an innovative and futuristic learning environment for their students. The three-story school, spanning 375,000 square feet, focuses on the use of technology, open, modular learning spaces, efficiency and collaboration among students. A centrally-located learning commons provides student gathering and education collaboration spaces that connect to the entire building.

The school is designed with four wings where students attend classes. The building also includes an open concept Library with 60 planting boxes on a growing wall, four mini-libraries overlooking the main first floor library, a Public Safety Academy, Green Tech learning center, media center, performing arts center with retractable seating, gymnasiums with a one-ninth mile track around the top and a 200 square foot rooftop greenhouse.

Bomanite Licensee, Musselman & Hall Contractors, LLC worked with the project designers, Hollis + Miller and  Stantec, to provide a sustainable low maintenance topping and polishing technique that is becoming a standard in school construction. Musselman & Hall Contractors, LLC placed 25,000 square-feet of 2”-thick Bomanite Renaissance Deep Grind system as an unbonded topping slab integrating local aggregates and references. Once the slab was cured, it was ground down to expose the coarse aggregates and then polished to a semi-gloss concrete finish.

“Bomanite’s Renaissance Deep Grind is a high-end, readily customized decorative concrete that really bring designs to life,” says Dan Kroesen, a Vice President with Musselman & Hall Contractors. The Bomanite Renaissance Deep Grind polished concrete system represents a custom mix of individually sourced aggregates, sands, and added integral colors that can be installed as a slab on grade or unbonded overlay. Once the concrete sets, it is milled, ground, and finally polished to produce a beautiful, solid surface that looks and wears very similar to terrazzo.

While every type of flooring requires regular maintenance, one of the advantages of the Bomanite Renaissance Deep Grind process is the long-term cost positives. Because the floor is treated with chemical hardeners that reduce porosity, while still allowing it to breath, fully-exposed hard aggregates are the predominate wear surface rather than an applied sealer or coating. Correctly selecting aggregates by size, type, and color allows the floor to wear naturally while supporting superior stain resistance to traditional concrete because no film-forming agents are required to maintain a Bomanite Renaissance floor.

The Bomanite Renaissance system checks a lot of boxes – tremendous design flexibility, first-cost savings, lower cost maintenance, making Bomanite Decorative Concrete the right investment for long lasting beauty and benefit for school construction projects and its communities.

Tanger Outlets Fort Worth Style Texas Theme Mall with Bomanite Decorative Concrete

The Tanger Outlet Center added a new location to their list of ultimate shopping experiences. The recent open-air outlet mall is located in far North Fort Worth, Texas, just south of the Texas Motor speedway. Working with the architectural firm Adam & Associates, known for their unique combination of world class experience and small town personality, they put together a plan that incorporated the time proven, durable Bomanite Decorative Concrete for the exterior of the outlet walkways.

The Fort Worth mall features 70+ hi-end stores such as top fashion designers Cole Haan, Michael Kors, Kate Spade, and Steve Madden along with snack-centered eateries like the Great American Cookie Company that brings shoppers from all over Texas. Over 181 million shoppers a year visit the 39 Tanger Outlets located throughout the U.S. and Canada. Each center has a unique theme to its shopping destination with upscale architectural features and play areas for children. Texas-inspired artwork in the courtyards such as a life-sized steel sculpture of a longhorn and a fire pit were incorporated along with port-style rooftops over many of the stores to protect shoppers from the Texas seasonal weather. Adams & Associates worked with Bomanite Decorative Concrete Craftsmen, Texas Bomanite to choose the system appropriate for the architectural design.

The Bomanite Imprint Systems with stamped, stained and colored concrete with high end finishes accentuating the store fronts and Texas-style artwork featured at many of the pedestrian intersections was the product of choice. Before the project was underway, Texas Bomanite produced 6 different mock-ups to provide a visual for the general contractor, Mycon and the architect to demonstrate exactly what each pattern and color would look like to help aide in the decision-making process.

Texas Bomanite installed over 145,000 square feet of architectural concrete that incorporates 4 different patterns (Bomacron Canyon Stone, Bomacron Medium Ashlar Slate, Bomacron Random Boardwalk, Bomacron 6” x 6” Granite Setts)  and 2 textures (Bomacron Used Brick Texture, Traditional Broom Finish) with multiple colors of Integral Color, Color Hardener and Release Agents each adding different interest and ambiance to the Texas themed look. The entire project was sealed with Bomanite HydroLock for additional durability. This mega installation of Bomanite Decorative Concrete offers versatility in design, long-term durability, low-maintenance, weather-resistant features and environmentally friendly attributes for the Tanger Outlet and earned Texas Bomanite The Best Bomanite Imprint Systems Project Bronze Award for their styled fashionable walkways for shoppers seeking retail therapy.