Finished installation

Bryan Louisell has a better photo of the finished lavatory installation at Enright & Company in Brattleboro, VT. I post it here to do the project a little more justice. Take a look at Bryan’s project album for other images of his comprehensive design vision for this fresh inviting interior. It’s good to have good people.

We hope to parlay this recent accomplishment into a little PR exposure for the design team, the client, and raising the design standard (with artisan concrete!) in general; positivity for all concerned. Film at eleven.

Bryan Louisell Designs has just added a new Project Album to the portfolio page of his website, showcasing the just-completed interior design and renovation of the new Enright & Co. salon and spa on Canal Street in Brattleboro, VT.  An Aveda concept affiliate, the beautiful new space promises a calming retreat for  restoration and rejuvenation under the skillful hands of Larry and Linda Enright and their able associates. Take a look at this amazing transformation.

Concrete Detail, of course, contributed the cast concrete sink and the wall panel installation in the retail space’s washroom – working closely with the architect to integrate the design and implementation into his overall vision for the project. I think it was a satisfying success - thank you, Bryan. This is just a beginning…

Today we installed the completed concrete composition which will anchor the design theme for the lavatory at Enright & Co.’s new salon and spa space on Canal Street in Brattleboro, VT. The project was a rewarding collaboration between Concrete Detail (yours truly) and Bryan Louisell, who conceptualized the interior design of the Aveda concept salon. Opening to the public in a week or so, the ambience is built around calming, earthy colors and natural textures.  Lauren Henry lent her expert eye in coordinating the overall color scheme.

The concrete elements are cast in bronze and sage green; the integral sink top is a flowing semi-circle with a deep round bowl, set on a slight oblique angle in the corner of the room. Behind it, covering the wall full-width, are two concrete sculpted panels and a large mirror, making a triptych with a Zen garden inspiration, and drawing references from the Aveda commitment to naturally derived health and beauty. The panels are retained by a set of shiplapped concrete cleats bolted to the wall, which also act as backsplash to the sink area.

The concrete is cast with flyash and VCAS, two recycled replacements for portland cement, which effectively create a better performing end-product, as well as lessening the environmental impact . There is a sprinkling of crushed recycled glass as well in the countertop surface for depth and contrast. The faucet is by Ikea.

We have sealed the cast elements for the Enright & Co. lavatory, in preparation for installation later this week. The grand opening is the following week and the new fixtures will be getting a workout right away. The integral sink and top is sealed with a water-based epoxy/urethane system that is maintenance free and extremely durable. The wall panels are sealed with an enhancing penetrating sealer, being purely decorative pieces. This brings out the color and repels incidental water splashed by overzealous hand washers…

The integral sink for the lavatory at the new space for Enright & Co. is fully processed and ready for sealing and then installation. The crushed bottle glass has been ground and exposed, and then diamond polished to bring a sparkling swath of amber along the left edge of the top. The inset rim and bowl of the unit is unground and lightly polished to lend contrast to the perimeter.

We will attach steel angle to the underside for mounting and turn our attention to finishing the  wall panels and mounting cleats next. Bryan brought the sink’s wall mirror by the studio yesterday so that we can match up layouts and setbacks.

The sculpted wall panels for Enright & Co. are now demolded and wrapped up for a thorough wet cure . This will help the castings to gain their designed strength through proper hydration. Hydration is the chemical process in which water actively combines with other molecules to create new compounds, thus building a dense matrix of interlocked crystalline formations. To be sure, the fly ash content in our concrete hydrates a bit slower than the portland cement – it doesn’t happen overnight! 

As curing progresses, the end result is the material we call “concrete”, a very complex and dynamic substance –  but without enough water, the transformation falters and the concrete never reaches its strength potential. To ensure against this sad fate, we maintain a 100% humid environment for the fresh slabs by placing special curing blankets over the faces and wrapping completely in plastic sheeting for an extended period of time. The young castings are checked regularly for proper characteristic development and adjusted as needed. It’s a moving target and one must keep up with the process, because things can go awry quickly… Yes, concrete warps!

Wall panel pour

We poured the 3/4 inch thick concrete wall panels and the 1 inch thick cleats that will hold them to the wall. The panels are “Sage” and the cleats are “Bronze” to match the accompanying sink. These were wetcast pours, as opposed to the hand-pressed integral sink. The cleats have polypropylene sleeves cast into them to receive the bolts that will fasten them to the wall upon installation. This will help relieve direct strain on the concrete under the bolt’s pressure. The wall panels fit into the cleats with a shiplap joint, formed by rubber strips at the edges of the form which create a “rabbet” in the panel’s top and bottom. It’s all done in the form.

The concrete itself has partial recycled content consisting of flyash and VCAS. These help to replace part of the portland cement portion while  improving the performance of the final cured slab. See earlier posts…

We have been forming and sculpting the wall panels that will be mounted behind the sink in the Enright & Co. lavatory. They are 3/4 inch thick concrete slabs, in two sections: one about 16 x 36 (divided into two areas)and the other 26 x 36. The sizes are derived from the golden ratio, which basically says that the proportion between two companion parts should be equal to the proportion between the whole and the larger of the two. This ration has been used in design for thousands of years and has an intrinsically pleasing aspect to the human eye. The color will be a sage green, mounted in concrete cleats to match  the sink’s bronze hue.

The design is botanical in nature, to refer to Aveda’s naturally-derived product, and somewhat Asian in inspiration, to suggest calm presence and wholeness. There are three marble mosiac tiles (one of my “trademarks” )and a small signature panel included, to denote artisanship.

Time to make the countertops… this sink project for the Enright salon is being poured in concrete tinted to match a Sherwin Williams  paint swatch called Urbane Bronze (SW7048). The color scheme for the interior of the space was a collaboration between Bryan Louisell and graphic designer Lauren Henry working with the  Aveda palette concept.  This concrete top and sink is integrally colored with three different iron oxide pigments, blended and measured to the gram to achieve the desired shade. The top also incorporates recycled content in the form of fly ash, VCAS, and crushed bottle glass, in keeping with the guiding principles of the design.

The concrete was mixed using only fine aggegate and hand-pressed into the mold, mounding up over the steel bowl form and then troweled smooth. A simple leaf vein pattern was incised into the underside of the bowl (this will be a little surprise detail noticable only on closer examination by the user). The fresh pour was covered up tightly to hold moisture for curing and demolded 24 hours later; then rewrapped with curing blankets for a full damp cure before finishing begins next week. Tomorrow we begin forming the accompanying wall panels…

Today we finished forming the lavatory countertop and integral sink for our project with Bryan Louisell to outfit the bathroom at the new space for Enright & Co. in Brattleboro, VT. Like most custom countertop forming, it is a study in composite materials. We use whatever suggests itself as adaptable to the task, be it a curved edge, a 3-D shape, a  faucet hole. The sink itself, in this case, is a stainless steel salad bowl. It is set into a leaf-shaped rim, centered on the faucet/overflow axis. The top itself is an eased half circle, which will be wall mounted in the corner of the bathroom. The bowl will be vsible under the top when entering the room, so we will hand trowel it to a pleasing round when we pour (soon!).