Austin Children’s Garden Transformed with Imaginative Concrete Resurfacing

Posted by admin on Dec 15, 2023 in Blog

At the Alliance Children’s Garden in Butler Park in Austin, TX, SUNDEK of Austin resurfaced a wall that runs throughout the space to create a beautiful and functional spot for kids to enjoy and explore.

When the city of Austin began coming up with a plan for the new Alliance Children’s Garden in Butler Park, they had much more than an ordinary park in mind. Working with TBG Partners, a Texas-based design firm, they envisioned a plan for a play space that would invite kids to explore, climb, and engage in imaginative play. To turn this idea into a reality, SUNDEK of Austin was hired to complete the decorative concrete work for the job.

SUNDEK and TBG Partners had worked on several projects in the past, one of them being an award-winning splash pad in Houston. TBG was familiar with SUNDEK’s ability to create high-quality surfaces with custom designs.

One of the main features in the new space would be the focal point of the entire Children’s Garden: a cheese wall and climbing wall. TBG knew they wanted something artistic and original, and they had originally planned for a design incorporating 15 striations of colors. After several discussions and mockups, the idea evolved until the final design was agreed upon by all parties: a stenciled camouflage design that would include animals such as geckos, coyotes, and birds. It would be quite the undertaking to create such a detailed work of art on a vertical surface, but SUNDEK was ready for the challenge.

The height of the wall varies throughout the park, in some spots functioning as a climbing wall.

The wall features several colors to create a camouflage design that includes animals for kids to find when they take a closer look.

To coat and smooth out all the walls, SUNDEK of Austin used SUNDEK’s standard premix followed by a Finish Coat in custom colors selected by the designers. To protect the surface, SUNDEK applied a water-based clear sealer.

Related: Bridge Mimics Natural Stone with Vertical Concrete Coatings

This type of stencil work on 2,500 square feet of vertical surfaces required meticulous attention and care, which SUNDEK of Austin crews delivered. “The detail work that went into it—from carefully stenciling to hand painting all those small little details, the crews were amazing,” says Scott Hubbard, commercial and residential sales manager for SUNDEK of Austin.

The walls weren’t the only areas SUNDEK contributed to the space. TBG wanted to create the look of a river running through the park, and the river would span both turf and concrete. To achieve this look, a section of the turf was dyed to look like a river, and that blue was then carried onto the sidewalk.

SUNDEK of Austin crews coated the sidewalk with SUNDEK’s Classic Texture. The blue of the river was created using a custom color that was dubbed “Honorable Blue.”

Crews laid out the shape of the stumps by hand. To create the realistic texture, they used a rubber stamp mat from Butterfield. They created a custom color to complement the existing stumps.

In another area, the design includes real stumps that children can hop along. In spots where those stump pathways are interrupted by sidewalk, SUNDEK created the appearance of stumps right on the sidewalk. This way a kid can hop along the real stumps, cross the pathway by hopping along on the stamped stumps, and then continue onto the real stump pathway on the other side. “It’s a really neat design,” says Scott.

Learn more about our walkway resurfacing services.

When the project was complete, all parties TBG and the city were “ecstatic,” says Scott. See a video of the completed project here:

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