Confluence Park River Pavilion

Project summary provided by submitting company.

Confluence Park River Pavilion was designed as a living laboratory that allows visitors to gain a greater understanding of the ecotypes of the South Texas region. Constructed of concrete tilt wall "petals," imitating the form of plants, the main pavilion forms a geometry that collects and funnels rainwater into a site-wide water catchment system. In order to build the tilt wall "petals" with the crucial geometry, fiberglass formwork was specially designed and constructed, using high-density foam molds, then shipped to the project. Once on site, falsework was constructed using a shoring system to support the fiberglass molds at approx. 45 degrees in order to achieve proper consolidation and finishing of both column and petal segments monolithically. With three separate and differently sized molds, reinforcing was shaped and installed in place on each mold respectively for each placement on site. 28 individual tilt wall petals were cast utilizing only three mold types. One set of three petals was placed approx. every two weeks, then erected and shored in place, until complete. During this process, two petals were erected and fastened together in-place with stainless steel pins while the third was "rested" on a sand bed until the next placement, when it's adjoining panel was ready for erection.