Colored Concrete, Integral Colored Concrete

In the recently completed Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral, common concrete has been uplifted into a structure that expresses the spiritual passions of its community. One of the most striking ingredients in this transformation has been the use of integral color in the concrete. Colored concrete was used to construct the cathedral and the adjacent bell tower and plaza, and is exposed as the finish for interior and exterior walls. Unlike the gray of typical concrete structures, the cathedral has an earthy golden cast that complements the Southern California sky and recalls the hue of the adobe used to build the first mission churches in the region.

While the "mission adobe" palette harkens back to the past, the cathedral was also built with an eye towards the future. Dubbed the "Half-Millennium Cathedral," the structure was designed to provide five hundred years of service to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. This ambitious performance criterion figured in the decision to use integral colors since the iron oxide pigments that tint the concrete are permanent and fade-proof.

The colorants for the cathedral were supplied by Davis Colors, a brand of Rockwood Pigments and a world-wide leader in concrete color additives. According to Nick Paris, vice president of Davis Colors, "Iron oxides are the same pigments that give real adobe its buff tone and provide the color in such natural wonders as the Grand Canyon. The earth tones of the cathedral will last as long as the concrete itself." The use of integrally colored concrete assures that the cathedral will be able to avoid the ongoing maintenance associated with paints and surface-applied coatings, he adds.