Dressed to Tilt

How the decorative concrete revolution is starting to push tilt-up walls into the 21st century.
By Kelly O’Brien

For most people, the first thing they think of when someone mentions tilt-up concrete is big warehouses and retail box stores. While those buildings, not known for their inspired design, are certainly still being built, more and more tilt-up contractors are incorporating some of the many decorative products and techniques that can elevate their building beyond the big gray box.

Fortunately for today’s tilt-up contractors, advances in technology have put at their fingertips more design elements than ever before.

Take formliners, for example. Concrete formliners — whether elastomeric, plastic, fiberglass or urethane — are the bread and butter of tilt-up design. Basically gigantic concrete jello molds, formliners can be used to create patterns and textures in relief on the surfaces of tilt-up panels. Murals, logos, patterns, textures, you name it.

Innovative Brick Systems’ Mark Scott and Jeff Tucker not only see a lot of work being done with their company’s line of concrete formliners, but also an increasingly high demand for custom designs. And with their computer-driven equipment, custom designs are a snap, they say. “It doesn’t cost any more for us to make a custom mold than a standard one,” says Tucker. “It’s a great way to put extra design into a project without adding any cost.”