The challenge

King Hall, within the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, was undergoing renovations to accommodate 6 classrooms and 12 offices. The building was originally built at the turn of the century when ornamental accents were often made from wood. In addition to the challenge of replicating the ornate entry, there was a requirement to do so in a material that would not produce the ongoing maintenance issues which resulted in the degradation of the original wood portico.

RockCast Lightweight masonry was chosen, giving the design and installation team the opportunity to recreate the King Hall’s entrance to match the existing façade. The Lightweight profiles are produced with a foam core, encased in an engineered concrete coating, achieving the graceful aesthetic of natural stone. With a foam core, the accent pieces weighed 60%-80% less than natural or cast stone, allowing the designer to use a masonry product without having to structurally carry the weight.

Using the original accent pieces from the building’s entrance, the skilled craftsmen in the RockCast mold shop utilized a variety of materials and tools to build a mold to replicate the original wood accents. This task was challenging due to the extreme rotting and deterioration of the intricate wood carvings. Just as the original craftsmen had done, the talented mold builders at Reading Rock recreated the design by hand, resulting in a dazzling reproduction.

Utilizing this innovative material in the design phase ensured an extraordinary outcome for the project. Selecting RockCast Lightweight provided the design team the ability to recognize their vision of authenticity while increasing durability of the entrance. All of this was achieved without the costly structural support typically associated with this type of stone construction.