One of 34 projects named in the Tilt-Up Concrete Association’s 2014 Achievement Award winners, the Sugar Land, Texas, Veterans Memorial took top honors in the Special Projects category. The memorial consists of an obelisk with five concrete panels, symbolizing the five branches of the military; a flag panel entryway; and, a bridge. Each element was cast on site using casting beds and wood formwork, and were erected in less than three days.
The memorial was offered as a pro bono effort to the veterans of Fort Bend County as an acknowledgment of their service to the United States. There is an abstract but identifiable flag carefully accented with blue tile and red concrete stain. The panel itself is flag shaped and utilizes a structural flag panel to allow a cantilever creating an open gateway effect that is anchored in the lake.
After walking through the entryway and crossing a bridge to a peninsula, visitors are able to walk within the obelisk and experience rays of sunlight reflecting through a vertical opening. Each panel is 50 ft. tall, and the base width is driven by the relative size of enrollment in each branch with the Army panel being the widest at the bottom (30 ft. 8 in.). The panels were designed to span vertically between ring beams at 16 and 32 feet above the ground. These beams are hidden within the panel and consist of horizontal rebar in each 8-in. thick panel lapping with large embedded angles and pockets at each side. They all resolve to similar widths at the top where they form an oculus.
Furthermore, following the formal scoring process completed by the judges’ panel, TCA opened voting to the association’s social media fans. During this open selection process, three projects, including Sugar Land, were chosen as “fan favorites.”