Search for a command to run...
The first time I experienced "Ando Concrete" was at the Eychaner Residence in Chicago. Our team was brought in to complete a project that had been under construction for approximately 18 months. I had previously worked in all phases of concrete construction from residential to commercial, spanning some 25 years, but had never seen such exacting details, and the expectation of such high levels of wall quality was amazing. In the fall of 1997, with the concrete work on the Eychaner Residence complete, I came to St. Louis to join a group of extremely talented craftsmen to construct a private building to house The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. This building was also designed by Tadao Ando, with the initial goal to construct a poured-in-place concrete structure of such quality to surpass anything that had been done to date. From the beginning there were many decisions to be made concerning both design and logistics. One of these was the selection of the construction team and the individuals who would do the concrete work. A local construction company, BSI Constructors, was chosen to be the general contractor for the project, and they were to supply the carpenters, laborers, and ironworkers required to construct the architectural concrete walls. This decision proved to be one of the most important, because with BSI, we received the personal commitment and dedication that would be required to successfully complete such an extremely challenging project.