The Long Journey of a Belgian Block
There is a driveway entrance on a current West Coast General Building Contractors project that has been over a century in the making. The granite blocks that pave it began their journey in Belgium, crossed the Atlantic in the hulls of Dutch cargo ships as ballast weight, were offloaded onto the docks of New York, repurposed to pave its streets and commercial corridors, and were eventually salvaged — irregular, weathered, and irreplaceable — and brought to California. That provenance alone would make them remarkable.
Working With Concrete Architecture
Sometimes we look to the past as we move forward. A well-documented process of previous work before, during, and after completion, is essential to our planning. We draw on the incremental forensic approach that was required of our team during the lengthy restoration of the mid-century historic Park Prospect Building in La Jolla.
We turn to challenging and demanding examples of cast-in-place concrete and materials used on previous projects. We call on our past and present community of master tradespeople and creative minds to get their insight and knowledge. We discuss and dissect how we approached the challenges that others shied away from and how we found solutions without compromise to form or function.
Getting To Know Your Materials: Corten Steel
Corten is a beautiful building material that is featured in several of the homes that West Coast General Building Contractors have built and renovated. The signature mark of Corten steel is the protective oxide patina that gives it its rich brown color and prevents it from corrosion. From La Jolla to Rancho Santa Fe it aesthetically lends itself just as easily to modern architecture as it does to Spanish-style homes with its earthy hues that complement stucco and terracotta and lush landscapes as well.