Chapters

Upcycled Concrete

The concrete blocks that you see at The Colina were spotted stacked up in the back lot of Artisan Stone Company Inc, a local Omaha precast concrete fabricator. Artisan Stone Company Inc makes these blocks as a way to discard excess concrete. Any left over concrete from a project is poured into 2ft x 2ft x 5ft molds. The layers of concrete build up over time and include all of the variety of colors and custom mixes used for their projects – like natural sedimentary layers in stone. 

“I’ve always thought those blocks are so cool and wanted to find a way to incorporate them into a garden” says Nate, a designer at Kinghorn Gardens. The Colina became the perfect home for this inspiration. The large blocks that are now ‘stepping stones’ were hand picked for The Colina from the existing piles of blocks to choose the best colors and showiest patterns. Nate worked with Artisan Stone to have them create a smaller mold to make the concrete seat blocks for the group seating area in the birch grove at the north end of the garden.