Aquatic facilities and outdoor
living areas are different from all
other forms of leisure/entertainment
space, because they seek to mimic the
environment in which our ancestors
lived, before modern cities. That is
their attraction, unlike movie theatres,
nightclubs, and the like. Their popularity
rests on the innate connection between
man and nature, somewhat diminished
in modern life, but which remains
strong at our core.
These facilities tap into man’s affinity
for water in particular, our most basic
need, but also for our deep-seated love
for the natural environment.
This love of nature, specifically the
nature of Arches National Park, one of
the five great national parks of Utah,
was the genesis of a compelling faux
rock feature at Cannon Beach in Mesa,
Ariz.
One of the lead designers at Rico
Rock, Zayvian Camacho, had fallen under the spell of the desert spires,
arches and rock structures that greet
hikers near Moab, Utah. In an act as old
as cave paintings, he sought to capture
the magic of nature and bring it home.
After talking with the team about
the look and feel they were going for,
explains Camacho, “the arches just
made sense in my head. I said to the
team, if we are putting rock on these
spires and the spires are right next to
each other, why don’t we connect them
and make a beautiful archway like the
‘delicate arch’ in Utah. The team loved
the idea, so we went with it!”
There were several challenges to
create and install these cast concrete
rock structures. The biggest challenge
being the fact that the faux rock
structures were fabricated in Seguin,
Texas, and shipped to Mesa, Ariz.,
where they were installed.
“We spent three to four weeks
working on the structure — this
included everything from starting with
the concept drawing to turning it into
a true vision,” explains Camacho. “I
also took one trip out to the facility
to visualize the space, take some
measurements, and then brought all of
the information back with me to Texas.”
Camacho explains that he marked
it out on the floor in Rico Rock’s Texas
fabrication facility, doing the best he
could to get the sense of scale. Camacho
then used Lumion software to design
the steel frames, manipulated them, and
did all the necessary calculations to start
building the GFRC rocks.
For the arch itself, the vision turned
into pieces of GFRC faux rock. These
weighed somewhere between 3,000
to 4,000 pounds each. “The entire
arch alone weighed more than 13,000
pounds,” says Camacho. “Building
this very large, heavy structure in
components in Texas, and then shipping
it all the way to Arizona and making
sure it all fits properly… that was the
challenge, and I lost a lot of sleep over
it, but it was worth it.” When it was
installed, without a hiccup, he was
ecstatic. “I was so pleased with the final
result. This is my favorite project thus
far. It feels like a real accomplishment.”
The arch is built from pieces of GFRC faux rock. These weighed somewhere between 3,000 to 4,000 pounds each, for a total weight of more than 13,000 pounds.
SHIPPING AND HANDLING
In order to ship the rock structure, the
team used a telehandler — a type of
extended-reach forklift with a 40-foot
boom. This was used to maneuver the
pieces into place using heavy-duty straps
through 5/8-inch holes in each piece. All
of the pieces were moved onto a flatbed,
strapped down and hauled to Arizona.
Once in Arizona, the structure was
unloaded and placed onto concrete
footings made to spec by Shasta Pools,
the pool contractor on the project. The
GFRC frame structures were placed
on top of the concrete footings and
the rocks were erected using bolts,
washers and welding. It wasn’t easy to
install the GFRC structure over a deep
swimming pool. When you look at the
diving platforms, it appears that the
rock formations are supporting the
diving platforms even though they bear
none of that weight. The platforms are
supported using poles manufactured by
SPLASHTacular.
The main color of these GFRC rock
structures was applied at the facility
in Texas using what Rico Rock calls
“Sedona-Red,” which is an integral
color used in the fabrication of the cast
concrete. The company also did the
seaming and shot the joints at their
facility so that most of the work was
complete upon arrival in Arizona. Once
the structure was erected, the team
only had to seam the areas where the
pieces stacked on top of one another
using type S mortar. Stains were used
to give the rock feature its highlights.
Additionally, the finishers used an
antiquing process to bring out the
cracks using reddish brown colors to
create some depth of red in the rock.
This process is where the on-site
artistry happens. The on-site staining
and coloring techniques enhance the
geology of the cast rock to give it a truly
natural look.
In addition to the large spires and
arches of the diving platforms, Rico
Rock added additional faux rocks in the
area to pull the look together throughout
the new facility. Several underwater/ inwater
boulders were created that defined
corners at the edge of a staircase and
at the end of a bench, for example.
These rocks were different from the
GFRC used in the arches. Instead, these
were traditional faux rock style pieces
where rebar is used with real-rock casts
that work like pour-in-place concrete
forms. The rock is filled up with 3000
psi concrete vibrating as it is poured
to be sure there aren’t any voids in the
rocks. Then, the rocks are waterproofed
and hand-textured over the top with
an integral color mortar to match the
other rock color aesthetics and provide
a visual continuity. Most of these rocks
were underwater with about 16 inches of
the rock appearing about the water line.
The client at Cannon Beach is
ecstatic about the complete GFRC rock
installation. It uses a famous natural
arch to give the pool an identity, and it’s
the most visible and exciting part of the
project outside of the waves in the surf
pool.
“I was really blown away at how
perfect it came out,” says Camacho.
This article first appeared in the April 2025 issue of AQUA Magazine — the top resource for retailers, builders and service pros in the pool and spa industry. Subscriptions to the print magazine are free to all industry professionals. Click here to subscribe.
