At the Carmel Mountain Shopping Center, a blank-canvas soil nail wall became a design showcase — Boulderscape sculpted 9,300 square feet of structural and architectural shotcrete into a Pikesville Shale finish with black coal bands, delivered in 4 days at 34% below traditional construction.
Record Installation Time
Savings Over Alternatives
Wall Square Footage
When a new soil nail wall at Carmel Mountain Shopping Center was constructed without a specified architectural finish, Boulderscape worked directly with the ownership team to develop a custom design that would complement the surrounding environment. Using a series of photo simulations and visual renderings, Boulderscape presented multiple concepts before the owners selected a Pikesville Shale finish accented with dark coal bands to replicate the appearance of naturally stratified rock formations.
Following approval of the design, Boulderscape artisans hand sculpted the finish across the entire wall surface, incorporating layered textures, relief, and color transitions that reflected the character of natural sedimentary rock. The result transformed a standard retaining wall into a distinctive architectural feature for the shopping center.
The project encompassed 9,300 square feet of wall surface consisting of an 8" thick structural shotcrete section with an average 2" thick architectural relief over a soil nail wall system using a 4,000 PSI mix design. The entire scope was completed in just 4 days, delivering a durable retaining wall solution with a custom architectural appearance tailored specifically to the project. See our sculpted shotcrete process or explore more shotcrete finishes.
Installed an 8” thick structural shotcrete and a 1”-2” thick architectural shotcrete.
Pikesville Shale
Medium Earth Blend w/black coal bands
Soil Nail Wall
4,000 PSI
Warmer climate. No additional additives were added to the concrete mix.
