This New Material Will Change Development

The foam material is applied over non-load baring walls to mimic the look of concrete.

LOS ANGELES—Architecture firm TCA has developed a new foam material that mimics the look of concrete, but requires less maintenance and is more cost effective. The firm developed the new material for its already award-winning Neptune Marina project, a massive 525-unit mixed-use project from Legacy Partners in Marina del Rey.

“Back in the 50s and 60s, there would typically be a concrete block that would form a wall, and the wall might be eight feet tall, so the wall would be easy to put together,” Tim Mustard, studio director at TCA, tells GlobeSt.com. “We have this wall going up as high as 55 feet off the ground plane, so we couldn’t apply concrete on the side of a wood building and make it be successful. So, we teamed with a foam manufacturer to make a foam product that simulates the concrete block pattern, but it is actually a lightweight foam that we can simply apply to the outside of the building.”