Students from the Concrete Industry Management (CIM) program - a business intensive program that awards students with a four-year Bachelor of Science degree in Concrete Industry Management - will be working during the annual World of Concrete Artistry event to create a memorial to the fallen firefighters of the firehouse located at 48th & 8th Streets in New York City. On September 11, 2001, this firehouse lost two Companies including the men and women on duty for Ladder 4, Engine 54 and Battalion 9.
Ed Gruetzner, a firefighter who had retired from the New York City Fire Department four months before 9/11, lost many friends on that day. Several months ago, Gruetzner, now an accomplished decorative concrete installer living in White Plains, NY, approached Mike Eastergard, owner of PreiTech Corp., a manufacturer of forms for the building and concrete industry and a supporter of the CIM program, to discuss the idea of creating a concrete memorial for the firehouse. Eastergard immediately volunteered his custom concrete form expertise and suggested that they work with CIM students to create the memorial during the 2010 World of Concrete Artistry event.
The idea was quickly embraced by the CIM programs at California State University - Chico and Middle Tennessee State University. A simple, evocative design was agreed upon: two simple vertical forms representing the silhouette of the Twin Towers that will reflect light on a faceted surface ghosted with the names of the fallen firefighters. Students at each university will work with the concrete mix and create sample panels prior to arriving in Las Vegas for World of Concrete. At the show, the students will perform all of the concrete work including forming, mixing and placing the concrete, erecting the completed panels, dismantling the memorial at the end of the event, and carefully crating it in specially designed foam forms for shipment to New York. Gruetzner, Eastergard, faculty from both schools, as well as many others from the decorative concrete industry and Hanley Wood, sponsors of World of Concrete, will be on hand to advise the students and provide their expertise during the course of the project.
"Decorative concrete is a new offering in the CIM programs at California State University, Chico, and Middle Tennessee State University," commented Tanya Wattenburg Komas, Director/Program Coordinator at California State University. "The course has been very popular with the students because it offers a rich blend of technical knowledge and creative development and in a semester-long, hands-on environment. With so much interest in this area, both schools have been considering ways to get involved in the Artistry event at World of Concrete. This project offers a wonderful opportunity for both schools to work together on a uniquely special project."
The team invites all World of Concrete attendees to participate in honoring the Captain of the firehouse in North Hall, room N263C on Thursday, Feb. 4, at 11:25 a.m. Following the CIM auction benefiting the CIM students from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. in the same location, the group will walk to the Artistry location and convene for a presentation of the completed memorial at 3 p.m.
