Off-the-shelf Italian Renaissance Waterfalls. Design firm revisits 150-year-old Ferciment technology to make light of a heavy subject.

STUART, FL August 21, 2003 -- Parsons Design Group, a South Florida design/build firm, has revived the 150-year-old French ferciment technology to bring Italian Renaissance fountains and freefalling water features to the masses. The technology makes stone-based water features possible at a fraction of their normal weight. Correspondingly, production, delivery and installation costs are so greatly reduced that the otherwise high-end products, traditionally reserved for the privileged few, are now within the reach of every garden loving homeowner.

"Call it the democratization of the Italian Renaissance", laughs Michael Dawsey, vice president of Parsons Design Group, Inc. "You get the classic designs without the princely sums"

High-end landscaping features like the large scale, elaborate Italianate waterfall/fountains and other free-form waterfalls that PDG manufactures by hand have traditionally weighed tons because of the inherent weight of solid materials that are used such as stone, coral or concrete. No longer. By revisiting a construction process called ferciment, developed and patented in France in 1855, PDG is able to make light of an otherwise very heavy subject.

The ferciment technology, also known as ferro-cement construction, removes any weight that is not structurally essential to the design of the end product. For PDG the technology effectively reduces by 95% the weight of virtually any stone garden feature created when compared to solid stone. Unlike fiberglass which crudely attempts to mimic stone, because ferciment is merely re-distributed stone, the end product retains the character of natural stone.

In the past, such major garden features required the costly services of both a landscape architect and a general contractor. The construction process was messy, disruptive and lengthy. PDG's designs eliminate all that by making it possible to have an Italian Renaissance waterfall fountain straight off the shelf.

The only preparation necessary now is a simple slab. A series of other designs including a folly resembling the ruins of an English abbey and a free form abstract waterfall will debut within a few weeks. Waterfall designs can be viewed at parsonsdesigngroup.netfirms.com

The concept of reinforced concrete dates back to Roman times, but the building technique patented by a Frenchman named Joseph Louis Lambot in 1855 was a revolutionary refinement of the process. Lambot was looking for an alternative to wood in the construction of boats. If reading the phrase "cement boat" feels like a dyslexic moment, rest assured the concept is quite sound. In the last half of the 19th century an entire industry revolved around the process until ferciment was replaced by steel as the construction material of choice.

Lambot realized that when a predominantly Portland plaster is spread thinly over multiple layers of tightly woven mesh of wire or similar web like materials, the resulting surface has the same structural qualities as solid blocks of reinforced concrete poured as columns, beams, slabs or other planes.

Lambot's experiment showed that the strength of the final product came not from the volume of concrete or the size of the reinforcement used but rather from the ratio of the cement to and the distribution of the reinforcement. Interestingly, Lambot wasn't necessarily looking to reduce the weight of the concrete since boats float by displacement regardless of weight. Rather he sought and succeeded in finding a more efficient and effective way to use a readily available existing resource: Portland cement.

Although Lambot's technology revolutionized the boat building industry it never made the transition to other industries such as the construction industry where it could have been put to even more effective use. The limited appreciation of the technology stems from both the widespread availability of relatively cheap cement and the popular misconception that concrete requires volume to obtain strength. Cement manufactures supported to the cost saving technology with the same enthusiasm as today's oil industry supports research in fuel economy.

The most important aspect of the ferciment process for PDG is flexibility in design. Ferciment means the ability to design and build with a strong and almost indestructible material in a way that is otherwise not possible. Shedding the weight means that any design the mind can create is possible.

In addition to reducing the overall weight with the ferciment technology, the design team has adopted component engineering to distribute the remaining weight by dividing the design into sections that interlock to form the structure.

The substantial weight reduction means reasonable shipping costs and easy handling while interlocking construction means that installation can be accomplished in less than an hour by unskilled do it yourselfers and without the use of crane or heavy moving equipment.

The introduction of its Italian Renaissance waterfall has been so successful in the South Florida test market that the same designs are now available nationally.

For further information contact Michael Dawsey at 1.772.344.5990 or at parsonsdesigngroup@lycos.com. Or visit the company website at parsonsdesigngroup.netfirms.com





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