Scott System
Case Study
EPS Foam Formwork for the Memorial to the Enslaved at the College of William & Mary
Project
Overview
The Memorial to the Enslaved at the College of William & Mary honors those enslaved by the institution. Built with red range brick to match the historic campus, the structure features two sweeping cast-in-place concrete teardrop shapes that form the memorial’s architectural core.
The memorial houses 198 engraved black granite blocks identifying known and unknown individuals. Scott System was contracted by Universal Forest Products to engineer and fabricate the complex EPS foam formwork required to cast the signature teardrop concrete enclosures.
The Challenges
The memorial’s teardrop geometry is exceptionally difficult to cast. Conventional wood or steel formwork cannot achieve these large, continuously curving profiles without seams or dimensional inconsistencies that would compromise the structure’s visual integrity. The scale added further complexity: the two teardrop forms spanned up to 41 feet and required 37 total foam pieces. Every joint had to align perfectly on-site to create a single, seamless curved form across the entire assembly.
For this memorial, precision and surface continuity were essential requirements to honor its purpose.
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The Vision
The memorial was designed as a space for grief and reflection. Its teardrop shapes serve as the architectural expression of this intent, with sweeping curves that direct attention inward toward the names engraved on the granite blocks.
The material selection is deliberate: red brick connects to the historic campus, black granite anchors the names of the enslaved, and cast concrete provides the structural framework that unifies these elements. To maintain this material harmony, the concrete required high-precision casting to ensure surface continuity across the expansive, multi-piece forms.
Proposed Solution
Scott System engineered and fabricated both teardrop assemblies using 2.0-pound-density EPS foam formwork with a polyurethane-coated concrete pouring face. All formwork was manufactured at Scott System’s facility in upstate New York and shipped to the Williamsburg job site for cast-in-place installation.
- 2.0# Density EPS Foam: Provides high compressive strength to prevent deformation during large-scale concrete pours, ensuring geometric precision.
- Polyurethane-Coated Pour Face: Protects the formwork surface and ensures a smooth, high-fidelity finish on the final concrete teardrop shapes.
- Multi-Piece Assembly Engineering: Coordinated 37-piece system designed for seamless on-site assembly, achieving continuous curves across forms up to 41 feet long.
- Off-Site Fabrication: Manufactured under controlled conditions in New York to guarantee dimensional accuracy before delivery to the Virginia job site.
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Components for Success
- Scale: Achieving seamless surface continuity across two 41-foot teardrop forms required coordinated 20-piece and 17-piece assemblies that eliminated dimensional inconsistencies.
- Density: 2.0-pound EPS foam provided the compressive strength necessary to maintain precise curved geometry throughout the large-scale concrete pours.
- Fabrication: Controlled off-site manufacturing in New York ensured dimensional accuracy and production readiness prior to delivery at the Virginia job site.
- Fidelity: A polyurethane-coated pour face protected the forms and guaranteed high-fidelity architectural finishes for the memorial’s exposed surfaces.
Products Used
Custom EPS Foam Teardrop Formwork: 2.0# density; two assemblies: 41′ × 13′ at 20 pieces and 26′ × 16′ at 17 pieces.
Polyurethane Coating: Applied to all casting faces for surface protection and concrete fidelity.
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The Outcome
The Memorial to the Enslaved at the College of William & Mary now stands as a permanent place of acknowledgment, featuring two seamless teardrop forms cast in concrete. Scott System achieved the sweeping, continuous curves required by the design using multi-piece EPS formwork assemblies. A total of 37 individual foam pieces were precisely engineered to become the two final architectural forms that enclose the 198 engraved granite blocks bearing the names of the enslaved.
Scott System was honored to contribute to this memorial, ensuring the formwork delivered the geometric accuracy and surface quality that reflected the project’s significance. Scott System’s EPS foam formwork engineering offers a dependable transition from design concept to final concrete realization for large-scale, cast-in-place projects requiring intricate curvatures, multi-segment construction, and uniform surface transitions.