Large pieces being cast

When the artisans first began casting concrete pieces, they were quite small and delicate, like the pieces shown in the photo below. But now they have moved on to casting much larger pieces, as shown above.

These large pieces will be lifted onto the arch beam using a crane.

casting concrete pieces

Some of the concrete pieces are cast very large. These complex dragon pieces are about 4' x 4' square.

Sea serpent.

casting concrete pieces

small piece of decorative cast concrete that came out of the plastic-lined mold on the right

Casting in 3 steps: multiple pieces being cast in sequence on the casting table. The farthest mold has the rebar in it, the middle box has been filled with cement mix, the front piece has had its mold removed revealling the cement object

Many of the larger pieces are like three dimensional jig saw puzzle pieces into which a number of smaller pieces will insert and lock into place

Pieces are left draped in wet burlap to slow down the drying process so the cement can continue its curing (chemical process that hardens the materials and bonds them together)

Pieces of column cylinders left to cure

casting concrete

Multiple pieces of decorative concrete work are being made all at once on the flat concrete platform at the Cambridge Steet open-air atellier. The concrete pieces are representations of bamboo posts. There are rebars sticking out of the bottom (left) of the pieces which will be set in future pieces of concrete.

The artisans from China use a combination of modern tools (power cement mixer, trucks) and traditional wooden molds. The worker in the back left is sweeping dust off the platform using a short-handled whisk, which may be a traditional tool but also seems to me to be rather hard on the back.

Artisans from China

The Chinatown Royal Arch is being built by a combination of Canadian contractors (Delcan, Tomlinson) and Chinese contractors employed by the Beijing Historical Relic and Construction Company (and no, Jim Watson is not their boss).


About 20 artisans are in Canada now. They are the concrete guys, busy casting the decorative elements and eventually the main beam that crosses Somerset Street. They are housed in several rented buildings near the site - appropriately above a chinese restaurant and in the old Bert's Bike repair house. They brought their own cook with them from China. Local restuarants in Chinatown have shown hospitality to the workers and are helping their cook acquire supplies the Canadian way.

On Sunday, someone donated 10 fresh caught fish to the workers, and it made their mid-day dinner on Monday.

The concrete workers will be here til mid-June, when all the casting is done and the arch installed over the street. Crews will be working seven days a week, then they will return to China. The workers do get time off - on Sunday past they had a tour of Parliament Hill and the downtown.

In June, crews of painting artisans will arrive to give the arch 17 coats of paint, including some gold paint.

Casting concrete pieces

In their Cambridge Street outdoor atellier the Chinese artisans have set up several tent shelters and work stations.

The long concrete pad shown running from the tent to the foreground has a uniform slope on its right edge. Looking closely, notice the forms are also curved to fit this casting bed. Presumably some parts of the arch require angled surfaces for the front or back of the pieces.

Some of the first cast pieces. Several different designs have now been cast. The arch is symmetrical front to back and side to side, so multiple pieces of each element is required.

Work shelter on the site.