On May 20^th the DIY Network show “Rock Solid” will feature the step-by-step construction of a labyrinth I designed for the Church of Our Redeemer in Lexington, Massachusetts. What makes the project unique? The Rock Solid team will demonstrate how to use one of our pre-cut paver labyrinth kits. These kits use specially fabricated concrete pavers and custom layout tools. They are simple enough for a landscape contracting crew to install the 25 foot St. Paul(tm) labyrinth on the show in under eight hours.

How this “kit” approach developed is quite a story and is a perfect example of necessity being the mother of invention.

I built my first Chartres Replica(tm) labyrinth in 1995. Drafted onto the project by a group of ladies at my church near Baltimore, I was able to translate their 2" photocopied diagram onto a 30' canvas floor cloth in one day. My wife, Lee Ann, helped paint the labyrinth, and became involved in facilitating labyrinth walks. The labyrinth was rented out to other churches in the area, and several of them requested my help building their own labyrinths. I found I had the ability to deal with the geometry of labyrinths and the practical aspects of getting them built efficiently, so word began to spread.

Fast forward about six years. I was getting an increasing number of calls asking if I could build permanent labyrinths. Soon I found myself flying from one end of the country to another supervising labyrinth projects for churches, hospitals and private homes using a variety of materials. I spent more days than I care to remember laying out labyrinth designs on paver circles and teaching contracting crews how to cut in the turns. In the end, each labyrinth was taking way too long to complete and becoming too expensive. Plus I traveled 40 weeks a year during 2000 to 2001 – which sounds like great fun but truly is not.

But I love pavers. I think they’re a great solution and it’s a look that a lot of people want. Too much travel and constant training of new crews were taking the fun out of what I was doing. Plus I was finding myself using materials that didn’t quite do what I wanted. Making the turns in the labyrinth have the proper appearance is not something you can do with ordinary off-the-shelf pavers.

I got the idea of creating a system where we had some standard colors, attractive, durable materials and historically-based geometric designs. Working with our concrete paver manufacturer, I created a special mold to make proper turns that flowed with the connecting pathways. I worked with our production folks to design a “kit system” where all the individual pavers for a labyrinth could be coded, sorted and loaded on pallets in a logical sequence.

We tried each new idea in our ongoing installation work, refining the process so a kit could be delivered to a job site and, by following some detailed instructions and using our special layout tools, installed by a contractor in a short period of time. In 2003, a prototype kit we installed near the University of Minnesota won honorable mention in an international concrete paving competition, so we were getting the validation we needed to keep progressing.

By the Fall of 2004 we finally had our full-blown kit system, where the color selection was right, everything was pre-cut and the instructions were accurate down to the last paver. The first two kits were installed in the upper Midwest. One is at the Petosky, Michigan public library, with the second outside the cancer treatment center at the Mayo Health System’s facility in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Today, there are more than 300 of our paver kit labyrinths all over the country (and some around the world), including the one in Lexington, Massachusetts that the guys from Rock Solid will be demonstrating to thousands of viewers (and hopefully hundreds of hardscape contractors and landscape architects.)

In addition to the May 20^th broadcast at 9:30 p.m. Eastern, the Rock Solid episode featuring the Lexington, Massachusetts, labyrinth will air on May 21^st, May 24^th and June 4^th.

David Tolzmann, Chief Geometer & Labyrinth Builder