The present disclosure describes modular blocks configured to give the appearance of natural or cut stone. An aesthetic coating composition may be applied to one or more surfaces of a block having a low-density, such as an insulating concrete form (ICF), to form an modular block having the appearance of cut stone. The aesthetic coating composition includes a binder component, such as a cementitious binder made from white Portland cement, or a polymer binder such as an acrylic binder, an aggregate component, such as a limestone aggregate component, and optionally an adhesive component. The aggregate component includes a fine sand portion and a coarse sand portion that effectively enable the appearance of cut stone after finishing of the aesthetic coating surface via sanding, polishing, sandblasting, acid etching, acid finishing, or exposed aggregate finishing.

Insulated hollow core concrete forming system provide a forming system which can integrate the advantages of the hollow core design into the Insulated concrete form (ICF) system. The Insulated hollow core form system includes one or more of a Modular formwork unit, composed and formed of insulative material, where the Modular formwork unit utilizes longitudinal void formers that crafts a forming cavity of a hollow core section in between two spaced parallel side panels. The forming cavity is disposed to receive concrete or other hardening materials to form an insulated hollow core wall or an insulated hollow core slab. The system also includes a furring strip assembly positioned between adjacent Modular formwork units to join them together.