An earlier version of this article appeared in the Spring 2022 edition of Building Stone Magazine.

Cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead is credited for saying, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

This sentiment rings true for Houston residents. Just over 20 years ago, a small group of Houstonians got together to discuss the idea of creating Houston’s first botanic garden. Today, locals and visitors can enjoy the fruits of that discussion. The Houston Botanic Garden opened its doors in September 2020, signaling the completion of the first phase of what will become a 132-acre design on an island in the city’s expansive Bayou system.

Natural Stone Frames the Project

Guests strolling through the garden will see more than 3,000 growing species from all over the world. Many are plants that have never been seen in this area. They will also see a stunning feature wall and fountain created using unique natural stone, some of which was sustainably harvested from the Dominican Republic.

Natural stone played a major role in framing the garden, according to Donna Bridgeman Rossi, the project director at West 8, an urban planning and landscape architecture firm based in Rotterdam, Netherlands, with offices in the United States.

“When you look at the garden in the context of the overall island, it’s essentially plants within green space,” Rossi says. “We went with concrete, stone, metal, and ceramic to introduce a series of architectural interventions that would act as a backdrop to frame the garden and also give infrastructure and shade and introduce water.” Natural stone was included to give the overall design the bones that frame the collection and give it a sense of place.

Rossi often incorporates natural stone for her projects because of its inherently sustainable qualities. “Natural stone is such a noble material, and there’s a gravity to it that is immediately recognizable and universally appreciated by everyone,” she says. “It’s not a subjective mix material, it is good in its own state that we value. You don’t have to modify it in any way to make it do what it needs to do.”

In total, four areas feature natural stone during this initial phase of the Houston Botanic Garden project: the garden entrance, the pavilion, the alcove feature wall, and the fountain. As part of the innovative green wall design, plants grow in natural voids within the stone surface of the fountain or within pockets intentionally lined along a wall.

Finding the Perfect Stones

Photo by Alamo Stone Company

Finding those ideal stones meant Rossi and her team had to fly to the Dominican Republic with their mason and stone supplier. This is where they located Calypso Coral stone, a limestone with characteristically visible shells and sea fossils. They hand selected 64 Calypso Coral blocks for the green wall from the field that are often left as waste material and tagged each block based on their expressive characteristics. For example, Rossi says, some blocks had pockets or holes while others already had some kind of soil in it. These details, each unique to the 64 blocks, would prove to be critical for the overall design.

What is often considered waste material was part of the reason this stone was selected for the fountain. It was a sustainable choice, and the stone was already acting as a planter for plant collections in its natural state. “We thought it was an ideal candidate to work as a host for collections within the garden,” Rossi says.

“Essentially, the green wall blocks are from the upper crust of the quarry,” Rossi explains. Often, this stone is discarded as a waste material because it doesn’t have the consistent properties suitable for cladding as one would get from the lower tiers of the quarry. The upper crust is subjected to wind erosion, soil deposition, salt, and other conditions because it comes from an island climate. This is what gives the stone its unique finish and characteristics desired for this project. The fact that it came from a humid tropical climate similar to Houston’s also made it an ideal choice for both the fountain and feature wall.

Photo by Alamo Stone Company

The Calypso Coral stone was quarried and fabricated in the Dominican Republic. The firm collaborated with Camarata Masonry Systems in Houston to develop the shop drawings and to supply and install the masonry units, stone cladding, and blocks at the feature wall and fountain.

Once the blocks were brought to Houston, each was hand placed on site with the crane operator to pick the best face where they could plant soil pockets. “We did little mesh bags that were embedded in the pockets and then we introduced irrigation,” Rossi says. Six carved Calypso Coral stone scuppers strategically positioned within the cubic green wall blocks serve as the waterspouts in the fountain. Holes were drilled through the suitable pockets after it was assembled.

To help the plants get the necessary water to keep them alive, an equipment room behind the blocks runs all the irrigation. “The irrigation head looks like an octopus,” Rossi adds. It has a branching system that threads through the blocks and includes a drip emitter. This system allows the garden horticultural staff to plant and curate an aquatic collection since the system is continually wet.

Carrying through the overall design, 6,100 square feet of 1” thick Calypso Coral stone wall cladding and 560 linear feet of 3” thick Calypso Coral stone coping was used to create the feature wall cladding.

The team was drawn to the Calypso Coral stone because of its porous characteristics and the opportunity of using a waste material. That’s not to say Rossi wasn’t offered other suggestions like veneers or porcelains. “Throughout the project, people tried to talk us into porcelain at many intervals, like a stamped pattern of a piece of stone on porcelain,” she says. “We felt very firmly that we didn’t want to underestimate our audience. We felt they would know and appreciate a natural material in a natural setting.”

On the masonry side, two things presented unique challenges based on West 8’s unique design, according to Scott Slimp, vice president at Camarata Masonry Systems. “The first was the close coordination between the masonry wall with the planter box openings and the intricate recessed groove in the Calypso Coral stone cladding that tied in specifically with the planter box openings for the feature wall,” he says.

To support growing plant media along the stone wall cladding, 55 individual planter boxes were built into the wall and terracotta inserts in the back are connected to irrigation so horticulturalist and staff can pull them out on the backside and replant them.

Additionally, the alcove wall fountain was particularly challenging when it came to selecting and positioning of the stone blocks, according to Slimp. “The Calypso Coral stone chosen for the green wall is very unique in its appearance, which comes primarily from its location in the quarry,” he notes. “The upper most layer of material in the quarry, sits just inches from the surface of the ground. The proximity to the surface is what gives the material its characteristic sizable voids.” As mentioned earlier, those voids were critical to the design and function of the alcove wall fountain so getting them positioned correctly was important.

Meeting Challenges and Exceeding Expectations

A project of this magnitude always runs the risk of things becoming complicated since several companies are involved.

For Rossi, the most challenging part of the project was the amount of teamwork and coordination that had to happen since several consultants and different systems had to come together. More important still, in an environment like Houston, you pretty much have to irrigate everything, she adds.

Rossi lists more than a dozen groups trying to come together for a shared vision and each has an important role to play, including multiple structural engineers, civil engineers, irrigation consultants, planting consultants, horticultural consultants, masons, stone supply, erection specialists, and contractors.

Photo by Alamo Stone Company

Sustainability is key to everything the botanic garden is doing, from what they’re growing to how the garden is designed. For West 8, that ethos goes beyond choosing natural stone that is normally cast aside as waste material. It applies to using professionals who have earned Natural Stone Institute Accreditation, having met or exceeded standards set by the international organization for best-in-class installation methods and a priority for safety. Working with accredited companies like Camarata Masonry Systems provides Rossi and her team a level of comfort they can in turn share with their client.

According to Slimp, what often goes unsaid or perhaps unnoticed, is the effort that goes into properly addressing key design features. For this project, the selection process of the green wall blocks and then the final positioning within the fountain to achieve the finished appearance that West 8 had in mind when they selected this one-of-a-kind material was notable. Secondly, the quality control and tight tolerances for the location of the planter boxes and the stone cladding were important and needed to be just right, according to Slimp.

Seeing the final product is always a joy and the project has been well-received by Houston residents and partners. Since the garden opened its doors during a global pandemic, Rossi feels the design has been warmly embraced as much as for its characteristics as it is for celebrating outdoor space safely.

Photo by Hester and Hardaway Photographers

“It’s given people [in Houston] a new opportunity that they didn’t have before in challenging times, to be able to get outside and see things that they’ve never seen before. Although it’s in its infancy, it’s been welcomed,” she adds.

While some guests may not immediately notice or appreciate the amount of work done behind the scenes to bring a vision from 20 years ago to life today, many in the industry are taking notice.

In addition to earning a 2021 Pinnacle Award of Excellence from the Natural Stone Institute, Camarata Masonry Systems was awarded a Golden Trowel Award by the Texas Masonry Council. Slimp believes his company was recognized for its work as well as the unique design by West 8 in using the unique Calypso Coral stone. This distinction and recognition is important and appreciated by Slimp and his colleagues.

“The presentation of the project to your peers, designers and general contractors and then the further recognition by the same group for the exceptional execution of the work is always a win-win result that leaves you with a sense of pride for a job well done,” Slimp says.

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An earlier version of this article appeared in the Fall 2021 issue of Building Stone Magazine. Featured image courtesy of Shands Photographics.

Located on South Harwood Street across from Main Street Garden Park, the Dallas Municipal Building is one of the most renowned buildings in downtown Dallas. The 107-year-old building was built in the Beaux Arts style, with intricate stonework on the exterior and interior. A Texas Historic Landmark, the building served as the fourth City Hall for Dallas and housed the infamous assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.

In 2009, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed a bill into law establishing the first public law school in North Texas, the University of North Texas (UNT) at Dallas College of Law. The school’s initial campus was in the Lee F. Jackson Building on Main Street but was expanded to include the Dallas Municipal Building in 2019. Shortly after, the Municipal Building was chosen to serve as the law school’s permanent home and the municipal courts were moved into a renovated Municipal Building Annex.

When the five-story building became the new home for UNT at Dallas College of Law, an extensive renovation project began to restore it to its original grandeur. State-of-the-art flexible classrooms, seminar rooms, instructional lab spaces, an onsite clinic resource center, faculty and administrative offices, and other support areas were added to accommodate 500 law students for day and evening classes.

Since few buildings of this era and historic significance survived in Dallas, renovations focused on preserving details from the building’s genesis to when it housed a historical figure, according to Chad C. Joyce, CBO, senior construction project manager at University of North Texas (UNT) System in Dallas. “For this project, it was important to represent the history of the building in two time periods—1914 when it was originally built and 1963 when Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested and jailed inside this building,” he said. “Stone represents the beauty and grandeur of the original construction in 1914. Marble walls, columns, wainscoting, etc., play a significant role in the architecture of that period. Historic preservation architects took great effort to ensure that any in-place stone could be reused, and that new stone matched the original as closely as possible.”

The school collaborated with local architects Stantec Architecture and Architexas on the interior work for the project. Stantec Architecture was the lead architect on the interior design and renovation for UNT System, while historical preservation architects at Architexas were hired by Stantec Architecture to refurbish the interior spaces.

Revamping the Interior

The preservation architects at Architexas focused their efforts on restoring the interior finishes, with help from the teams at Tennessee Marble Company and Dee Brown, Inc. “The goal was the restoration or recreation of the building’s important character-defining spaces and features while integrating new technology and functionality to meet the needs of the University of North Texas at Dallas College of Law,” said Anne Stimmel, AIA, senior associate at Architexas in Dallas, TX. “Decorative stone details were among the most important of these character-defining features and critical to the realization of the project.”

Photo courtesy of Shands Photographics

Some significant areas of the police department and jail were preserved, such as the cell where Oswald was housed, while the rest of the building was restored using a variety of American marbles. In places where the original stonework could not be fixed or restored, replacement stone from all over the United States was used.

“On the first level, stone was used for basically everything from the ceiling down,” Joyce explained. “The corridor floors on three levels were originally stone but were damaged beyond repair from the installation of vinyl tile with black mastic. The old stone was removed and new white Cremino pavers were installed to closely match the original. Walls were full-sized veneers of Montclair Striato marble with a Champlain Black marble base and Tennessee Grey marble cornices, doorways, windows and trim. The second and third levels included the same materials in varying degrees of how high they came up on the walls.”

Restoring the building to its original grandeur was an arduous task, but the preservation architects at Architexas insisted on leaving no stone unturned. They followed strict observance of the preservation criteria. Matching the original stone types and finishes was held to the highest standard with no compromises.

“This was a LEED project and historic preservation is inherently green in its use of existing buildings and materials,” Stimmel said. “Original historic stone was intact in select locations and was restored. New stone selection was based on the marbles originally specified for the building at the time of its construction.

Stimmel shared that only the Tennessee marble was still available and was matched for color and pattern. “A single block of poor-quality Riverside marble was located at the original quarry with as much material as possible harvested for floor and stair restoration. For the remainder, substitute material was selected based on compatibility of the original design intent. Where original stone was unavailable, compatible new stone was selected.”

The team of fabricators at Dee Brown, Inc. in Richardson, TX, helped execute most of the interior restoration stonework, which was a feat. “The interior was a challenge within itself trying to get things as closely back to the original as possible,” said Dee Brown project manager Wally Daniels. “About 90% of what is on the first floor is original Riverside stone material, while the second and third floors are mostly new material with some Riverside incorporated. It took a lot of work and understanding from the architects to complete this project.”

Sourcing the Materials

Tennessee Marble Company was essential in bringing the interior spaces back to life, providing more than 18,000 square feet of finished stone products for the pavers, high wainscoting, columns, decorative base, grand staircase, ornate balustrades, and Newell posts turned on a lathe.

The company identified five types of domestic marble from various quarries, including one that hadn’t been quarried since the 1970s. “We worked directly with other quarries to source the stones we do not quarry,” said Josh Buchanan, business and relationship cultivator at Tennessee Marble Company in Friendsville, TN. “We quarry Quaker Gray and Champlain Black marbles. We sourced and fabricated Danby Striato, another type of marble from an abandoned quarry in Proctor, VT, which was at one time operated by Vermont Marble Company, as well as Alabama White marble.”

Although sourced and fabricated by Tennessee Marble Company, AM3 Stone in Bessemer, AL, supplied 7,000 square feet of 6- x 12-inch Alabama White marble in a 2cm thickness for the interior flooring.

“The primary intent was to match what was originally in the building, with no compromises,” Buchanan explained. “The marble from the abandoned Proctor quarry had not been quarried in 40+ years. We worked with Gawet Marble to locate about 25 blocks from the abandoned quarry that we trimmed and from which we selected final stone for fabrication.”

“Out of 25 blocks we got from the Proctor quarry, we should have yielded about 20,000 square feet of material, but only got around 3,000 square feet,” Daniels added. “There was between 9,000 and 10,000 square feet of paving that was used for inside, so that was only enough to do one floor.”

Buchanan detailed how the Montclair Danby Striato marble was utilized for the new interior flooring, while the other types of marble were used for various other features. “Alabama White marble was utilized as stair treads, and Striato marble was utilized as wall cladding and balustrade spindles,” Buchanan said.

The Quaker Gray marble was used to construct the balustrade, Newell posts, columns, tops, wall cladding and other trims, while the Champlain Black marble was selected for the bases, including the column base. Since only one block of Riverside Light Cloud marble was salvaged, it was used throughout the first few floors as accents.

Photo courtesy of Tennessee Marble Company

Because Tennessee Marble Company is familiar with the stones and quarriers that were involved in the project, they were able to acquire certain materials that would have otherwise not been possible. “We have a great relationship with the stone contractor, as well as great relationships with other domestic quarriers,” Buchanan said. “We were able to participate in site visits early on with the design and construction team and were able to source materials for all the stone products needed. We are lucky to have many trusted friends in the industry who were instrumental in completing this project.”

“Tennessee Marble Company and Gawet did a good job finding materials to match things with the original,” Daniels said. “It really blended in well.”

Recreating the Grand Staircase

Photo courtesy of Shands Photographics

Uncovering the original architectural elements that were concealed or removed during previous renovations was one of the biggest challenges. During the major renovations in 1956 and 1957, the building’s layout was completely reconfigured, with hallways moved and stairways repositioned.

One of the main features of the lobby, the “grand staircase,” was demolished during this renovation, which required ingenuity from all parties to recreate. “The stairway had been completely removed in the 1950s and only a few photographs exist that capture it,” Joyce said. “The stairs, apart from the steel structure, were made completely of marble, which included a continuous balustrade and handrail that tied to solid stone Newell posts. Fabrication of the materials was done by the Tennessee Marble Company, with shop drawings and installation by Dee Brown.”

Recreating the grand staircase was difficult to achieve, not only in matching the complex stone details and angles, but also in creating the layout and support structure.

Photo courtesy of Shands Photographics

“The grand stairway was really hard,” Daniels said. “Because of all the renovations—the structural steel was torn out and a lot of concrete had been demolished, floor decks had to be rebuilt—the elevator in the lobby wasn’t square, so when it came to laying things and making them line up, it made things very difficult. The structural engineer was having trouble figuring out how to design the supporting structure, so it took a team effort between Turner Construction [interior general contractor] and Dee Brown, Inc. to come up with a system to rebuild this grand staircase. The bottom steps are radial, so to use steel support under them is difficult. We were able to come up with a design that used lightweight concrete with foam forms so it would not put so much weight on that structure. All of the steel is under the straight stair treads. For the original staircase, all cubic material was used for the lower radial treads, so we had to lighten up the load. The radial steps are slab material now, but the Newell posts, radial bases, balustrades, handrails and handrail bases are all cubic as well. For those shapes, that’s the only way you can make them –start with a big block on the CNC machine, route it out and make it—which was a really difficult task.”

While the steel structure and stairs presented some unique challenges, the rail caps and the ramp and twist on the handrail and handrail base, which have very complex shapes, were the most demanding aspects to complete.

“The ramp and twist section of the balustrade was the most challenging stone product to fabricate,” Buchanan said. “It took advanced CNC programming and creative jigging to pull those off. The advanced programming detail work from our project manager, Ryan Cole, was instrumental in these coming out, and the handwork involved in finishing them is what contributed to the ultimate success. They came out beautifully.”

These facets of the staircase required careful planning and design, along with advanced CNC programming and creative solutions to balance, level and support the stones while being milled and hand finished. “It was like building a watch,” Daniels said. “Everything has to be precise to make it work.”

Tying Everything Together

All areas of the building required mock-ups since it was crucial to match the new and original stonework as closely as possible. “We created mock-ups of all portions of the work and those were reviewed by Architexas and Stantec Architecture,” Joyce said.

Countless hours were spent reviving this monumental structure over the course of roughly three years. “We started working with designers on stone selection about two years before the stone was supplied,” Buchanan said. “We worked on fabricating and finishing various stone products over the course of about a year. The project team and owner have expressed great appreciation and joy over the way the project turned out.”

“Reaction to this project, the adaptive reuse of a prominent and historic building within the City of Dallas that is expected to be in use indefinitely has been overwhelmingly positive,” Joyce said. “Also, transforming a building rich in legal history into the home of the UNT Dallas College of Law is a wonderful fit. The craftsmanship of this historic restoration is outstanding.”

“The restoration and reconstruction of the building’s interior design, including the decorative stonework, is beautiful,” Stimmel added.

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An earlier version of this article appeared in the Spring 2020 issue of Building Stone Magazine.

With its unprecedented size and beauty, the mosque in the city of Shali in the Chechen Republic of Russia has an awe-inspiring presence. It is considered to be one of the largest mosques in Europe, with a capacity for approximately 20,000 worshippers. The massive structure features Thassos White marble throughout its exterior and interior design, which exhibits shimmering effects and purity—further contributing to its stunning appearance.

“The mosque is reflecting the aesthetic of the Uzbek architecture and rhythm, which is very popular and has been used not only in mosques, but also in governmental buildings,” said the team at FHL Kiriakidis Group in Drama, Greece, the stone producer, fabricator, and installer for the project. “It has clear lines and elements which are perfectly suitable to be combined with a fresh approach and contemporary forms. The architect, who was chosen by the contractor, is an Uzbek himself, with a lot of experience in the field.”

FHL Kiriakidis is accustomed to working on projects of this magnitude, which is why they were chosen for this job. “For us, who were appointed to realize the design in white marble and to install everything, the project appeared big, but at the same time, we are already very experienced in structures of this size,” said the company. “We had the wonderful opportunity to have provided all of the white marble cladding for the Grand Mosque of Abu Dhabi (Shaik Zayed Bin Sultan Mosque), as well as many governmental buildings in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, such as the Conference Hall (Palace of International Forums), the National Parliament, and the National Library. So the delicate handling in production, shipping, and application of massive marble pieces was not new to us, which for sure was one of the criteria to choose our company for this job.”

A Striking Design

The architect was drawn to Thassos White marble for its color and popularity. “It has a unique sparkling whiteness,” said the FHL Kiriakidis team. “Under the sunlight, it seems almost that it is made of myriad diamond-like crystals. Thassos marble is still a very popular building material today, providing sheer luxury wherever it is placed. The color white is furthermore a highly symbolic color and synonymous with virtues like purity, new beginnings, and honesty.”

The company explains that marble is an “eternal building material, a fact that is proven through the history of mankind. Greece, especially, has one of the oldest cultures and plenty of heritage with monumental buildings made out of white marble, and particularly Thassos marble, so naturally we consider that sustainability of natural stone played a massive role during the decision process.”

The Shali mosque is designed in a traditional Uzbek rhythm design, with many spindles and columns. The pure white architecture is accented with vibrant pops of color and decorative elements. A palette of natural stones were incorporated into the inlay designs, including Blue Bahia, Baltic Brown, Mary Gold, and Tunas Green granite; Indian Green, Giallo Reale, and Rosso Alicante marble, and K21 onyx.

The team at FHL Kiriakidis explained that Uzbek architecture flourished during the Middle Ages as a result of being a central link in the 11,000-kilometer-long Silk Road. “Colorful mosaics, religious symbols, and abstract geometrical patterns characterize it. The colorful inlays we created from colored marble and granite emphasize very beautifully the all-over whiteness of the entire mosque—giving a playful counterpart to it.”

Producing the Marble

Thassos White marble is quarried on a small island in northern Greece. “FHL Kiriakidis owns quarries there and has a deep knowledge of this marble and so the procurement of suitable marble blocks was in our hand,” said the company. “The rarity of pure white Thassos marble blocks was of course a very difficult job to accomplish, but that was also one of the criteria for gaining this project. We had an appointed team dedicated only to inspect our quarries and ensuring with daily/weekly visits that the raw material was given and the machinery was procured with suitable marble to ensure the workflow.”

In total, FHL Kiriakidis processed approximately 36,000 tons of Thassos White marble, including many elaborate artifacts. “The marble pieces were very large and heavy,” they shared. “Every marble piece was produced in our factory in Drama, Greece. It had to be dry laid, inspected, packed properly in containers, transported by road to the port of Thessaloniki, Greece, and shipped via vessels and trucks to the final destination in Shali town in the Chechen Republic.”

Once the marble pieces were fabricated, a dry lay and codification had to be done, as well as a very detailed reporting of everything that was produced, approved/declined, and shipped for installation. “As the marble pieces were shipped by areas, a detailed plan of placing every single piece had to be elaborated by our installation company and our design team here in Greece,” they explained. “Many difficulties came up during the process of initial design, real elaboration and final installation on spot. Minor adaptions had to be made in respect to workability. All teams had to communicate closely and to meet for this.”

While the rareness of the marble and the complexity of the fabrication and installation made this a challenging project, the team at FHL Kiriakidis was “confident about our capability and our way of dealing with difficulties, which is always involved while working with natural stone—especially white marble. Nature gives only unique products and this is what we have to understand, respect, espouse, and love when we want to work with marble.”

An Orchestrated Installation

Precise organization, planning, and a lot of evaluation work in terms of the raw material and working time that would be needed were a necessity in the job. This all had to be done by the design team prior to the project’s start to ensure that the project stayed on budget and within the time frame. The install crew consisted of 250 workers. Fabrication of all the marble pieces, as well as onsite installation, took three years to complete.

The marble cladding, which had a thickness of 3cm and upwards, was secured with a dry fixing method that included special profiles and anchors. The most difficult part was the cyclic parapets, which one can see in the minarets and the dome. They were very delicate in production, transport, and installation.

“Our group’s subcontractor took over the entire installation job, as we have worked on a lot of projects together,” said FHL Kiriakidis. “We had to work in complete unison together, with a lot of onsite visits from our Greek design team.”

Work on the Shali mosque began in 2016 and the project was completed in July 2019. “We got a lot of positive feedback and feel extremely honored to have won a 2019 Pinnacle Award of Excellence in the category Architectural Carving/Lettering/Sculpture [from the Natural Stone Institute] for this beautiful project,” said FHL Kiriakidis. “It was successful due to many factors that played their role during all phases of the project—from acquisition to installation. Surely, the massive experience from our side and our installation company’s side, to projects of this size and the way they had to be handled in every stage, the capacity in raw material in procurement and state-of-the-art machinery for the fabrication, as well as the specialized workforce here in Greece and onsite, were a trigger to its success.”

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An earlier version of this article appeared in the Fall 2020 issue of Building Stone Magazine.

100 Bishopsgate is a development of two mixed-used buildings in London’s financial district. On the walls of the ground floor and lobby, a wide range of Lasa White marble from Carrara, Italy was used to welcome visitors to the complex.

Designed, by Allies and Morrison and Arney Fender Katsalidis (AFK), the 100 Bishopsgate site spans between St. Ethelburga’s Church and Camomile Street, with Clerks Lane separating the two portions. The main 55-story tower is anchored by five contiguous podium floors, each encompassing 44,000 square feet of space, while the lobby alone spans 17,000 square feet.

“While towers are sometimes conceived as freestanding buildings, often disassociated from context, 100 Bishopsgate is designed to contribute to the matrix of the city fabric and be firmly embedded within it,” said Graham Morrison, cofounder and partner of Allies and Morrison in London. “Responding to the geometries of the site and adjacent buildings, its form transitions from a parallelogram at its base to a rectangle crown. Contrasting façade textures relate to this orientation, each separated by articulated corner details.”

“It is a project with an important urban dimension,” added Earle Arney, director at AFK in London, who worked alongside Morrison for five years on the project. “A newly created half-acre of public realm, enlivened with restaurant and retail amenities, provides completely new pedestrian access between Bishopsgate, St. Mary Axe, and Camomile Street to the north. Part of this development includes 15 St. Helen’s Place, whose south façade has been retained as part of a private courtyard; the new articulated façade to the north providing entrances to the office lobby and a new gym.”

On the ground floor of the main tower, intricately designed stone walls, elevator cabs and shafts, and an expansive reception desk were crafted using Lasa White marble from Euromarble in Carrara, Italy. The stone demands attention from all angles when entering the building.

“Suiting the prominence of its site, how the new tower meets the ground has been a fundamental consideration to the design,” Morrison said. “A generous, triple-height reception space opens out onto Bishopsgate and the new pedestrian routes created by the project. Externally wrapped in glazing, the reception’s interior is defined by dramatic Lasa White marble that wraps around the building’s lift cores, giving a contemporary and dignified presence to a significant internal space. Visible at street level, it also helps to give expression to the building’s prominence by announcing its presence at ground level.”

100 Bishopgate, London. Architects Allies + Morrison.

Recreating the Quarry Wall

Morrison shared that the design concept for the lobby “expresses the core as the grounding element,” while the floors and ceiling are expressed as “plates that radiate from this solid core.” He explained: “This concept considers the light and dark of the three key interior elements: floor, walls, and ceiling. The core has been designed to appear as if a solid block of marble was extracted from a quarry and displayed from floor to ceiling. The floor is a continuous stone surface from the paving of the exterior public realm to the interior with black granite laid in a rectangular module. The floor junction with the core is separated, allowing the marble to appear as if it emerges from the ground as a solid form. The primacy of the core is dominant and detailed to express the way it pierces both floor and soffit to reach each level [lower, middle, and upper]. To reinforce this, each block of tightly jointed white marble has been selected and placed to create a continuous diagonal grain of gray veining, which turns seamlessly at each corner.”

100 Bishopgate, London. Architects Allies + Morrison.

All of the walls—specifically the lobby’s feature wall, which is engraved with “100” to give subtle prominence to the building’s address,  were all vein-matched to convey the solid look that Morrison descries, a feat that took a lot of time and planning to achieve. The stonework was completed by the London-based stone specialist contractor, Szerelmey, Ltd. “The wall cladding installed is the result of an interesting and unusual process,” said John Guest, senior contracts manager at Szerelmey, Ltd. “Lasa is a white marble with a distinctive, smoky gray vein pattern. The architect’s design intent was for the central core of the reception lobby to appear as though cut from a single, huge block, with the veining appearing to run at least 30 degrees on the front and back core walls, and horizontally on the sides and lift lobby walls.”

Guest explained that this was achieved by selecting blocks for their background color and general appearance before they were transported from the Italian Alps to Tuscany.  “At the factory, the blocks were slabbed and photographed as they passed through the honing line. This allowed for a jigsaw of pieces to be created by positioning the stone cut size for each piece, according to its veining, thus creating the illusion of long, sweeping marble veins.”

To add texture to the diagonal, striated pattern, a waterjet finish was applied to the marble. “These walls express the monolithic form and the marble has a natural, though uniform, pattern and minimal 2-mm joints,” Morrison said. “As the marble turns into the lift lobbies, the pattern becomes horizontal to express the ‘cuts’ into the monolithic block, and the finish becomes eggshell to express the cut.”

100 Bishopgate, London. Architects Allies + Morrison.

More than 16,000 square feet of the Lasa White marble was supplied by Euromarble—14,440 square feet of 3-cm-thick panels for the walls and 1,700 square feet of cut-to-size pieces with honeycomb backing for the elevator cabs/shafts and reception desk.

“As we usually do in our projects, we bought the material directly from the quarry in blocks and slabs. Then we developed the overall marble design of the cladding, trying to rebuild the face of the quarry in all its own different faces,” said Euromarble’s owner, Roberto Canali. “This idea, and then the proposal, came during the visit to the quarry, where we realized how beautiful the natural veining was with its different inclinations. The goal was to obtain the monolithic effect of the marble, as per the natural pattern completed by Mother Nature.”

The “monolithic effect” of the marble can especially be observed in the elevator shafts, where the continuous veining was carried to give the appearance of solid marble being carved to reveal the elevator doors. Large-format marble panels, which span 1200x1960mm (~4×6.5 feet), convey the appearance that the stone has been pushed away from the monolith when the elevator doors open, providing an interesting transition from the walls.

The reception and landlord desks, which are positioned directly in front of the engraved feature wall, also embrace this monolithic design concept, and were created to mirror the core-like wall. According to the architects, the main reception desk was designed as a “solid marble block penetrating the floor with a perimeter recess.” The top and sides of the reception desk are carved out of solid marble, so visitors touching the desk are conscious of the solidity of the material.

Ensuring the Design and Installation Accurately Met Designers’ Standards

The vein-matched pattern for all elements were made possible using Euromarble’s new patent-pending virtual dry-laid system. According to Canali, each slab was scanned and digital dry-lay imagery was produced to match each cut slab background and marble vein to give a continuous appearance. A scale model of the digital dry-lay composition was also produced to check the configuration of the veins.

The final procedure was completing a true-size physical dry-lay in Carrara, where each stone was individually inspected for quality and finish, enabling the entire team to inspect and ensure the design accuracy prior to the installation in London.

“Each piece was unique,” Guest said. “Even though size-wise, there was a degree of repetition, aesthetically there is no repetition, so each piece could only go in one place. Thicker pieces were also needed for the substantial number carvings “100” and they were so big that they spanned over multiple pieces, so aligning the tile perimeters and the carvings inside was a challenge.”

100 Bishopgate, London. Architects Allies + Morrison.

An anchoring system was utilized for the entire installation. “The wall panels were fixed with external cladding, with a cavity about 95 mm, mechanically fixed and restrained with stainless steel brackets,” Guest said. “All stones were individually fixed back to the concrete structure, with the exception of the east wall. The walls were so long and the substructure movement such that we had to cope with differential movements and long-term creep—as it is a 50+ story building, the bottom of the core does creep quite a bit with all that weight going down it.” While movement in building can be caused by many things, including moisture changes, vibration, and differential settlement,  “creep” refers to movement that occurs as a result of time-dependent loads.

“The core, which normally is concrete, was a mix of concrete and secondary steel on one end,” Guest added. “We designed and installed the secondary steel; this of course behaved differently because the steel did not have the 50+ stories bearing down on it, so no long-term creep happened in that part.”

100 Bishopgate, London. Architects Allies + Morrison.

Despite the variety of intricate processes required for the design and installation of 100 Bishopsgate, the project was successfully completed in 2019 and has received various accolades. The project received a 2019 Natural Stone Institute Pinnacle Award in the Commercial Interior category.

“The architects valued the expertise the stone importers brought to the project and their dedicated team who helped realize the concept through their careful composition of the digital dry-lay process to match the marble background and veins,” Arney said. “It is for all these reasons that 100 Bishopsgate is a significant project to the architects on the team.”

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An earlier version of this article originally appeared in the Fall 2020 edition of Building Stone Magazine.

For the construction of a 7,400-square-foot home in Highland Park, Texas, a pair of homeowners opted for a modern architectural style using materials that would withstand the test of time. “The overarching concept was to achieve an expression of timelessness expressed in traditional materials used in a contemporary manner,” said Mark Domiteaux, partner at domiteaux architects in Dallas, who worked with David Cadwallader of Cadwallader Design in Dallas on the home’s design.

The home’s center is focused around the main entry, which features meticulously designed walls clad in Indiana limestone supplied by 3D Stone, Inc. in Bloomington, Indiana. While the home embraces an open floor plan, parallel core walls define the foyer, kitchen, dining, and living rooms.

The initial work done on the limestone-clad walls did not meet expectations. This is when Dee Brown, Inc., a stone installer in Richardson, Texas, was contacted. “The most insurmountable issue appeared in the most critical area, being the entry wall cladding that we first attempted to fabricate using individual stone slabs,” Domiteaux explained. “Despite the best efforts, the design was not executable in a traditional stacked masonry configuration. We then turned to Dee Brown for their expertise. Through that collaboration, we all agreed that the only logical way forward was to fabricate precision-machined limestone wall panels.”

In late March 2018, David Unger, a 21-year Dee Brown veteran who currently serves as the Dallas plant manager, and foreman William Carter worked on the new design to completely revamp the look of the interior walls and provide the homeowner with what was originally envisioned. Robert Harris, a 23-year Dee Brown veteran who works in the special project division, was in charge of ordering the new stone from 3D Stone, Inc.

“The existing wall was cut limestone brick,” Carter said. “You had so many different colors—darker and lighter pieces—and it wasn’t uniform. They tried to miter the ends and patch the miters. It was essentially a brick layer doing a stone job. It wasn’t as uniform as the homeowners wanted. Dave Unger did most of the designing. He was the brains of the operation.”

“There was a lot of chippage,” said Unger, who was named the 2017 Natural Stone Craftsman of the Year by the Natural Stone Institute. “We determined it wasn’t going to have the appearance they wanted. There was literally no variation in a 60-foot-long wall.”

Indiana buff limestone in the select grade was specified for the new wall design. The color varies from a light cream shade to a brownish buff, while the “Select” grade refers to the fine-to average-grained stone having a controlled minimum of “other natural characteristics” and veining. Other natural characteristics include a few distinguishable calcite streaks or spots, fossils, pit holes, open texture streaks, honeycomb formations, iron spots, travertine-like designs, and grain changes, according to 3D Stone.

“We supplied Dee Brown with 35 pieces for a total of 274 cubic feet for this project,” said Logan Sylvester, sales, shipping, and estimating manager at 3D Stone. “Dee Brown then cut the panels to fit for an interior veneer in the main entryway.”

The limestone was fabricated with unique, continuous horizontal grooves for all of the walls. “All stone options were considered before reaching a consensus on using Indiana limestone,” Domiteaux said. “The coloration, density, durability, and workability inherent to this limestone outweighed all other stone material choices.”

Harris ordered the material to Dee Brown’s Dallas facility, where special care was taken during the fabrication process to hold tight tolerances to the horizontal grooves, as well as the typical cut-to-size aspects. “Dave designed the stone to where we could make the joints disappear and lined everything up where it looked more like a solid slab,” Carter said.

“The pieces we used have between eight and ten courses of the stone in a single block of the stone,” Unger said. “It was basically like watch work. There was also some handwork to touch it up. We do a lot of work that is very finicky and meticulous. I let the guys know there was a zero tolerance and it worked very well. We have a good crew.”

While Unger devised the design, Carter was in charge of assembling the crew to complete the installation, which included himself, Unger, and one of their best installers, Pablo Lopez. “He’s a craftsman. We get compliments on every job he does,” Carter said. “He, Dave, and I went over there on June 6, 2018, and started laying walls out and coursing it up. At first, it hit the ceiling, but we figured it out.”

“The ceiling was a little bit out of level, so we had to adjust the joints a couple of feet down the walls,” Unger said.

Domiteaux designed the cladding system that was used to adhere the limestone panels to the walls, according to Carter. “It was 4-inch-thick limestone and we put false joints in it,” he said.

Domiteaux was also onsite throughout the duration of the stone installation to ensure everything went according to plan, coordinating with the fabricators constantly. “The focus was uniformity of stone coloration, perfection of the machined panels without chipping and damage, alignment and spacing of joints, coloration of the grout utilized and protective sealing of the surfaces without changing the coloration,” he said.

Since the walls were prefabricated at Dee Brown’s shop, the installation team had to carefully transport the material into the home once it arrived onsite. “Getting the slabs up the house was interesting,” Carter said. “We had steps to go up on the exterior, so they put together a trolley system. We also used a pump jack to set the stone. It was quite an operation.”

In addition to designing the walls, Unger was also tasked with creating special stone finishes in the half-bath using a $10,000 slab of 3-cm-thick natural white quartz, a semi-precious stone from Madagascar, which was supplied by The Stone Collection in Dallas. “The slab was transformed into a lavatory top/bowl assembly, water closet wall cladding, and even tissue and towel holders,” Unger said. “We created a stone look that looks like velvet.”

The installation was completed in around five months. “Ripping down the old work was a challenge in itself because everything was finished inside of the house when we got there,” Carter said. “The guys did such a good job covering stuff up and making sure everything was good. The superintendent, Gabe [from BufordHawthorne Builders], made it easier for us. It’s always good to have a good general contractor.”

Since the home’s completion in late 2018, it has received a 2019 Pinnacle Award of Excellence in the Residential Single Family category from the Natural Stone Institute and has been well-received by the homeowners and their visitors.

“The level of detailing, craftsmanship, and design achieved is a constant source of amazement and appreciation by those experiencing this home for the first time,” Domiteaux said.

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An earlier version of this article appeared in the Fall 2020 edition of Building Stone Magazine.

The palatial estate of Eric Boch Jr. has been over a decade in the making. Boch’s home in Norwood, MA exudes elegance and refinement. The property’s most recent addition is an elaborate but tasteful natural stone chapel and mausoleum designed by Eric Inman Daum, AIA.

Forming the structure of the memorial pavilion are walls of ashlar Charcoal Black granite that was quarried by Coldspring in St. Cloud, MN. 9,600 square feet was supplied. The thickness of the granite veneer for the exterior walls ranges from 6 to 8 inches, while the interior wall veneer is 6 inches thick.

“Our first impulse was to use Quincy granite, but it is no longer available,” explained Daum. “We wanted to make an association to that.” The architect explained that Quincy granite was a common building material in 19th century New England, which leant a somber air to its buildings. Charcoal Black was recommended by Kenneth Castellucci & Associates, Inc, the stone installer for the project, because it possesses similar characteristics. “It was a universal decision across the board,” said Daum. “I’ve worked with them before and was delighted to again.”

Daum collaborated closely on the project with landscape architect Brian Frazier of Brian Frazier Design. The landscape design plays an essential role in bringing attention to the mausoleum and features architectural elements, including garden piers and walkways, as well as the paving on the porch, cut from Charcoal Black granite. “We wanted to draw people through and around the grounds,” explained Frazier. “There are two main axis—one from the main gate and the second from a farther corner near the pool. The original estate had a sunken lawn, which was removed at some point during the 70s or 80s when the property was subdivided and they built homes. I wanted to bring that element back. Placing it on the site in the mausoleum space made the most sense. There is a large curved granite seat wall. It sits in the middle of the space and has a vantage point of the entire site. It’s a quiet spot to sit and reflect.”

The Design

The Boch chapel and mausoleum is influenced by the Neoclassical movements of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The pavilion combines Greek and Roman motifs in the austere Neoclassical style of the Greek Revival period.

The primary space of the pavilion is a cube, surmounted by a hemispherical dome. Four wings project from the four faces of the cube to the cardinal points of the compass, which includes entry to the north, transepts to the east and west, and apse to the south. The north porch features four massive Greek Doric columns that are unfluted, except for a small portion below the capitals. The four visible corners of the cube are rusticated, and the deep horizontal joints create strong horizontal shadows emphasizing the mass and weight of the stone walls and the dome above.

“The client initially wanted the building to feel dank and oppressive,” said Daum. “We considered doing it as a load-bearing stone building. In the end, with consultation, the team decided to build a concrete box and dome and suspend the granite interior and exterior from that.”

Daum conceived and developed the building’s design. “Castellucci took the drawings and was the intermediary between me and Coldspring to get the details how I wanted,” he said. “Both Castellucci and Coldspring understood pretty quickly what was necessary. The client representative, interior designer, and I flew out to Coldspring where they pulled large slabs out that were reviewed and gave a range in terms of the grading, size, and quantity.”

The austere exterior gives way to a more luxurious colorful interior, with varied jewellike shades. “Working with the interior designer, he kept saying we need to push the design,” said Daum. “Looking at a broader range of Neoclassical architecture, I found an example of a reclaimed floor. I basically took that design and blew it up to the scale of this room. Having historical precedent was very important to me.”

Influences

One of the most prominent influences for the memorial pavilion was the Württemberg Mausoleum or sepulchral chapel located outside of Stuttgart, Germany, which was designed by Italian architect Giovanni Salucci. A second inspiration was the mausoleum designed by Scottish architect Robert Adam for the First Earl of Shelburne at his estate, Bowood in Wiltshire, England.

The floor features seven types of Italian and Spanish marble: Bianco Carrara Statuario, Fior De Pesco, Salome, Giallo Siena, Breccia Pernice, Rojo Alicante, and Portoro Black & Gold. The pattern was inspired by a design in Schnikel’s Glienicke Casino in Posdam, Germany.

“I showed Castellucci the casino photo and asked them to suggest a range of colors,” said the architect. “They provided 10 to 11 samples. The project team sat in a meeting and made choices together. That was a fun part of the process.”

The intricate marble floor pattern is complemented by six fluted columns carved from dark green Verde Alpi marble with dramatic veining. The columns have a diameter of 1 foot, 10 inches and are 10 feet, 6 inches high. They are composted in five stacked segments.

Beneath the sanctuary is the crypt, which can be reached by a Charcoal Black granite staircase positioned at the south of the building. “Originally, we were going to put the vaults in the floor, but the client decided that he wanted to use the building,” explained Daum. “The interior designer had worked with him for years, so he pushed the client. He told him that it could be used for dinner parties and intimate events, and that he should think about building a basement.”

The project was completed in five years from initial conceptual design to final construction. “It was put on hold for a little bit and then we came back to it. The foundation was poured in December 2016 and it was completed in October 2018. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Daum said. “The client’s team was tough and it was an incredibly aggressive schedule in regards to the production of the drawings. It was a tense and difficult project at times but having a superb contractor and stone contractor who all rose to the occasion, and Coldspring, too, made it a success.”

The Boch Garden Pavilion was the recipient of both a 2019 Pinnacle Award and a 2020 Tucker Design Award.

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An earlier version of this article originally appeared in Building Stone Magazine.

 The London Guarantee Building, a designated Chicago Landmark, is considered one of the city’s finest examples of the Beaux Arts Classical Revival style. Located at the corner of North Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive, the building became one of Chicago’s most visible and prominent pieces of real estate when it was built in 1923. For nearly a century, the structure provided prime office space for several Chicago businesses.

After 91 years of operating as an office building, the building was converted as part of an adaptive reuse program. The project began in 2014 and was completed in late 2016, creating the LondonHouse Chicago Hotel.

An Extensive Façade Repair

The facades of the building are primarily clad in standard buff Indiana limestone, accented with decorative terracotta coursing at the 17th, 18th, and 21st floors. Large carved limestone colonnades, balustrades, urns, vases, and griffins provide unique enrichments throughout the facades. The building is capped with a prominent 70-foot limestone and terracotta cupola overlooking Michigan Avenue, a distinctive feature that makes it easily identifiable in a sea of similar buildings.

Given the significant extent of limestone spalling and deterioration present throughout the exterior facades, a comprehensive rehabilitation program was prepared to revitalize the neglected cladding, focusing on restoring the limestone as closely as possible to its original beauty and appearance, according to Mike Naponelli, senior associate at Klein & Hoffman (K&H) in Chicago.

“Prior to preparing repair documents, K&H performed a condition assessment covering nearly 100% of the facades in an effort to develop the scope and extent of repair work,” Naponelli said. “K&H worked closely with building ownership to ensure the program we developed adhered to both their vision and budget for the building. The repair program focused on addressing deteriorated stones in a manner which would allow the repairs to blend with the original stone coursing, texturing, and color.

“The team [of five people, consisting of architects, engineers, and inspectors] achieved this through a rigorous stone matching and preparation process,” he explained. “Each replacement stone was lightly water-blasted in-situ to provide texture and color to closely match the existing 90-year-old stones.”

Approximately 400 tons—5,000 cubic feet—of Indiana limestone were supplied by Galloy & Van Etten, Inc. in Chicago to fabricate the replacement pieces. Over 1,200 limestone units of varying sizes were replaced throughout the facades.

The team at Galloy & Van Etten, Inc. utilized a BM multi-blade gang saw to slab the blocks, planers for the profiled pieces and an Infinity CNC machine from Park Industries for the radial work. Park Industries’ Jaguar Pro 3000, as well as saws from Tysaman and Sawing Systems, were also used for cutting the stone.

“All stone was either planer-or sand finished, then water-blasted to give it a weathered finish to match the existing stone,” said Tom Van Etten, owner of Galloy & Van Etten, Inc.

To add to the building’s green design and avoid unnecessary repairs, existing limestone from the building was salvaged and reused as much as possible. “Defects from large stones would be cut out and the remaining stone would be used elsewhere on the building as replacement stones or Dutchman piece-ins,” Naponelli said.

“Mock-ups were not needed, as we used the existing damaged stone as templates to fabricate the new pieces,” Van Etten added.

Merging Old and New

Matching all of the existing profiles and carving was a difficult process, which required great attention to detail. “In some cases, the stone was so deteriorated that we had to recreate the existing pieces before we could fabricate the new pieces,” Van Etten explained. “The most difficult part of the job was matching the large Dutchmen for the fluted columns and carved capitals at the front entrance. We’re quite proud of the fact that you cannot differentiate the new stone from the existing.”

In stone masonry, Dutchmen are stone insets selectively replacing only the fault in stone with new or reused stone material. The Corinthian column capitals at the building’s main entrance were damaged and missing large sections of the acanthus leaves and scrolls, as Van Etten mentions, so ornate Dutchmen were installed and final detailing was hand-carved in-situ to allow for the capitals’ elegant details to be matched precisely.

During the installation, accessing and maneuvering the several-thousand-pound replacement and reset stone pieces more than 20 stories above grading provide to be especially challenging, according to Naponelli and Don Seefeldt, senior executive vice president at Mark 1 Restoration Company in Dolton, IL, which completed the exterior installation.

“Ten limestone urns were reset across the rooftop parapet,” Naponelli said. “Each urn weighed approximately 4,000 pounds and required a crane to lift the decorative features. The urns had been removed 15 years prior because of significant outward displacement and concern that they may fall 21 stories to the sidewalks below.”

Most of the work was performed from swing-stage scaffolds. However, the degree of façade repair at the upper floors was so extensive that pipe scaffolding was erected from platforms cantilevered out as a putlog system for the 18th floor windows, allowing for the repairs to be performed. At these locations, entire cornices and belt courses were removed and rebuilt.

“The location of some of these stones presented a challenge in that cranes and hoists had to be used, and pipe scaffolding had to be erected on platforms in order to allow the work to be done safely,” Seefeldt explained. “In addition, the very busy intersection of Wacker Drive and Michigan Avenue was also a significant challenge to ensure safety to pedestrians and traffic below.”

A crew of around 40 people from Mark 1 Restoration Company was required to complete the installation. From assessment through installation, the project took around two years to complete and has since received many awards, including a 2019 Natural Stone Institute Pinnacle Award in the Renovation/Restoration category.

“It was a great pleasure to work on such an iconic building in Chicago and to help restore it to its original grandeur,” Naponelli said. “The project would not have been a great success without the incredible talent from the repair contractor and the stone supplier.”

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An earlier version of this article appeared in Building Stone Magazine.

From the moment you see the private residence in Los Angeles, it is apparent that a keen attention for detail and a love for natural stone went into the design and construction of this home. Meticulous details in every facet of the design were carefully imagined and implemented, and extensive research, including visits to international quarries, contributed to the overall success of the project.

The homeowners wished to create a living space as a sanctuary for a young family—a place of rest and repose—a quiet place for savoring nature and expansive views. “It was to be a house for collectors to live with and enjoy their design and art collection; a thrilling and luxurious place for hosting and entertaining guests—with moments of privacy and peace; a place for family gatherings and for relaxation,” said Bob Goodwin of RPG Consulting in Pasadena, the builder of the 8,800 square foot home. “The use of stone throughout the home was a direct response to the owners’ passion for, and collection of, beautiful stone slabs, as well as a response to the natural landscape into which the house is situated. What is sustainable is the timelessness of the modern design and the very high-quality construction and intricate craftsmanship by the stone masons involved, as well as the durability of the material in the harsh California sunlight.”

The homeowner personally visited the quarries to participate in the selection of all seven stone varieties that were used throughout the home. “Emphasis was placed on slab yield, as much as visual dynamism, and was considered area by area based on the nature of the rooms and stone-to stone, as well as stone-to-other material adjacencies,” explained Goodwin. “Great consideration was given to how the stone was transitioned from the exterior to interior in a unique manner sympathetic to the architecture and the landscape. Warmth, color, vein movement, and surface texture variation contributed to the exciting visual contrast of the stone used throughout the house. The bathtubs and kitchen island stones were selected for their unique and striking beauty, as a visual punctuation within a harmonious field of color and texture.”

Because such a high degree of attention was given to every application throughout the residential design, the project evolved over a 10-year period. Carnevale & Lohr of Bell Gardens, CA provided their expertise for the stone installation, as well as consultation during the stone selection process. Specialty stone was selected with the assistance of experts at S.I.T.E.M Italia, Salvatori, and Antolini Luigi & C. S.p.A.

“The intense collaboration with the team at Carnevale & Lohr, who continued throughout construction to take on challenges and to challenge themselves with difficult details and flawless execution [was instrumental],” said Goodwin. “We all learned a great deal from them, and they were very generous collaborators.”

Elaborate Stone Applications

The residence’s exterior is elevated high above the Los Angeles skyline and is beautifully eye-catching. The façade features split-face travertine and Bianco Lasa marble panels that cantilever out an amazing 30 feet.

For the interior space, leather-finished Cippolino marble paving was painstakingly end-matched to create the illusion of one continuous piece of stone traveling throughout the entire interior level, under a bathtub made from a single block of Cippolino marble, and transitioning onto the master bathroom’s shower walls. “The tubs were brought in by hand.,” said David Carnevale, president of Carnevale & Lohr. “We rolled them in and raised them with hand rigging because you couldn’t fit a crane on the property.”

The kitchen is outfitted with a 15-foot-long bookmatched Lapis Lazuli island countertop shaped at its perimeter with a knife edge—adjacent to a countertop and sink made from bookmatched Cippolino marble. “The stone used for the island was not an easy material,” explained Carnevale. “There is an edge detail that was very delicate. There were six pieces. Each piece came from one slab and they were all bookmatched.”

Matched vein-cut travertine paving covers the floor and seamlessly continues through the living room and out onto the exterior sundeck, terminating at the swimming pool. Travertine pool coping contained slots for drainage that allow the top edge of the pool’s water to become perfectly aligned with the top edge of the adjacent travertine paving creating a level surface from the kitchen to the infinity edge of the pool.

Another stunning feature of the home is a backlit onyx-clad elevator, which allows access to the home’s lower level. “The elevator was a project on its own, with the idea that the elevator can be a unique ‘room’ in the house,” explained Goodwin. “All the slabs were selected by the owner based on the quality of light transmission and the exciting vein movement.”

The flooring on the lower level is again paved with matched vein-cut travertine—traveling to three unique rooms. The caretaker’s bathroom contains vein-cut Palisandro Blue marble with a distinct linear pattern that covers the floor, walls, ceiling, and vanity—merging into shower walls shaped in unique marble picture frame moldings. The bungalow bathroom features dark Pietra d’Avola limestone and the guest’s bathroom has a travertine-clad shower with a bathtub fabricated from one single block of travertine.

“The stonework by Carnevale & Lohr is second to none, both in quality and in composition,” said Goodwin. “The stone masons treated the house as a labor of love and it shows in the care taken throughout the house, in the precision of the stone joints, in the artistry of the mitered joints and stone massing, vein matching, and alignment.”

A True Collaboration

While high-end custom stone fabrication is not new to Carenvale & Lohr, this was a special project. “When Bob came to us with the job, we looked at our schedule and said we can squeeze this in as we had about four months before starting our next big project. It ended up we were there for eight years. This was because the homeowner’s involvement was above and beyond typical clients. They were someone who really cared about the details. For instance, on the backside of the vanity in one of the bathrooms there is a 3-inch space and then a full-height mirrored wall. There is marble work on the backside of the vanity so you can see it in the reflection. The backside had to look as perfect as the front.”

Carnevale and his team consulted with the homeowner when choosing some of the natural stone. “For some of the house, the owner went out and personally picked the stone, and then for the rest of it we were told what they were looking for and we picked it up.”

The project earned a 2019 Pinnacle Award in the Residential Single-Family category from the Natural Stone Institute. “I have always said that it is a blessing to have a patron give us a project like this because we tell everyone we can do incredible things, but without someone actually giving us the chance to show what we can do, we can’t prove that claim,” said Carnevale. “This let us show what we are capable of doing, and we are so grateful to have had the opportunity to prove it.”

Judging by the tremendous amount of stone displayed artistically throughout the residence, it is clear that all those involved with the project were proponents of natural stone. “Open your mind to the possibilities and the beauty of natural stone—it can be a forever material,” said Goodwin. “Be a part of the selection process. Understand the limitations of the material and weigh decisions for usage accordingly. Rely on experts for advice and pay attention to the physical characteristics of different stones, such as porosity, surface durability, and sensitivity to sunlight. Find a great mason and installer and open yourself to collaboration with them.

“The clients are at peace when at home—relaxed and happy,” Goodwin continued. “And the home continues to evolve as they use it, as it should over time.”

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