Photos courtesy of Gabriela Ginsburg, Rugo Stone. An earlier version of this article appeared in the Fall 2021 edition of Building Stone Magazine.

2021 marked the 50th anniversary of the renowned John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, located in the heart of Washington, D.C. aside the Potomac River. In its first 50 years, the Center has carried President Kennedy’s call to action forward as the United States National Cultural Center. Its objective is to invite art into the lives of all Americans and ensure it represents the cultural diversity of the nation. Presenting over 2,200 performing arts shows and events each year, the Kennedy Center is one of the most-visited presidential monuments in the United States.

In 2013, a 60,000-square-foot expansion project on four acres of the Center’s South Plaza commenced, led by architect Steven Holl of Steven Holl Architects in New York City. The expansion, entitled “The REACH,” added three pavilions— connected underground to form an expansive facility that provides additional classrooms, rehearsal, and performance spaces—as well as extensive landscaping, with a reflecting pool, tree grove, sloping lawn for outdoor performances, and a pedestrian bridge over Rock Creek Parkway. It was completed in 2019.

According to the Kennedy Center’s website, “The REACH is a place where visitors, audiences, and artists can come together for collaboration, experimentation, and exploration in the spirit of President Kennedy’s vision for a new frontier for the arts. Many of the spaces were named after historical and personal moments in his life as an expression of our role as his living memorial.”

The design for The REACH “merges architecture with landscape to expand the dimensions of a living memorial,” according to Steven Holl Architects.

To recognize all who helped make the expansion possible, a 1,200-square-foot wall of Bianco Carrara marble was created in the lobby of the new Welcome Pavilion, the main entry to all other spaces at The REACH. Known as the “Gratitude Wall,” it was engraved with names of each donor.

“We selected this specific location because of its prominence and because it offered a large canvas for us to create something interesting and elegant,” said Raymundo Pavan Gutierrez, senior spatial designer at Bruce Mau Design in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who spearheaded the design of the wall. “The geometry of the piece is inspired by the shape of the pavilions, and it’s defined by the marble finish. While the original concept was not specifically about the marble, it quickly became obvious that the selected stone was the right material to use. It provided us a visual connection with the existing donor recognition system at the original Kennedy Center Edward Durell Stone Building and allowed us to freely work on a beautiful layout for all the donor names.”

Bruce Mau Design worked in collaboration with the project manager, Paratus Group in Washington, D.C., who oversaw the construction. “The donor wall was a late introduction into the design,” said Andrew Klemmer, founder of Paratus Group. “Rugo Stone was the contractor to pull off this difficult inclusion of a really beautiful stone wall in a building that is all concrete. The client wanted something that was special, and Rugo came in and helped us create that.”

Rugo Stone in Lorton, VA specializes in stone fabrication and engraving and helped bring the ambitious design to life using sleek and subtle Bianco Carrara C white marble. “The REACH is primarily architectural concrete or plaster for all the exterior and interior wall finishes, although the plaster is expertly done, and the use of marble was considered a more noble surface for the donor recognition,” said Brett Rugo, owner of Rugo Stone. “The original John F. Kennedy Center is clad in Bianco Carrara, both on the exterior and interior, and the design team desired to use the same material produced in the late 1960s to bridge the two buildings designs.”

The marble used for the Gratitude Wall was supplied by Euromarble in Carrara, Italy. “The block we selected was produced from the same quarry that supplied the blocks for the project originally,” said Roberto Canali, owner of Euromarble. “We placed special attention on this job because my father was the general manager of Alberto Bufalini, the company that originally supplied all of the marble for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1968, 1969, and 1970.

“I’ve heard many stories about the project since I was a kid,” he continued. “Edward Durell Stone selected Carrara White marble for this enormous project— 3,700 tons—and considering the time, this was one of the jobs that started the marble industry. The marble was a donation to the U.S. from the Italian government.”

Euromarble supplied around 1,250 square feet of 1 ³/₁₆-inch-thick Bianco Carrara C marble in a honed finish for the Gratitude Wall. About two dozen large-format panels, each measuring 8 feet, 9 inches long x 4 feet, 6 inches tall, were used to construct the wall.

“We traveled to Italy to source the most uniform block for the large panels,” Rugo explained. “The block selected was very uniform in background color and vein direction. This was critical, as our carvers would later have to engrave all the donors’ names on these large panels, and we didn’t want the stone veining to interrupt the visibility of the lettering.”

Multiple mock-ups were created during the design process for the lettering to develop the best solution to create a sharp font and contrast, according to Rugo. “A whole 1:1 wall was installed using vinyl to test the layout and legibility,” Pavan Gutierrez said. “We also had smaller samples where we could assess the depth for the etching and the color for the filling.

“We had to make sure that the final layout would work with the seams between the slabs, and we had to make sure we achieved optimum legibility by providing enough contrast between text and marble,” Pavan Gutierrez added. “We did this by mapping photos of every marble slab we had and creating an elevation where we designed a final layout.”

Euromarble’s virtual dry-laid system was utilized, which mapped out where each piece would go, labeling them accordingly for easy unpacking and installation. To ensure color and veining consistency, the marble panels were fully dry-set and inspected in Italy prior to being shipped to the United States.

Rugo Stone created a steel support system for the wall, which was installed prior to the grand opening on September 7, 2019. The installation of the wall only took about six weeks, while the engraving took an additional month after the official opening.

“Rugo helped us execute this in a finished lobby because of timing,” Klemmer explained. “Since the donor wall was still active and growing by the time of the grand opening, they gave us a way to open the building while we were still working out all of the names and all of the final details of how it would be accomplished. We did temporary lettering for the initial names on the wall and then came back after the opening to do the actual engraving. There were many changes, so it worked out well.”

Rugo’s engraving artisans returned to the open-to-the-public building to perform the engraving during the winter of 2020. “The owner was very much concerned about the dust that would accompany the engraving process,” Rugo said. “Understanding the owner’s concerns, as well as the hazards that sandblasting creates, our team created a dustproof scaffold system complete with a dust containment system designed to trap all the abrasive stone dust.”

The emergence of COVID-19 also inadvertently helped the team complete the engraving with as little disruption as possible. “Logistically, it was going to be hard to work with people in the building,” Klemmer said. “It was easier to engrave while the building was empty.”

Rugo’s engraving designer worked carefully with the owner’s graphic designer to prepare the computerized razor-cut lettering templates. “Our master carvers then mounted the templates with a very precise layout and set out to delicately sandblast the letters,” Rugo said. “The engraving was performed with the use of an inventive portable sandblasting booth system, designed particularly for owner-occupied projects, that allows for easy blasting and containing the medium and dust.”

With about 15 months to complete the entire project, the owner couldn’t be happier with the uniquely crafted focal point at the entry of The REACH. “The Gratitude Wall is truly a statement piece that gives a proper recognition for those individuals who helped fund the project,” Rugo said. “It was a true pleasure working on the addition to the Kennedy Center; the client and the architects were true professionals.”

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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 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.”

TAGS: interior inspire heather fiore commercial marble case study

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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 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.

In Ancient Greece, the goddess Nike personified victory. She was a messenger whose wings enabled her to fly over the Earth rewarding victors of battle or athletic competition with fame and glory. The most famous depiction of Nike is the Winged Victory of Samothrace, also known as Nike of Samothrace. This marble Hellenistic sculpture dates to the second century BC and is one of the world’s most celebrated sculptures. In 2017, it caught the eye of a private Fortune 100 company in Portland, Oregon, who tasked a talented team of professionals to reinvent the iconic artwork on the wall of the executive boardroom at its corporate headquarters.

Reimagining a Classic

Peter Andrusko, master sculptor and owner of The Andrusko Group in Portland has been crafting stone sculptures for over thirty years. “The Winged Goddess of Victory,” a 15-foot-tall, 18-foot-wide bas-relief comprised of basalt and granite, is one of the most complicated and technically challenging projects he has ever worked on. “I’ve never done anything even remotely as complex,” he said.

“In May of 2017, I was approached by the project manager for special arts projects’ at Hoffman Construction Company and began a dialogue about the viability of creating a massive stone bas-relief sculpture. When I was approached by one of the West Coast’s leading general contractors, I was thrilled. They had found me, which in a sense partly validated decades of effort on my part in trying to become known as a source of quality and innovation in a very obscure artisan niche.”

Andrusko learned some “old school” stone techniques from his father, a successful brick and stone mason, but is mostly self-taught, specifically in robotic Computer Numerical Control (CNC) technology, which has been beneficial to his business. “Robotics is not only the future, more importantly, it’s an absolute gift of life to the carver,” he said. “About 15 years ago, the robotics industry changed and started becoming accessible to workshops. Let’s just say it’s a very natural fit and what I know of hand-craft and my natural abilities in technology found a very, very interesting nexus.”

To create The Winged Goddess of Victory sculpture and wall design, which relied on robotic CNC machinery, Andrusko utilized a basalt quarried in Moses Lake, WA, which was supplied by Stone NW in Vancouver, WA, and Indian Black granite from Savema in Pietrasanta, Italy. “This work is constructed from a very hard, dense and brittle local black basalt, which was then inlayed into a field of waterjet textured Italian black granite tile,” Andrusko said. “There is also some lettering carved into the granite, which is also the product of my studio and hand.”

The basalt used for the sculptural elements is a ubiquitous Pacific Northwestern material that is available in various colors, textures, and forms. “In this particular case, it’s an amazingly tight-grained satiny black that takes a polish,” said Andrusko, who worked with a local stone company that cut the rough blocks to-size and supplied the slabs, which were then cut to fit the super tight specs needed for the project. “The core block dimension is 3 x 6 x 24 inches. Of that overall depth, the carving is contained within just 2 1/2 inches of depth and is then inlayed into the Graffiti granite paneling covering the wall.

According to Andrusko, there are over 300 parts in the finished piece, many of which were first roughed into shape with CNC robotics technology, then hand-finished and fitted into the cut-to-fit granite. “It is a process essentially similar to the one used by many stone carving studios throughout time—in this case, using robotic machines instead of human workers, such as those famously employed by Rodin in his studio to perform the roughing from the original models, which in this case are digital files.”

Technology and Design

When designing the 7,500-pound sculpture, Andrusko worked with a professional digital art team, which created the digital renderings from which he worked. “The first and most important aspect of the project was the artwork,” the sculptor explained. “Initially, I was asked to provide the artwork, but the delivery date required for the completed work was rapidly approaching, so they hired a professional digital art team. We worked closely together during the first few months to refine the design. I produced an initial scale model of the carving in high-density urethane along with a full-size section that was approximately 4 x 5 feet.” After receiving feedback on the first scale model, a second was commissioned to confirm the changes would meet the demanding attention to detail.”  Based on feedback of the first scale model, a second was commissioned to confirm the changes would meet the demanding attention to detail.

According to Andrusko, the anticipated weight of the stone on its own was intimidating.  “The immediate need was to minimize the overall mass—getting as much detail as possible for something of this scale necessitated a balance between weight reduction (thickness of the module) and down-lighting. Also, keep in mind that all of this mass is hanging off the wall structure along a thin ribbon of floor inside of a modern-constructed building on an upper floor. Due diligence required some engineering attention.”

A compromise was found by creating a 3-inch thickness overall, with a 2 1/2-inch maximum range to work within. “This got us our range and the digital arts team was able to model the lighting and the relief topography to maximize the effect visually,” Andrusko said. “The reality is that there is a massive amount of ambient light in the space, which interferes to some degree with the LED down-light effect during the day, but some of the imagery was taken at night and one can see an amazing depth and clarity of surface that is truly a wonder; it appears far deeper and more defined than the 2 1/2 inches would suggest. A success by the design team and lighting specialists.”

The design team used displacement mapping to create the digital renderings, an alternative computer graphics technique that uses a texture map or heightmap to cause an effect where the actual geometric position of points over the textured surface are displaced, which gives surfaces a great sense of depth and detail, permitting self-occlusion, self-shadowing and silhouettes.

“The value of this is that the computer software I used to develop the cut files can accurately manage the range of black (lowest point) to white (highest point), which are, in essence, user-definable, which allows the Z-axis to be established properly so that everything fits in 3D,” Andrusko detailed. “The hand-carving is to blend and fit everything and to put the finishing touch into the carving.

“There was a great deal of struggling with the size of the file initially and trying to solve some problems like positioning into the fixed grid of the field materials that needed to be discussed and established before breaking the image into precise parts,” Andrusko explained. “Also, the client insisted on 1/16-inch tolerances between parts. Once all the grid issues were worked out, then the parts were segmented into the modules. I broke out the grid elements in granite from the basalt and cut stencils to mark and fit the granite part by part — hand-cut with a ring saw. I initially proposed that this be done with a waterjet, but in the midst of the time crunch, I elected to keep this in-house to cut by hand while the CNC machines were running. It turned out to be a very good decision for reasons I wasn’t expecting having to do with the final fitting. The G-code files were generated to run the machines and smaller parts were nested into the stones in groups. Everything was coded and numbered so that the parts could be fitted and mapped for the installation team.”

Constructing the 300 parts for the project required an intricate process. “The parts cutting involved an initial ‘roughing’ stage of milling,” Andrusko explained. “About 1/16 inch passes to get to the core shape of the part. The secondary stage of milling involved a smaller bit and a change of trajectory that netted the finished part fairly close to the final dimensions needed. That final step involved stacking the stones into a grid, hand-finishing and cleaning, and tightening the cuts and sharp edges in order to have a smooth transition between adjacent parts. The largest single area I was able to get flat at one time in the studio was approximately 4 x 4 feet.”

While the digital technology was needed to create a sculpture of this stature in such a short amount of time, Andrusko believes that hand-carving was still a key factor in the project’s success. “The robotics utilized in the studio amplifies the productive output of the carver manifold, but it still requires the breath of life of the master carver to perform the final steps by hand to finish and detail the sculpture,” he said. “However, what the technology allows is for a single individual to perform the work of dozens of people working practically non-stop for months on end.”

Even with the aid of technology, completing the project was still an arduous task. “I was able to keep running six CNC machines alone for most of four and a half months,” Andrusko said. “My day started at around 5 a.m. and ended at or near 10 p.m. Cutting hard stone requires a very attentive focus. Water supply is critical or there could be a fire, bit break, damage to the work piece, or at minimum a whole bunch of wasted time, so there was no practical way to run the machines all day every day as much as I wanted to or would have liked to. The machines needed to be monitored constantly and any instances of failure caught and corrected as soon as possible. I was often literally running and constantly on my feet moving between machines, changing parts out, swapping bits, clearing obstructed water lines and quickly became attuned to the sounds (healthy and otherwise) of each machine in the studio. I stopped keeping track of time, but it was a relentless grind of 14 to 18 hours a day, seven days a week, and other than a few hours for Thanksgiving and Christmas with family, it didn’t stop until I was done.”

The Installation

Andrusko gives the majority of the credit for the success of the installation to the project manager at Hoffman Construction Company and the installation team at Western Tile & Marble. “This was very much a team effort and the success of the whole was really a shared collaborative effort,” he said.

The installation, which was completed in about a month, required one stone mason and three tile setters. The team bonded the wall tiles to USG Corporation’s Durock Brand Cement Backer Board using Laticrete’s 257 Titanium thinset mortar, which is designed for the installation of large-format tiles and gauged porcelain tile panels and slabs. “Thicker carved stones were installed with Latapoxy 310 Stone Adhesive,” said Floyd Goodwin, project manager at Western Tile & Marble. “We used copper wire anchors into studs.”

Goodwin explained how the heavy, irregularly shaped tiles needed to be carefully installed to ensure flatness and desired joint thickness. “Maintaining joint dimensions and plumb was crucial because the carved stone had irregular edges and the substrate was wavy,” Goodwin said.

In addition to Laticrete’s 257 Titanium and Latapoxy 310 Stone Adhesive, the installation team also utilized Laticrete’s Permacolor Select cement grout and Latasil silicone sealant.

“They are truly professional craftsmen and I know they were also working under extreme stress and with a really tight schedule,” Andrusko said of the team. “They took my work and completed the site installation without a break or a scratch. I wasn’t needed onsite. There wasn’t a single punch list item related to the sculpture.”

Since the project’s completion, visitors have been amazed by the artwork and its resemblance to the original Winged Victory of Samothrace. “The client loves it,” said Goodwin.

The project received a 2018 Pinnacle Award from the Natural Stone Institute in the Architectural Carving/Lettering/Sculpture category. “One would assume the hope of any artist is to somehow imbue the breath of life into the inanimate; to effect in some profound way the beholder of the work,” Andrusko said. “That this now exists in the physical world where others can experience it makes me very happy.”

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

Located at the crossroads of Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevard, the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills is one of the tallest buildings in the city. The hotel, which boasts a Streamline Moderne design, is the brand’s first new build on the West Coast and its second hotel in California.

“The Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills is an urban oasis that combines modern luxury with timeless design. This building welcomes visitors to Beverly Hills in a completely new way,” said Pierre-Yves Rochon, founder and global design director at Pierre-Yves Rochon (PYR) in Paris and Chicago. “The exterior design honors the Golden Age of Hollywood and the architectural history of Los Angeles. Its form is harmonious with its surroundings, but it is also very visible and striking. It reminds us of the 1930s curved buildings in Los Angeles. The Streamline Moderne design is sleek, clad in limestone, and transitions well to the interiors. The volumes, curved edges, and Art Deco-inspired furniture pieces continue to create the hotel’s identity.”

The exterior architecture design of the 207,641-square-foot property was led by PYR in collaboration with architectural firms Perkins and Will and Gensler. A collaborative effort from start to finish, the $200 million undertaking spared no expense, as evidenced by its impressive Portuguese limestone-clad exterior and the interior spaces dressed in marble, granite, travertine, and onyx.

“The interior design challenge at the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills was to create a world-class design unlike any other hotel in L.A.,” Rochon said. “It needed to appeal to both international travelers and locals. We created this environment by celebrating large volumes, elegance, and artisanship, which can be appreciated by all. It also has a uniquely Southern California feel—it is light, open, airy, and has an effortless and comfortable style. It has ‘Old Hollywood’ glamour.”

“The sense of cinematic glamour begins with the dramatic arrival to the porte-cochère with a sweeping bronze canopy,” the designer explained. “Guests are welcomed through bronze doors adorned with Lalique crystal pulls. A soaring entry lobby is framed by two tall bronze zodiac screens and anchored by a monumental bronze chandelier. Intimate adjacent alcoves allow for a private check-in and concierge experience, while a floor-to-ceiling glossy onyx fireplace warms the lounge just beyond. The sophistication of the public areas is enhanced by the refined quality of craftsmanship in the FF&E [furniture, fixtures and equipment] program, including a carefully curated collection of art works, Lalique gold leaf backed crystal panels, hand-selected Italian marbles and custom furnishings from around the world.”

Natural Stone Adds Glamour and Intrigue

Photo courtesy of PICCO Engineering.

One of the most striking features of the hotel can be seen in the two-story lobby, where a 17-foot   onyx fireplace sets the perfect backdrop for a massive, custom-designed bronze and crystal chandelier. Across the lobby in the main waiting area a trio of marbles was used to create a clean, contemporary floor design. A base of Calacatta Oro marble is accented by thin bronze inserts, creating a repetitive rectangular design throughout the space. The Calacatta Oro marble frames an inner design composed of Crema Marfil and Amarelo Negrais marble, which are bordered by thin strips of Absolute Black granite.

The hotel provides an intimate hospitality experience, with only 18 rooms on each floor—119 deluxe rooms and 51 suites. “The atmosphere is exciting, vibrant, and full of life. We created a quiet backdrop of creams and beiges accented by cool celadons and golden caramels, and sleek black lacquer finishes. This palette also continues into the standard guestrooms, which creates a cohesive guest experience,” Rochon said.

The guestrooms celebrate a classic California style, with floor-to-ceiling windows that open onto oversized private balconies. Each type of room promotes a different color scheme, from the standard rooms to the presidential suite. The king-sized rooms embrace a blue theme, with patterned rugs and complementary accents, while the queen-sized rooms take on a gold theme. Suites are distinguished by chocolate brown and cream outfitting. All bathrooms are clad in marble, waterjet-cut into geometric patterns for the floors and walls. 12×24 inch pieces of Bianco Dolomiti marble were installed on the walls of the bathrooms and showers, separated by 1 1/2 inch vertical bands of Amarelo Negrais marble. The floors in the king- and queen-sized rooms feature an intricate stone medallion, with intermixed squares of Bianco Dolomiti and Crema Marfil marble, framed by 1 1/2 inch strips of Amarelo Negrais marble. In the suites, Bianco Dolomiti, Crema Marfil, and Amarelo Negrais are used to create a unique flower-like pattern on the floor. Crema Marfil was used for the tub surrounds to provide a cohesive look.

In the villas, Calacatta Oro marble was used on the floors. These rooms were designed using hints of celadon, a pale shade of green, with white and cream accents. The bathrooms, which combine all color shades through the use of stone and tile, also feature geometric-inspired floor medallions. The walls share the same stone design as the queen- and king-sized rooms, with 12- x 24 inch pieces of Calacatta Oro in place of Bianco Dolomiti marble, while the floors showcase triangular and circular pieces of waterjet-cut Noir St. Laurent and Crema Marfil marble that is framed by the 1 1/2 inch bands of Amarelo Negrais marble. In the shower, Calcacatta Oro was used for the shower bench and Crema Marfil graces the floors, along with square pieces of Noir St. Laurent marble framed by strips of Amarelo Negrais marble.

The 3,215-square-foot presidential suite, which includes a 1,459-square-foot terrace, combines shades of gold and cream with Noir St. Laurent marble floors to create something regal and one-of-a-kind. The Noir St. Laurent is featured throughout the entire suite’s floors and was carried into the bathroom, where it was used alongside thin bands of Amarelo Negrais marble to create a rectangular-inspired design. Large-format pieces of the same white onyx used for the lobby fireplace were also applied on these walls and the tub surround for an upscale look and feel. The presidential suite’s bathroom features floor to ceiling windows that offer dramatic views of the Hollywood Hills.

​

An Intricate Installation

A talented team of professionals was enlisted to fabricate and install the hotel’s intricate stone bathroom features. The polished 1 1/2 inch bands of Amarelo Negrais marble required a keen eye to ensure design perfection.

“This detail created a 180-degree continuum that wrapped the bathroom in a warm yellow hue,” said Solomon Aryeh, owner of SMG Stone Company, Inc. “This intricate detail that was achieved in the fabrication process was an important design element that lent the bathroom an elevated experience. Every one of the wall bands was installed to line up with one another horizontally and vertically, with some walls containing up to seven bands that faded into the door surround. This included bands lining up directly with the soap niche and a horizontal line detail on the light fixtures.”

Because of the client’s high standards, Aryeh and his team had to maintain tight tolerances to ensure design accuracy. “To achieve the lining up of the joints in the bathroom, the framing of the room had to be exact with tolerances no more than 1/8 inch,” he explained. “Our task was to work hand-in-hand with the framer to maintain the design integrity requiring walls to be plumb and installed in perfect square. Stone tiles were installed in a thinset system that required the mortar bed to be no more than 3/16 inch thick, as there was no room to build up the tiles or room for adjustments. A thicker mortar bed would off-set the joints from one end of the bathroom to the other, completely compromising the design.”

With several mock-ups completed during the design process and hundreds of dry lays assembled onsite prior to the install, the designers and installers successfully worked together for about four years to construct the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills.

Since its completion, the hotel has received numerous national and international accolades, including a Natural Stone Institute Pinnacle Award in the Commericial Interior category.

“The reaction has been very positive from the owner, Hilton, and the City of Beverly Hills,” Rochon said. “The building has greatly elevated the character of the site. It complements its adjacent sister hotel, the Beverly Hilton.  It is true to the city’s heritage of Hollywood glamour.”

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All photos courtesy of Gordon Beall Photography. An earlier version of this article originally appeared in Building Stone Magazine.

Although 500 years have passed since the construction of the Palladian villas of Italy’s Veneto region, this architectural style is still a source of inspiration in the design world. In Albemarle County, Virginia, a couple whose lifelong dream was to have their own Palladian villa sought to create a structure that also incorporated contemporary touches and seamlessly integrated current technologies and practices.

Re-envisioning a Classic Design

“The residence is comprised of three buildings joined by curved colonnades, a classical design that brings human scale to a large home and connects the buildings to the landscape,” explained Robert Paxton, principal at Dalgliesh Gilpin Paxton Architects in Charlottesville, VA. “The five-part composition allows abundant daylight in every room and capitalizes on magnificent views to the south, west, and north. The contemporary glazing at the two-story west wall engages the portico’s classical architectural detailing and the panoramic views beyond. Landscaping ties the house to the setting and provides a multilevel progression from the entry courtyard to the west lawn that features cascading terraced gardens, fountain, pool, sculptures, and stone walls and pyramids.”

The expansive home, built to last for centuries, embraces the characteristics of a classic Palladian villa. Several varieties of natural stone were used to create the three-story structure, including limestone, marble, granite, bluestone, sandstone, and slate.

“Stone’s timelessness and versatility make it a natural fit for this home inspired by history,” said Paxton. “Its sculptural qualities enhance classical detailing, evident in V House’s entablature, pediments, columns, and mantels. The stone’s cut and color range differentiate the residence’s layers of sophistication; finishes grow more refined moving from the landscape walls to the  structure’s exteriors and then to the interiors.”

8,000 square feet of stone was used on the interior floors, with over 5,000 square feet of Antique French refined limestone comprising the main rooms’ floors, elliptical stair tread risers, and stringer. Refined European-cut limestone crafted the mantels in the sitting room, living room, and gallery; the unique mantel in the dining room/library features Statuario and Sienna marbles. Countertops throughout the house are made of granite, marble, limestone and soapstone. 1,500 square feet of mosaic marble and limestone adorn the floors in the bathrooms and dressing areas.

Contemporizing a classical appearance

Palladian villas traditionally see functions distributed both vertically and horizontally. Kitchens, storage rooms, laundry rooms, and cellars were located on the low ground floor, while the more public rooms, such as the loggia and living room, were on the main living floor near the center of the home. The left and right wings were generally symmetrical suites of rooms, which lengthened the overall layout.

V House adheres to this traditional layout, which presented some hurdles for the architects. “Even though the house is multiple levels, the biggest challenge was trying to achieve the one-level floor plan,” Paxton explained. “We were trying to maintain proper proportions of the house. As your plan gets bigger, to maintain proper proportions, the house has to get taller for it to look right, so it was a real struggle to try and make the house not look so big, although it is a big house. When you approach it, it appears more as one-and-a-half stories. However, as you go to the wings, the scale of the home breaks down to something smaller, with stone growing out of landscape and building up to the main block.”

To achieve the correct scale, careful attention had to be paid to the land grading. “We worked with the grade, in the sense that the house opens up to the grade on the lower level,” Paxton said. “You can’t perceive that at all as you drive up the driveway. It’s a sloping site, so we worked with the lay of the land as much as we could to make the house look smaller. It looks like it has a walkout basement — called the ‘terrace level’ — which is something that most people can relate to. On the main block, we brought the grade up so you could walk out from the terraces. Big bluestone stairs cascade down on each side.

“To make the house look right proportionally, we also had to squeeze the floor system using concrete planks,” Paxton added. “This is mostly seen in commercial construction; however, it allowed us to have an 8-inch structural system for the floor, which helped a lot.”

A thin 8-inch precast concrete plank was used for both the main level and the second-floor framing systems, which allowed dimensioning the entry pediment as a square and the overall proportion of the main block as a root-2 rectangle. “The resultant 12-foot, 8-inch interior ceiling height in the main public rooms is appropriate for the size of the spaces,” said Paxton. “The use of precast planks also led to a structural steel framing system with prefabricated insulated steel panels for the exterior walls. This energy-efficient exterior wall includes 7 inches of solid foam insulation.”

The architects also combined the dining room and library into a unique two-level space to accommodate the one-level plan — shaped around a 178-year-old wooden table from the owners’ antique collection. “That room was designed around that table in its largest dimension [10 feet],” said Paxton. “That informed the size of the floor plan and size of the house.”

The owners’ vast architectural book collection also aided in this room’s stature. “If our clients have important pieces, we’re always trying to think about that in our initial sketches,” said Paxton, who is no stranger to designing homes around particular items of importance for clients. “We’re always trying to think about interiors, landscape, and architecture all working together as one in each of our designs.”

Taking advantage of the landscape

The exterior design of V House is integrated with the interior design, with rough-cut Ohio limestone veneer cladding the majority of the facade and retaining walls. Distinctive Indiana limestone was used to craft the entablature, columns, pediments, balustrades, and window and door surrounds.

Ballasted slate roofing — which required 13,213 square feet of slate— was also implemented, along with stainless steel flashing, 6-inch stone veneer, and bronze windows and doors.

To create the sprawling landscape walkways, terraces, stairs and pool coping, 525 square feet of Pennsylvania bluestone was hand-placed. Hand-molded brick was also utilized for various accents in the traditional Palladian style, while tumbled Iowa sandstone shapes the driveway cobbles.

“Stone acts as a unifying design element at V House, creating a layered and harmonious transition between interior and exterior spaces,” said Paxton. “The visual appeal and texture of stone complement a palette of enduring materials. The roughest cut and most varied color range are found in the reclaimed fieldstone site walls, which seem to grow from the landscape. The narrow color range of the natural cleft limestone utilized on the buildings is complemented by classical detailing executed in highly refined cut Indiana limestone.”

A custom installation

“There was a lot of stone involved in this project,” said Cary Broocks, vice president of operations at Empire Marble & Granite Co. in Richmond, VA. “We were on site for two years.”

Broocks worked closely with the fabricators from 3D Stone, Inc. in Bloomington, IN, who shaped 12,000 cubic feet of stone for the project. “The architect, fabricator, and installer were all on the same page from day one,” said Kurt Sendek, owner of 3D Stone. “The details on the drawings were superb, and the installers from Empire Marble & Granite knew what they were doing. The team worked seamlessly from the beginning of the project.”

During the construction of the home, there were many intricately crafted pieces that needed to be transported almost 600 miles, which was done with ease, according to Sendek. “There were less than five pieces that needed adjustments,” he said.

“Out of my 30 years of experience, this was the smoothest project we’ve ever worked on,” added John Cunningham, 3D Stone’s head estimator and project manager, who was on the jobsite throughout the duration of the project.

After the home’s completion, the team from 3D Stone engineered a 22-foot-tall obelisk at the owner’s request, which Kurt described as a “great feat.” “There were three pieces that had to match identically on each side,” he explained. “We had to lay that out in the factory to make sure all four sides, as it tapered, were perfect — and as it went up, it would be perfect. This was a very unique part of the project that stood out as being grandiose. It was the first time we’ve ever done something like this.”

“We’ve done some small projects on the property for the owners over the past couple years since we finished,” Broocks added. “They’re very happy with how everything turned out.”

V House took four years to complete, with equal amounts of time focused on the design and construction. The project was the recipient of a 2017 Pinnacle Award in the Residential category. “It was our first time constructing something like this,” said Paxton. “It is custom from the ground up. People don’t come to us for something they’ve seen before.”

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An earlier version of this article appeared in Building Stone Magazine. All photos courtesy of Rugo Stone.

European churches are more than just places of worship—they are centers of design. Incorporating massive stone columns and ornate decorations crafted centuries ago, these spaces are a source of inspiration for much of today’s architecture, especially in the religious sector.

For the 25,000-square-foot Sacred Heart Cathedral in Knoxville, TN, architects drew inspiration from Baroque architecture to create something reminiscent of the Old World.

“The priest and bishop both insisted on a marble floor throughout the church,” said James McCrery, founder of McCrery Architects, LLC in Washington, D.C. “They wanted stone on all of the flooring.”

Although the clergy specified marble, the most prominent material used in the design of traditional Roman Catholic churches, they gave McCrery and his team free range to select the specific types. After careful selection and consultation with the stone supplier, Rugo Stone, more than one dozen varieties of Italian marble were selected for the different elements of the cathedral, from the flooring to solid columns, including Bianco Carrara, Calacatta Borghini, Calacatta Vagli Oro, Fior di Pesco Carnico, Giallo Siena Brocatello, Grigio Carnico, Nero Portoro, Ramon Grey, Rosso Francia Languedoc, Rosso Mangiaboschi, Statuario Michelangelo, Verde Issorie and Verde Macedonia. The marbles range in color from white and gray to yellow and red, incorporating subtle to striking veining patterns.

Merging architectural styles

The cathedral contains 20 solid marble columns, as well as various marble-clad liturgical elements, which were carefully crafted by fabricators from Italy and the United States.

The center aisle leading to the sanctuary features a unique geometric paving pattern of vertical rectangles intertwining with circles, with bookmatched Fior di Pesco Carnico. The design was inspired by the works of the famous Roman family of architects and workers, the Cosmati. The Cosmati created decorative geometric mosaics used mainly for church floors and inspired the Cosmatesque style. This art technique was popular in the medieval Roman world, where colored stones were cut and inlaid into walls and floors, set into stone matrices or encrusted upon stone surfaces.

A total of 10,500 square feet of marble was used for the intricate flooring patterns throughout the cathedral, with an additional 2,000 feet of marble used for pier surrounds and other elements.

With characteristics of both Baroque and Romanesque architecture, the cruciform plan of the cathedral features an exterior clad in brick and Indiana limestone. “The cathedral is set upon a hillside, creating a prominent raised granite stepped entrance,” said Brett Rugo, owner of Rugo Stone in Lorton, VA, which supplied all of the interior and exterior base stone, including Mount Airy White granite and Impala Black granite. “At the top of the granite steps at the portico landing is a herringbone pattern of granite, which provides a hint of the detailing that awaits as you enter the cathedral. Upon entering the narthex, there is a field of paving set in a diagonal pattern. This pattern is repeated along the perimeter aisles and transepts. The narthex field of paving is flanked, with a decorative radiating petal pattern of the same pavers welcoming you into this cathedral.”

On the north and south sides of the narthex walls, two recessed niches feature glass and stone mosaic panels, which were crafted exclusively for this project in Rugo Stone’s mosaic studio by their skilled artisans. “Each individual tesserae of stone and glass tile is hand-cut and meticulously located to create an exquisite, eye-catching detail,” said Rugo.

As you pass through the narthex, there are two solid Giallo Siena Brocatello columns on each side of the entry to the nave. The fragile Class D marble needed to be reinforced with a steel rod set within its center at full height. “The steel rods provide strength for the columns,” said Rugo. “Class D marbles tend to be weak in such long delicate spans, such as a column.”

Within the nave and transepts, there are 14 solid columns of Carrara Bianco, set upon solid Grigio Carnico octagonal and veneer bases. “These columns were installed utilizing scaffold with carrying beams and a manual chain hoist to carefully bring the columns into a vertical position and lift each column up and over the marble bases,” said Rugo. “Special engineered connections were made to the steel arches above.”

To the left of the sanctuary at the south transept is the baptismal font, which incorporates a basin of solid Carrara Bianco with an intricately carved filigree wave pattern on the side walls. “The basin is supported by a solid shaft of marble, with inlaid panels of Rosso Francia Languedoc and Neo Portoro Extra set upon a Grigio Carnico base,” said Rugo.

Creating something one-of-a-kind

The raised sanctuary features an elegant design, with special attention paid to detailed ornamentation. Continuing the Cosmati theme, the flooring is one of the most ambitious designs created for the project. “The paving pattern is a marble mosaic carpet comprised of 12 types of marble and more than 2,000 pavers and treads,” said Rugo.

The geometric-inspired design features dozens of two- and three-dimensional shapes. Each shape was meticulously crafted, incorporating at least three different types of marble, to create a unique, dimensional design.

“In the center of the mosaic marble carpet is the altar of sacrifice made of polished Statuario Michelangelo,” said Rugo. “The face panels are made of Campan Payolle Gris, Giallo Siena Brocatello and Rosso Francia Languedoc, waterjet with hand-tight joints.”

To the left of the altar is the raised cathedra, which is adorned with a decorative panel made of solid Fior di Pesco Carnico, with inlaid diamond bookmatched panels. “The bishop’s coat of arms is made of glass and stone tesserae mosaic and inlaid stone,” said Rugo, who explained that special rigging was required to lift and set this vertical panel above the chair. “This panel was carved on the rear side to mold itself around one of the four solid Rosso Francia Languedoc columns at the sanctuary.”

“The main altar is really special and beautiful,” added McCrery.

At the rear of the sanctuary, there is the altar of repose, where Communion is held on Good Friday. This raised altar is also made from polished Statuario Michelangelo, with Grigio Carnico treads and Fior di Pesco Carnico risers. To accent the white, gray and black tones of these marbles, the neighboring wall panels and paving elements were clad with a combination of Campan Payole Gris, Verde Issoire, Fior di Pesco Carnico and Bianco Carrara.

The tabernacle, located on the rear altar, was encased in Rosso Francia Languedoc and surrounded by four mini Giallo Siena Brocatello columns supporting the ciborium.

To manufacture most of the pieces within the cathedral — the columns, bases, floors, steps, altars, tabernacle, cathedra and baptismal font — a Carrara, Italy-based fabricator, Pedrini Mario Srl, was enlisted. “The fine details on the baptismal font, the rich engraved colored material on the face of the altars, and the tabernacle in red marble were completed with the highest quality,” said project manager Gianluca Ceccarelli, who worked on the project for almost eight months, coordinating with Rugo and McCrery regularly to ensure everything went according to plan. “It was a very nice and important project that we worked on.”

The overall process went smoothly. “Rugo is amazing; they don’t have problems,” said McCrery. “They have good design and shop drawings. They went in and went to work.” Rugo enlisted a team of four masons and six finishers to complete the installation, which took around six months.

From design to completion, the cathedral took about two years to complete, and has received various accolades, including a 2018 Natural Stone Institute Pinnacle Award in the Commercial Interior category.

“The cathedral has been very well-received,” said McCrery. “The owners are beside themselves. The most important thing though is not the awards, but the fact that the church has seen a very sharp uptick in people joining since its opening.”

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