Fifteen stone and tile projects were acknowledged at the fourth annual Coverings Installation & Design (CID) Awards, a program that honors outstanding design and installation of stone and tile in residential, commercial, sustainable and international projects. A panel comprised of notable editors, leading designers, installation experts and representatives from Ceramics of Italy, the Tile Council of North America (TCNA), Tile of Spain and National Tile Contractors Association (NTCA) evaluated nearly 150 submissions based on technical execution, unique material applications, and overall design and purpose, and awarded high honors to those projects demonstrating spectacular stone and tile applications. In total, $20,000 in prize money was awarded to the winning designers and installers during the inaugural CID Awards & Opening Night Celebration, held Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at the Orange County Convention Center.
“The projects submitted in the 2015 Coverings Installation & Design Awards program once again represent some of the highest levels of skill and creativity in the tile and stone industry,” said Karin Fendrich, Coverings show director. “Coverings congratulates and commends all the designers and installers from these winning projects for truly illustrating visionary designs and exacting installation techniques.” The following is a look at the projects that were recognized in the stone categories.
Date: July 6, 2015Grand Prize Stone Design Winner
Project: The Film Archive and Preservation Center
Submission Type: Commercial Stone Installation
Supplier/Distributors: All natural stone sourced through Trade International of Atlanta, GA
Setting materials supplied by Bedrosians, Pre-Mix Products, Advanced Stainless
Project Description: The project consists of over 104,800 square feet of handset exterior Belmonte and Fondola limestone from Trani, Italy, converging into natural open beam wood ceilings, terracotta roof tiles and bronze clad doors. It also contains 14,000 square feet of handset interior Pietra Serena stone from Firenzoula, Italy, with 2,500 square feet of white marble from Carrara, Italy, acting in concert with handmade Italian terra-cotta paving and Florentine plastered walls.
The building is comprised of two distinct parts, the Collections Storage and the STOA. The Collections Storage is a large partially underground structure, housing collection storage vaults, lab facilities and a central plant for the entire project. The STOA, inspired by the ancient Greek “STOA of Attalos,” is a T-shaped structure housing preservation labs, work rooms and administrative offices. Along the two exterior colonnades of the STOA are (64 14-foot-tall and 58 10-foot-tall) fluted columns installed over the buildings structural columns, with 62 intricately carved lattice handrails set in between.
Dividing the floors of the colonnades is a 5-foot-tall entablature with massive 8- x 2-foot beams at its bottom, metope and triglyph carvings in its center and 800-pound moldings at its top.
Crowning the colonnades is a 4-foot-tall stone cornice, consisting of 8-foot-long beams below five courses of moldings, which are 4 feet long. On four elevations of the building are classical Greek pediments comprised of cubic limestone. Over 70,000 square feet of limestone wall cladding and window trim cover the building, all mounted with stainless steel clips attached to stainless steel framing.
Surrounding the building is 11,000 square feet of honed Biancone paving, 6,000 square feet of 6-inch-thick honed Biancone cubic stair treads and 6,600 square feet of 3-inch-thick tumbled Fondola limestone paving in random modules, with the largest being 36 x 30 inches. (A special tumbling machine was manufactured to achieve such large tumbled modules). Lining the bottom of the building is 5,000 square feet of natural roughback Fondola limestone. Set at a 5-degree angle, it replicates the look of a stacked block foundation like those found in many structures from antiquity.
The interior of the building, styled from the Florentine monastery of San Marco in Florence, Italy, contains 11,000 linear feet of carved Pietra Serena stone base at the floor in every room and corridor, with 116 doorways framed by “L”-shaped Pietra Serena trim and Pietra Serena thresholds. Along the top of the second floor corridor walls is 400 linear feet of Pietra Serena crown mold trim and in the middle of the STOA building, an atrium surrounded by Pietra Serena moldings, paving and overhanging cubic balconies. There are five staircases clad completely in Pietra Serena, and in every room Pietra Serena countertops at the windows, and sills under the air vents. The building’s 16 bathrooms have a total of 2,000 square feet of Carrara white marble paving and lavatory tops 8-inch-thick with sinks hand carved into them.
Sustainable Stone Design Winner
Project: Alston & Bird LLP Atlanta Offices
Submission type: Sustainability – Stone Design
Reasons for being a sustainable design:
The 16-floor project is LEED Gold certified under IDC 2009. All adhesives, grouts, sealers and paints were specified low/no VOCs. It re-used 60% of the project furniture, and the Department of Energy has created a case study of the project for its use of LED downlights and other lights to save an average of approximately 26% over the firm’s previous law office space.
Supplier/Distributors: All natural stone tile from Marmi Natural Stone and porcelain from Porcelanosa, Atlanta, GA; all Laticrete products from Specialty Tile, Atlanta, GA, 3N1 from US Adhesives, Symrna, GA; grout from Custom Building Products, Federal Tile, Emser Tile and Home Depot
Project Description: The timeless beauty of natural stone is the heart of one’s experience upon entering the headquarters of this international law firm. Marble’s lasting strength provides the right visual cue to reflect the firm’s stability, long history and quality. Wood veneers provide a warming counterbalance to the light colors and black and white of the marbles.
The firm wanted a contemporary, functional and sustainable law office design in the new offices. The firm sought to do this well within the historic budget range for offices of similar firms nationally and locally. The designers had the advantage of working with the law firm for more than 30 years. It understood the value of timeless design incorporating advanced technology to achieve its objectives.
The offices include state-of-the-art communications technology. Attorney floors are secure from the more public three-floor reception and conference center. The connecting elevator lobbies continue the signature Calacatta Caldia, China Black and Galala Extra marble floors of slab and tile. Walls of the conference level elevator lobbies and reception area are Calacatta Caldia slab material and the reception desk stone is Calacatta Viola. A variety of other stone is used throughout the firm. The conference center, in addition to conference rooms, incorporates a dining room, mock courtroom, jury rooms and judges’ chambers that double as conference rooms and executive offices. Videoconferencing is on all floors, including attorney and staff floors.
Since the goal was to renovate in place, the team also had to design, construct and phase the 16-floor space, including reconstructing 10 existing floors, with minimum disruption to the law practice.
For durability and sustainability, stone was a natural choice for public area finishes and continued a firm tradition of using a variety of marble and granite for conference table and countertops. The firm received the LEED certification and is currently the third largest law office in the world to achieve LEED Gold certification for its sustainability. The Department of Energy has just completed a case study on the firm’s energy efficiency gained through use of LED lighting and advanced control systems.
Designing for life-safety, ADA and sustainability within an existing 25-year-old business tower required innovative solutions. These included rebuilding building core restrooms to meet ADA laws, while bettering current water use codes for LEED and adding additional restrooms for conference floor occupancy loads. Conference floor core restrooms use Silver Pitororo tile and Calacatta Caldia slab and tile.
Innovations implemented and added services provided in the space:
1. Life safety elements included a concealed three-hour rated fire curtain to close off a three-floor convenience stair and concealed vertical and horizontal fire screens and fire doors that create horizontal exits for assembly capacity on the conference floors.
2. Extensive LED lighting, individual power/lighting sensors and full networked digital controls for AV, lighting and window shades to increase functional use and energy efficiency.
3. Full inventory and editing of existing furniture and art for reuse. Reused furniture was more than 60% of the total furniture value.
Commercial Stone Design Winner
Project: Multi-Denominational Chapel/ Meeting Room
Submission Type: Commercial Stone Design
Stone Supplier: Moyer Marble and Tile
Project Description: This multi-denominational chapel/meeting room for a hospital is 3,800 square feet of renovated interior space within a large medical outpatient clinic and hospital campus. Serving the needs of the patients and their families, the staff and the larger hospital community, the goal was to create contemplative space that provides a place of respite, solace and support.
The chapel/meeting room renovation project consisted of the demolition of the existing medical reference library and support spaces. The area of renovation, including the storage room across the hall, is approximately 3,800 square feet of renovated space. Spaces included are a chapel/multi-purpose meeting room, sacristy, entry vestibule, lounge, storage room and support offices. Building systems were updated to accommodate the new layout with special attention given to A/V systems, lighting aesthetics and functionality.
Turning off the hospital’s main circulation corridor, visitors are immediately embraced by the organic and sculptural shapes of the lobby vestibule, creating a calming transition from the harsh sterility of the hospital environment into the warmth of the chapel. The entry flooring is composed of porcelain tile with a realistic image of petrified wood that is purported to have healing powers. The entry wall utilized limestone, which is installed as a vertical tile and allows the sculpted shapes to create an overall dynamic movement to the entry that emulates water worn stone. Juxtaposed next to warm sustainable wood walls, as well as showering cove lights, the hard surface tile and sculpted limestone of the project are beautiful and enhance the overall feeling of the space with depth and texture.
Prior to entering the main gathering space, guests stop in the waiting area to write a personal prayer message on special notecards that are then folded and inserted into a cascading wood-slat prayer wall, reminiscent of the tradition of placing notes in the Western Wall in the city of Jerusalem. The prayer wall reflects beautifully in the highly reflective porcelain pavers giving helpful illusion of height to the space.
International Stone Design Winner
Project: Hyde Park Gardens
Submission Type: International Stone Design
Supplier/Distributors: Gormley Group (marble supplier
and setting materials)
Project Description: The project at Hyde Park Gardens was to refurbish a series of bathrooms and a cloakroom, using marble to create a series of luxurious interiors of extraordinary high quality. The project overcame a series of challenges, including sourcing the materials and combined technical expertise with craftsmanship to produce outstanding results.
The property at Hyde Park Gardens is an apartment within an imposing terrace of early 19th century houses on the northern edge of Hyde Park. The client had embarked on a series of refurbishments and upgrades to the property. The existing bathrooms had been fitted out with ordinary stone tiles and sanitary ware and the client was keen to replace these to a much higher and bespoke specification.
The client was attracted by the rich aesthetic qualities of marble and asked for it to be used not only to clad walls and floors, but also for bespoke sink units. The architect began sourcing material from suppliers in Italy — a process which gave rise to a number of significant challenges. A number of stone options were presented to the client, who finally decided to use Calcatta Oro marble (gold variant) because of its strong veins and beautiful coloring. Extensive pattern studies were made and discussed in detail with the client to decide on how the marble panels should be arranged and matched in each room. Supply was a major difficulty, as the project was competing against much larger purchasers for limited quantities of stone. Unfortunately, the job was outbid on selected blocks on more than one occasion. Once a block had been purchased, faults were discovered that made it unsuitable, meaning that the sourcing process had to begin again. Finally, a suitable block was found and purchased that met the client’s specification.
The architects specified that the marble block be cut as thinly as possible, with the resulting slabs supported on the back with a lightweight aluminum honeycomb to give strength to each panel. This allowed panels to be brought on site and fitted with relative ease.
In the master en suite bathroom and elsewhere, statuary marble is juxtaposed with Cararra marble for countertops to provide an attractive materials contrast, and the stonework is offset in each room by bespoke timber shelving and high-quality sanitary ware. It is the large marble panels that are the most impressive feature, however. Each room offers outstanding examples of stone craftsmanship with large and perfectly matching panels set out in an attractive bookmatching arrangement.
Residential Stone Design Winner
Project: Tripartite House
Submission Type: Residential Stone Design
Stone Supplier: Il Casone
Setting Material Suppliers: Daltile, BPI
Reasons for being a sustainable design:
The home is undergoing LEED certification and anticipated to receive LEED for Homes platinum rating though use of sustainable materials, energy-minded features and water conservation. The home includes high-performance insulation and AC system, low-flow plumbing and a rainwater collection system connected to a pond and bio-filtration feature at the entry designed to meet the site’s entire irrigation demand. Glazing features a hydrophilic nanocoating with self-cleaning properties. Long-term durability and appropriate use of materials is a key factor in sustainability, leading to the selection of natural stone. Although the material was sourced from Italy, the energy in transportation via sea freight to the port of Houston was less than typical ground transportation from either West or East Coast to the central region, saving over 4 million BTU of energy per ton. By arranging shipping, the design-build team was able to control the carbon emissions that were utilized in this process. Another innovative approach to sustainability was the utilization of BIM technology to accurately model the material and create a detailed cut list that was used by the quarry. This helped minimize jobsite waste, reduce transportation costs and minimize onsite dust in the cutting process to improve indoor air quality. Additional attributes of natural stone as a material is that it is non-toxic, recyclable and of an enduring life-cycle enhancing the sustainable aspects of the project.
Project Description: Set on a busy street in a transitional neighborhood, Tripartite House helps define a new standard for urban infill with a home that reflects design innovation, quality, authenticity and sustainability. The home is divided into three stacked zones addressing the divisions of public and private space.
The first floor extends outward, engaging views in the public realm with large expanses of glass as infill between cast in place concrete walls. The second floor utilizes solid forms focused inward to private spaces and screened views such as the zinc clad cantilevered volume that floats above the entry. The third floor opens upward to capture rooftop views where occupants enjoy the evening skyline and sunset above the fray.
Materiality is essential to the design, creating an ethereal mood and experience throughout the space. The minimalist style and clean lines create a calming spa-like environment and feeling of luxury. The notion of simplicity, however, is complex in execution as every joint and transition needs to line up with perfect accuracy. The team solved this challenge and was able to coordinate precision across multiple trades with a design-build approach and integration of BIM technology where every material was accurately modeled in 3D and verified in the field throughout construction. For example, the stone layout in the master shower involved understanding the true dimension of wall framing, backer board and material thickness to ensure that the grout joints perfectly aligned with plumbing elements, the linear drain, window heights and the joints that continue through the flooring beyond. Based on the 3D model, a detailed material cut list was coordinated with the quarry and the material was cut to order to minimize waste.
The primary design feature is the use of natural stone, Italian Pietra Forte Fiorentina, chosen for its warm gray tones and consistency. Flecks of mica in the stone add a subtle sparkle and luxurious quality. A special “silk” finish applied to the surfaces added a tactile sensation of softness to a material that is hard in nature. Used throughout the home, the stone creates a cohesive design experience. This starts with the bridge element approaching the front door and is carried inside to accent the fireplace hearth, the kitchen counter, the stair treads and the bathrooms throughout the home. Ancillary accent tile was used alongside the natural stone in secondary areas, including Mutina folded porcelain tile, custom-colored American made artisan tile in the kids baths and glass mosaic tile in the guest baths. Careful attention to material selection in the design and detailing of the installation adds beauty, simplicity, authenticity and luxury to this home.
For the master bath, Pietra Forte Fiorentina natural stone is used throughout the bathroom flooring, walls and shower — unifying the space in a spa-like feel.
Residential Stone Installation Winner
Project: Private Residence
Submission Type: Residential Stone Installation
Supplier/Distributors: Olympia Tile and Stone, Ciot, Caesarstone Canada, Dal-Tile and Prosol Durox Floor Accessories
Project Description: This high-end residential project consisted of 5,000 square feet of 36- x 36-inch Pallisandro Classico marble slab flooring, 1,500 square feet of Pallisandro Classico custom-cut marble slabs, 3,500 square feet of 18- x 18-inch Pallisandro Classico marble tile, 1,000 square feet of limestone tile, 1,500 square feet of 12- x 24-inch marble tile and marble mosaics, 800 square feet of miscellaneous slab flooring, 1,100 square feet of marble, granite and quartz counters, as well as approximately 500 square feet of glass mosaics. To say the least, this was a sizable project and would require a great amount of preparation, coordination and highly skilled employees to make it all come together. The Pallisandro blocks were selected and then were approved to be processed and cut into slabs; 36- x 36-inch and 18- x 18-inch tile format. All other materials were then selected and matched to meet the needs of the client and the designer. Once the materials were procured, the design was worked on and detailing of the four waterjet slab feature panels: the grand foyer panel measures 15 x 15 feet, the two smaller main floor panels measure 6 x 9 feet and the basement panel measures 5 x 15 feet. Overall, the project would require five highly skilled employees, two laborers and one project manager for a period of 10 months. Work slowly commenced, first on some of the bathrooms, then the spa and steam areas, before splitting off and assigning the main floor to one crew and the basement to another. Layout of the main floor, which included the grand foyer, three connecting corridors, the great room and kitchen, took a great deal of time ensuring everything tied together, given the large area and given its detailed borders and waterjet panels. Furthermore, there were a series of slab stairs and stair nosings to tie into the main floor. Progress was slow and tedious. The basement and its associated areas continued at the same time albeit at a more progressive rate.
Commercial Stone Installation Winner
Project: Swift Plaza
Submission Type: Commercial Stone Installation
Supplier/Distributors: ASCS International – Tom Richardson; Dal Tile – setting material
Project Description: Custom waterjet 2-cm stone lobby floor installed over a mortar bed that was required to meet different heights throughout the lobby. The stone was laid over crack suppression membrane and installed in sequence to achieve pattern and grain match laid out overseas.
Completed Lobby Floor
Photo by Leo Pennacchio
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