Liberty Mutual Insurance Company World Headquarters Boston, Massachusetts

MIA Member Company: 

Kenneth Castellucci & Associates, Inc.

Lincoln, Rhode Island

Stone Installer

Other Project Team Members: 

Liberty Mutual Insurance Company

Client

CBT Architects

Architects

Turner Construction Company

Construction Manager

Polycor (MIA Member)

Euromarble 

Granites of America 

Stone Suppliers

Euromarble Structural Stone, LLC 

Stone Fabricator

Stones:

Roman travertine 

Cambrian Black granite

Jet Mist granite

This project encompasses the expansion of the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company world headquarters within an urban corporate campus in Boston, MA. The new twenty-two-story office building lobby is an elegant two-story space connected by a grand staircase of stone and glass. 

The first floor lobby welcomes employees and visitors into the building. The second floor lobby connects to a pedestrian bridge and corporate cafeteria. The lobby walls are comprised of a series of articulated travertine panels accented by floor to ceiling light coves that highlight the articulation. Dark cherry wood panels complement the 10,000 sq. ft. of Roman travertine. The floors consist of two types of North American granite: Jet Mist and Cambrian Black featuring thermal finishes.

The most challenging aspect of the interior installation was the use of Roman travertine. The design plan called for a completely uniform background color with individual stones placed randomly to avoid a repetitive pattern.

This was achieved by having the project team make six trips to Italy. The initial trip entailed reviewing the slabs to establish the allowable range of material and size of the allowable fissures. 

Subsequent trips included visiting the quarry to hand select the seven blocks required for the project and a trip to the fabrication facility to review the slabs from the selected blocks to ensure that they met the design intent and the allowable range approved during the initial trip. Another visit to the fabrication facility to review the entire 10,000 sq. ft. dry-laid elevation by elevation allowed the architect to reject any stones that did not meet the approved range. 

In addition, the architect was able to place individual pieces to achieve the desired “random” look. After each dry-lay was completed, each stone was assigned an individual number to determine its final installation location in the lobby.