MIA+BSI’s prestigious Pinnacle Awards honor stone companies around the world for projects that stand out above the rest.

Again this year Marmomac presented a Grande Pinnacle Award to an architect from the firm involved with the winning project. In addition, that architect won a trip to Marmomac to attend Veronafiere’s week-long continuing education program on designing with natural stone.

The Slippery Rock Gazette will present coverage of the 2016 Pinnacle Awards for Excellence and Merit over the next two issues.

Minnesota State Capitol Restoration St. Paul, Minnesota

Minnesota State Capitol Restoration St. Paul, Minnesota

The Minnesota State Capitol exterior stone restoration may just be the largest and most complex restoration project the United States has ever seen.

Stone field measuring, fabrication, installation, and carving took place over a four-year period without breaks from the harsh Minnesota winters.

The project architects used the same White Georgia marble selected by the building’s first architect, Cass Gilbert, 115 years ago.

This selection resulted in a final product where the new stone matched perfectly in color and veining to the original building stone.

The project architects took great care in preserving as much original stone as possible. In the end, 4,000 new stones were supplied.

Each stone required its own set of shop tickets plus patterns, which ultimately made each stone unique for installation and blending into the existing façade.

Established MIA+BSI companies Polycor and Twin City Tile and Marble Company had key roles in making this project a success.

Polycor, owner of the White Georgia quarry, coordinated the block selections and all fabrication.

Twin City Tile and Marble Company performed the field measuring, job site scheduling, and ornamental stone carving.

Five separate stone companies from North America and Italy fabricated the stone, with three being MIA+BSI companies: Tennessee Marble Company, Italmarble Pocai, and Cutting Edge Stone.

Success in communication between all stone team members resulted in less than a one percent fabrication error rate and kept the stone schedule on time and within budget.

In the end, it was a team effort by all stone companies.

As project architect Virginia Lackovic wrote: “The work will endure for generations to come, as will the friendships and working relationships developed in the process of this ambitious undertaking.”

  

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MIA+BSI Member Companies

Polycor, Inc.

Quebec City, Quebec

Stone Supplier


Twin City Tile and Marble

Eagan, Minnesota

Stone Fabricator | Stone Supplier
Stone Carver


Italmarble Pocai

Massa, Italy

Stone Fabricator


Tennessee Marble Company

Friendsville, Tennessee

Stone Fabricator


Cutting Edge Stone, Inc.

Alpharetta, Georgia

Stone Fabricator


Bonstone Materials Corp.

Mukwonago, Wisconsin

Stone Fabricator


Other Project Team Members


State of Minnesota

Client


HGA Architects and Engineers

Executive Architects


Wiss, Janney, Elstner Assoc. Inc.

(MIA+BSI Member Company)

Restoration Architects and Engineers


JE Dunn Construction

General Contractor


Traditional Cut Stone

Art Cubus International

Stone Fabricators


Mark 1 Restoration

Stone Installer | Stone Carver


Kuehn’s Drafting Services

Stone Tickets and Digital Templates


Stone

White Georgia Marble

 


“The number of disciplines working together on this project is exemplary and shows overall project quality throughout. You can tell where one contractor’s scope ends and another starts – true teamwork.”

“A very thorough renovation
of a very complex façade. It’s
 no wonder that it the
collaboration of so many
MIA+BSI members.”

“A monumental task accomplished
with great skill and teamwork!”