The Marble Institute of America's prestigious and coveted Pinnacle Awards honor stone companies around the world for projects that clearly stand out above the rest.
The Pinnacle Awards competition drew a record number of entries in 2010 and at the same time presented the largest number of awards in its many-year history.
Judging the numerous entries was a challenging task. The four-judge panel had many spirited discussions as they reviewed entries and determined the winners of the various categories - residential, commercial and renovation. The final selection was for the top overall project to receive the coveted Grande Pinnacle Award, sponsored by Marmomacc, the world's most important stone show, in Verona, Italy.
Awards are presented to projects whose beauty, creativity, ingenuity and craftsmanship exemplify professional mastery in the use of natural stone.
The Pinnacle Awards are open to all MIA member companies. Projects submitted must comply with MIA standards as defined in the MIA Dimension Stone Design Manual.
This year the MIA sought to identify and award a project, in one of the categories, that demonstrates environmental responsiveness and successful resolution of sustainability goals.
2010 Pinnacle Awards Judges:
Mr. Christian R. Pongratz
Pongratz Perbellini Architects
VRoooMSTUDIO
Verona, Italy
Mr. John Cook, FAIA, Vice President
HGA Architects and Engineers
Minneapolis, MN
Edward Farr
Edward Farr Architects Inc.
Eden Prairie, MN
Guido Gliori, Immediate MIA Past President
Grazzini Brothers & Company
Eagan, MN
Award of Excellence | Commercial Interior
Tesoro Headquarters San Antonio, TX
MIA Member Company:
TexaStone Quarries, Garden City, TX - Stone Supplier
Other Project Team Members:
Patrinely Group LLC - Owner
Gensler - Design Firm
Clark Condon Associates - Landscape Architect
Pape Dawson Engineers, Inc. - Civil Engineer
D.E. Harvey Builders - General Contractor
American Stone Company of Texas, LP - Stone Installer
Stone:
Texas Pearl Limestone
Texas Hadrian Limestone
Permian Sea Coral Limestone
Breche Oriental Marble
Tesoro's new corporate campus headquarters is located on a 40-acre wooded site in the hills north of downtown San Antonio, TX. The facility includes 600,000 square feet of office space divided between two buildings; a fourteen-story mid-rise and a six-story low-rise.
The design team focused on creating a new, iconic presence for Tesoro, while remaining respectful of the landscape. To this end, the team chose to use local Texas materials to both reinforce the regional flavor and target a sustainable design goal of LEED Silver certification.
Native Texas Pearl limestone highlights major architectural features on both the exterior and interior of the project. A limestone structure forms the main "Stonehenge" entrance and leads into the grand double-height lobby that connects the two buildings.
Also accented in limestone are the employee entrance from the outdoor courtyard and a dramatic "architectural slot" that extends 14 stories high along the building's side and is visible from the highway.
A stunning three-level monumental stair is one of the campus' most spectacular design features, with an elliptical shape to mimic the curves of the building, Ribbon Sapele wood panels, Permian Sea Coral limestone floors, glass and stainless steel handrails, and custom glass treads that are lit from within.
Award of Excellence | Residential Interior/Exterior
Villa Mayavee - Phuket, Thailand
MIA Member Company:
Stones and Roses International Co. Ltd., Bangpla Bangplee, Samutprakam, Thailand
- Stone Supplier - Stone Fabricator - Stone Installer
Other Project Team Members:
Mr. Gabriel Cardona, Mr. Paitoon Arunrat - Clients
Mr. Martin Palleros-Tierra Design - Architect
S. Charoenthongkiat Ltd. Part. - General Contractor
Stone:
Black Slate
Volcanic Grey Basalt
Limestone
Interpreting the traditional typology of Thai residences - utilizing separate pavilions but having a unity as a whole - the four-level building forms a Z shape with a guest wing and master wing connected by the elevated living room.
The exterior stonework contributes to creating a sense of unity: the forecourt and drop-off paved with black slate leading to a large reflection pond that is paved and clad with the same stone. The reflection pond shadowed by the living space forms a threshold between the forecourt and the expanse of the ocean.
Large slabs of black slate pave the walkways. Volcanic grey basalt clad walls with their expressive horizontal pointing (worked by alternating two different textures of the same material) pay homage to the clarity of the horizon. The main feature wall is 35m long and is capped by the basalt clad water feature of the fourth floor Jacuzzi.
The interior stonework also plays an important role in creating this sense of unity: the warm limestone flooring runs across the building and connects all areas through a set of terraces, corridors and staircases. At the center is the elevated living room a 35 x 11m large rectangular area paved with large slabs (900 x 900mm) of warm honed limestone. The limestone paving connects to terraces paved with the same limestone in a rougher texture and then continues through the staircases and corridors into the guest wing and the master wing.
Award of Excellence | Renovation Restoration
O.C. Tanner Flagship Jewelry Store Salt Lake City, UT
MIA Member Company:
MIA Member Companies: KEPCO+ Salt Lake City, UT -Stone Installer
Valders Stone & Marble, Inc. Valders, WI -Stone Supplier - Stone Fabricator
Vytek Laser System Fitchburg, MA - Stone Etching
Other Project Team Members:
O.C. Tanner Company - Client
MJSA Architects - Architect
Big-D Construction - General Contractor
Caffall Tile, Child Enterprises Millcreek, Tile and Stone - Stone Installer
Stone:
Valders Buff Dolomitic Limestone
Valders Dovewhite Dolomitic Limestone
Heber Red Sandstone
In 2008, the O.C. Tanner Company purchased a vacant Salt Lake City landmark and committed to restoring it to its original grandeur.
The 18-month renovation of the historic gem culminated with the grand opening of the O.C. Tanner Flagship Jewelry Store. Originally built as a book depository in 1905, the building was later converted into the city's planetarium.
The reconstruction included the removal of a brick addition, cleaning and restoration of the historic limestone cladding, and installation of an innovative new limestone facade. Mammoth slabs of Valders Dolomitic limestone were laser engraved to literally reflect the building's history. The three-story masterpiece includes a scene from the city library at the bottom, a starry galaxy to represent the building's days as a planetarium at the top, and a portrait of O.C. Tanner symbolically unites the images in the center. The resulting entrance worked to achieve a tasteful, yet subtle, merging of past and present.
Teamwork and the coordinated efforts of several MIA Members helped to complete this breathtaking exterior, which is currently the largest stone engraving project of its kind in the world. Limestone flooring, patterned inlays, and a flowing spiral stone staircase compliment the elegant finishes of the store's interior.
Award of Merit | Commercial Exterior
MGM City Center Aria, Las Vegas, NV
MIA Member Company:
Las Vegas Rock Inc. Jean, NV
- Stone Supplier - Stone Fabricator
Other Project Team Members:
Carrara Marble Company of America, Inc. (MIA Member)
- Client - Stone Installer
Peli Clark Peli - Architect/Designer
Perini Building Company - General Contractor
Stone:
Meta-Quartzite
The City Center Project was awarded LEED Gold Certification by the USBGC, the highest level of LEED achievement given to any hotel in Las Vegas. The material supplied by Las Vegas Rock helped obtain this certification with its Cradle to Cradle Silver Certified status as a sustainable manufacturer of stone. The Aria Resort & Casino, a venue in the City Center project, is where the prominent use of Las Vegas Rock's meta-quartzite stone is on showcase.
Approximately 70,000 square feet of stone was used on this building. Pieces of the project range from 9" x 12" to 96" x 60", and were processed over a 20-month timeframe. All cuts were made within a tolerance of 1mm. The spa tower features 2' x 5' modular panels of the meta-quartzite with a honed face and a custom split-face accent band.
Approximately 5,000 square feet of randomly placed 3, 5, 7cm stone pieces make up the VIP entrance wall. This "mosaic" pattern which utilizes panels of varying thickness, gives the wall a three dimensional architectural relief that is extraordinary and welcomes the resort's most distinguished guests. The overall response to the stone at the Aria resort has been overwhelmingly positive.
Award of Merit | Commercial Exterior
Cedar Hill Government Center, Cedar Hill, TX
MIA Member Company:
TexaStone Quarries, Garden City, TX - Stone Supplier
Other Project Team Members:
Holzman Moss Architecture - Design Architect
Hunt Construction - General Contractor
Wiginton Hooker Jeffrey Architects - Architect of Record
Newman Jackson Bieberstein Landscape - Architect
Stone:
TexaStone Pink Limestone
For the first time in Texas history, three community functions are housed under one roof. The Cedar Hill Government Center houses city hall, the police department and the administrative offices of the independent school district. This unique assembly of activities was generated for public convenience, economy of operations, and greater construction value. The effective use of public space motivated this unique assembly of activities.
TexaStone Pink, a rose colored limestone, wraps each of the three major structures facing Uptown Boulevard. One building contains the administrative spaces for the school district, one the City Hall, and the third the Police Department. The sense of permanence associated with older Texas civic structures is heightened by the use of 40,000 square feet of limestone applied in four patterns; six course sizes and three finishes. The erection of varied combinations provides articulated surfaces in the strong Texas sunlight. Smooth sawn blocks form a continuous stepped five-foot band along the top of the three structures, which rusticated blocks form the building's base. In between, ashlar patterned blocks form a field with random placement of larger blocks, belt courses and special windowsill units. Large vertical windows regularly punctuate the stone. Horizontal recycled metal screens shade southfacing windows; these are perforated train car siding panels turned sideways and held in place with tension rods and turn buckles.
Award of Merit | Renovation/Restoration
Dominican House St., Thomas Chapel, Washington, DC
MIA Member Company:
Rugo Stone Lorton, VA - Stone Supplier - Stone Fabricator - Stone Installer
Other Project Team Members:
Dominican House of Study - Client
James McCrery Architects - Architect
Whalen Construction Company - General Contractor
Stone:
Bianco Perlino Marble
Olympian White Danby Marble
Rosso Nembro Marble
This small Catholic Chapel is actually a teaching Chapel for young seminarians being taught how to conduct a Catholic Mass ceremony. The chapel, originally constructed some 60 years ago, was in need of a fresh appearance and new sanctuary design.
Rugo Stone was selected to perform the careful dismantle of the existing rear altar which was fused to the rear wall of the Chapel. This highly ornate altar was taken to the shop's marble restoration factory and repolished and modified to become a free standing front altar. Rugo Stone was tasked with fabricating a new rear face of the altar to match the Bianco Perlino marble quarried 60 years ago; the match is seamless. Rugo Stone also removed the existing white marble platform, and furnished a new white marble platform of the same Olympian White Danby marble. A new fused rear altar was fabricated out of Bianco Perlino marble with Rosso Nembro as the accent color. The final phase of the project was the restoration of various round stone statues of Catholic saints. This involved repairing many chips, carving a new hand for the St. Dominic statue and fabricating various radial Bianco Perlino shelves and raised plinths for the sculptures. The project has been well received by the Dominican brothers and was completed ahead of schedule.
Award of Merit | Residential Interior/Exterior
Krungthep Kreetha, Residence Bangkok, Thailand
MIA Member Company:
Stones and Roses International Co. Ltd., Bangpla Bangplee, Samutprakam, Thailand
- Stone Supplier - Stone Fabricator - Stone Installer
Other Project Team Members:
World Trade and Accommodation - Client
A49 - Architect
World Trade and Accommodation - General Contractor
Stone:
Light Brown Sandstone
Blue Gray Slate
The architecture stands out by the use of nonorthogonal angles, broken lines and arch shape windows. The use of stone is innovative in several ways. The grey slate cladding the building is used in a rough grinded finish away from the standard natural cleft surface promoting the slate as an all application building stone.
The project sets a new way touse natural stone for roofing. The large roofs which are set below the two parallel balconies are paved with 300 x 1,200mm slabs installed on plastic stands using the same technique as elevated floors for terraces or technical floors.
The architecture innovates the use of stone as a link to blend modern architecture with the landscape; the building appears to be suspended in air above ponds, planters and trees. The bluish gray slate blends perfectly with the grass, plants and trees and creates a feeling of nature, and fosters a smooth connection between the inside and outside.
Special Pinnacle Award of Merit | Craftsmanship
Millard Sheets Mural Restoration Chase Bank, Rolling Hills, CA
MIA Member Company:
Carnevale & Lohr, Inc., Bell Gardens, CA
- Dimension Stone Contractor - Engineer - Mosaic Restoration
Other Project Team Members:
JP Morgan Chase - Owner
David Carnevale - Project Manager
Jeffrey Matthews Trade International, Inc. (MIA Member) - Consultant
Jeannie Denholm of SCAPE - Art Consultant
Stone:
Emerald Pearl Granite
Travertine
Byzantine Mosaics
This is an historic restoration job combining stone and Byzantine mosaics originally made in 1974 by a renowned artist specializing in scenic art works for Millard Sheets who, in the 1900's, made works of art for the exterior claddings of past Home Savings of America Banks (now the Chase Bank).
Rolling Hills, California depicts horses with riders and dogs following them with sea in the background. It is made from 36 panels of stone and mosaic totaling 12 x 37 feet. It required repairing the Emerald Pearl granite panels with travertine liners and removing and re-installing all the mosaics. The project took about six months.
A very intricate and detailed system was designed to protect the panels prior to removal, during transit and during restoration. This required photographs, a numbering system for each panel, taping panels to stop the continuing loss of mosaics, repairing the granite, cleaning, and basically starting the mosaic installation from scratch to re-install. Carnevale added expansion joints, new anchors and engineering for re-installation.
The work shows how stone and mosaics can come together to the artists design and last for many more years to come.
Special Pinnacle Award of Merit | Sustainability
Pioneer Courage Park, Omaha, NE
MIA Member Company:
Architectural Granite & Marble, Austin, TX
- Stone Subcontractor
Other Project Team Members:
First National Bank of Omaha - Client
JVR and Associates - Landscape Designer
HDR Inc. and Brown Sardina Inc. - Landscape Architects
RDG Planning & Design, Leo A. Daly Architects - Architects
Boody Fine Arts - Art Consultant
Kent Ullberg, Blair Buswell and Ed Fraughton - Artists
Hawkins Construction Co., Kiewit Construction Co. - Contractors
Stone:
"Hayton White"
Pioneer Courage Park in Omaha anchors a five city block array of street sculpture, green space, and water features. The site, previously used for surface parking, has been revitalized as a civic resource for educational, recreational and aesthetic experiences.
Limestone, a white stone from nearby Hayton, WI, was used to achieve many project objectives from unifying the project, to forming the contours required by the narrative, to the steps and paving that allow hands-on access to the sculpture.
The flagstone pavers, park furniture, interpretive diorama, and creek and waterfall features complete the parks. The stone was also chosen to address sustainability goals including durability, low maintenance, and controlling storm water runoff as the walls, paving, and statue bases were installed over permeable base. This approach also allows flexibility for rearrangement of new pieces, or reuse if the program changes.
The highly reflective stone allows "moonlit" lighting that saves energy and light pollution at night and, in combination with native plantings, minimizes the heat island effect during the day.
Additionally, fabrication waste from each product was used for other parts of the project. Attention to the
details of processing resulted in water and energy savings, and no waste.
Grande Pinnacle Award
Fortaleza Hall and Commons Building, Racine, WI
MIA Member Company:
Mankato Kasota Stone, Inc. Mankato, MN
- Stone Supplier - Stone Fabricator
Other Project Team Members:
SC Johnson - Client
Foster + Partners - Architect
A. Epstein & Sons - Architect of Record
Pape Dawson Engineers, Inc. - Civil Engineer
Gilbane Building Company - General Contractor
Arteaga Construction - Stone Installer
Stone:
Dolomitic Limestone
Kasota Rose Blend
Located on the SC Johnson Global headquarters in Racine, Wisconsin, the project creates companion buildings: Fortaleza Hall, which provides a permanent home for the replica Carnauba and conveys the story of H.F.
Johnson, Jr.'s flight; and the Commons, which gives the campus a new social heart. Fortaleza Hall and the Commons were built by the SC Johnson Family as a tribute to the late SC Johnson leader Sam Johnson and his father, H.F. Johnson, Jr.
Mankato Kasota Stone's goal was to achieve the design and aesthetic intent of the architects using dolomitic limestone.
Color was a critical piece in the decision making process, along with creating the radius design of the project. Both played an integral part in achieving some resemblance to the Frank Lloyd Wright building on the SC Johnson Campus. Mankato Kasota Stone used the same quarry for this project as Frank Lloyd Wright did for the copings on his Administration Building. The architectural team wanted to honor and incorporate Wright's design principles, such as bull-nosed curves on the end of the building, while still maintaining a modern design.
The Commons, a solid looking building, has a stone mass that curves around to envelope the east side of the glass pavilion. In contrast to Fortaleza Hall's open design, the Commons is constructed with solid Kasota stone walls and forms a visual separateness to the steel and glass structure of the hall.
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