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.
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