Now in its 24th year, the Marble Architectural Awards (MAA) honor achievements in stone architecture, and they focus on a different area of the world each year. For the 2008 edition, the MAA focused on trends in the use of natural stone in Central and South America and South Africa. (The competition also invited architects to submit projects completed in Australia, although none were selected as top winners for 2008.) Response to the competition was solid, as the jury was asked to examine over 60 projects this year.
Those traveling through the new South Terminal at Miami International Airport in Miami, FL, will be greeted by more than security gates and baggage claim carousels. Within the new structure is literally a work of art, which was created by sculptor Brad J. Goldberg of Dallas, TX. Titled “Coral Eden,” the project features two expansive Italian travertine walls — each stretching approximately 100 feet tall and 30 feet wide and intricately carved to resemble Brain Coral.
Located in Soave, Italy, amid the world-renowned vineyards for Soave white wine, Piero Zanella s.r.l. crafts architectural stonework for prominent projects around the world, and it recently purchased a quarry in Serbia to extract multiple varieties of marble.
For Russ Owens and Jeff Hanning, current owners of Paragon Granite in Fresno, CA, a mid-life career change meant making the leap into stone fabrication. And while the market has slowed quite substantially since the company first began in 2001, the company has developed creative programs to increase market share and continue to grow the success of their business, which now produces an average of 10 to 12 kitchen a week.
Initially founded by Luciano, Luigi and Adriano Quintarelli as the Lessinia Stone Co., Pietra della Lessinia Srl is an Italian stone-processing company rich in history and craftsmanship. The Quintarelli family, who still owns the stone business today, initially started out cutting blocks by hand in the early 1960s. Through the decades, the management of the company passed down from generation to generation, and in the 1980s, the business officially became named Pietra della Lessinia.
The careful planning and team collaboration that went into the design and building of the Latter-Day Saints (LDS) Temple — located in the Sacramento region of California — established a smooth construction process for an inspiring religious landmark, according to Principal-in-Charge Brian Everett of Nichols, Melburg & Rossetto’s Sacramento office, which served as the architect for this project.
In order to consolidate Sprint’s operations, which were situated in more than 60 separate locations across Kansas City, into one central facility, the Sprint World Headquarters campus was designed in Overland Park, KS. And of the 18 new facilities, the Headquarters Building features more than 10,000 pieces of limestone and marble for flooring and columns.
Focusing on what President Chris Sanzaro refers to as the “ultra high-end market,” Granite Tops, Inc. of Mount Vernon, NY, fabricates an average of 2,500 square feet of stone per week. The company was founded 11 years ago based on the attitude that “if the machine can cut it, we will make it, as long as we can have a high-quality product in the end,” Sanzaro explained.
Although not generally considered part of the stone “trade,” the work of sculptors around the world offer an innovative look into the three-dimensional aspects of the material. Their work manipulates stone in ways that utilize light, shadow and texture, and they are continually searching for new materials.
Scheduled for May 29 to June 1, 2008 in the renowned stoneworking center of Carrara, Italy, the CarraraMarmotec exhibition has historically served as a venue to exhibit and see some of the latest introductions in natural stone products as well as stoneworking technology. It has also been a forum where natural stone suppliers can collaborate with architects and designers, and organizers are looking to expand on this aspect of the fair as it adapts to a new biennial format.
Over the past decade or so, the stone fabrication industry has clearly moved towards the kitchen countertop sector. And with this in mind, it is natural that many stone fabricators are regularly offering sinks to their customers. This is not only a service to the homeowners, but it also allows stone fabricators to become familiar with certain sink shapes and styles. But like all products, the choices for sinks are growing on a daily basis and manufacturers are looking to increase practicality, durability, aesthetics and other factors.
What began as a glass company in 1955 has since evolved into a stone fabrication business now in its fourth generation of family employees. Bailes Granite of Charleston, WV, currently owned and operated by Sue and John Carper, switched from the glass industry to stone production in 2001, when the company was averaging just one kitchen a week. Today, the company puts out about 15 to 20 kitchens a week, and it is looking to expand its business territory to include all areas of West Virginia within the next few years.
The three-story, 132,000-square-foot Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA, was designed in two phases to support research in biotechnology, bioinformatics, environmental science, health technologies and functional genomics. Programming, planning, design and construction administration for both phases of the project were implemented by Calloway Johnson Moore & West P.A. of Winston-Salem, NC, and the facility is expected to serve as an integral component to the long-term growth of the University’s campus.
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