Jura Beige marble — supplied by JMS of Eichstätt, Germany — establishes an impressive face for the new Zions Bank Financial Center in Provo, UT. With the banking institution’s origins dating back to the early days of the Mormon settlement of Utah — when the Zion’s Savings Bank and Trust Company was founded by Brigham Young in 1873 — the use of natural stone in the building’s exterior design reinforces its long-standing image.

The Jura marble is featured on the first 20 feet above grade of the building’s facade as well as the higher detailed entrance areas at the bank branch. “We always anticipated stone for the building,” said architect Steven G. Bruemmer, AIA NCARB of Elliott Workgroup Architecture of Park City, UT. “We would have loved to run stone for the entire high-rise, however, to provide transitions in the building materials and the overall project budget limited our use of stone to the main retail level and bank branch.”

The overall design concept for the new Zions Bank Financial Center, which was conceived by Craig Elliott — Architect of Record and Principal of Elliott Workgroup Architecture —  was to create a building that responded to the pedestrian scale at the lower floors, while allowing the mid-rise building to step back from the street, according to Bruemmer. “We chose Jura marble because it is highly durable and formed a strong base for the building,” he said.

In total, approximately 5,000 square feet of Jura Beige — with the main quantity having a thickness of 30 mm — was employed for the exterior facade. The stone was taken from “layer 15” of the Neumeyer & Brigl quarry.

According to the architect, his client was very involved with the selection process. “We traveled to [the installer], KEPCO+’s factory as well as reviewing several site mock-up panels prior to approving the final selection,” said Bruemmer.

One of the more challenging aspects of the design was detailing the colossal stone columns at the entrance of the bank branch. “We provided some historical and architectural research based on the Zions First national Bank located in Salt Lake City, as well as working with KEPCO+ to determine the proposed proportions and engineering for the columns,” said the architect. “Steven Judd from KEPCO+ then worked to provide and recommend the detailing for the shop drawings. This was a relatively easy process.”

Bruemmer explained that he and his design team spent much time on the jobsite observing the installation. “We were on site at least once a week during construction,” he said. “The stone install was smooth — with only a few transitions and sealant questions that were resolved in the field.”

The Zions Bank facility — stretching nine stories tall and spanning approximately 140,000 square feet — includes a full parking basement, one primary floor of commercial lease space and seven floors of tenant offices. Construction commenced in July of 2008, and the project was completed in March 2010.

“We worked with several parties/owners for this project to complete the Core and Shell for PEG Development as well as a few of the tenant finish areas for Zions Bank and Parentlink,” said Bruemmer. “To my knowledge, all parties were very pleased with the building. We also designed the ‘Rock Canyon’ room for Zions Bank, which is a conference facility on the 8th floor overlooking the Wasatch mountains, which has been very successful.”