To make the new building fit in with its surroundings, the architects researched other local government buildings. The pattern in the marble flooring of the Senate building was inspired by similar floor patterns in the nearby U.S. Naval Academy and State House -- a reflection of the attention the architects paid to local, historical precedent. "There's an alternating checkered pattern in those buildings that specifically changes the scale of how you read the space," Noussair said. "A direct checker turns into a very small pattern and a very busy one. However, in these designs, the geometry isn't as strong. In those two cases, we saw banding that made the geometry a lot more interesting."
And because this pattern was available off the shelf, the installation was easy as well. "The 12- x 12-inch tiles we used were easy to set and look at close up," Noussair said. "The weren't imposing and could be easily manipulated in scale for the big space."