Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA) recently completed a $70 million renovation at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa in Newport Beach, CA. Calvin Dix, a senior associate with the firm, was in charge of the design and selected a palette of earth-toned colors to enhance the surrounding coastal setting, and quartzite was utilized as flooring throughout most of the public spaces.
Over 60,000 square feet of quartzite from SpecCeramics was selected for the high-traffic areas due to its high density, easy maintenance and slip-resistant qualities. The material - utilized in 16- x 16-inch tiles - was selected at the client’s request to add a variegated, rustic look to the space.
Corradini Corp. of Los Angeles, CA, was in charge of the installation. Due to the quartzite’s natural cleft, some tiles were thicker than others, and therefore the installers had to use a deeper-than-usual mortar bed to form continuity.
Additionally, SpecCeramics supplied a variety of porcelain tiles for the guestrooms, including 4 ¼- x 4 ¼-inch porcelain tiles for the bathtub wall areas, 6- x 6-inch tiles for the bathroom floors and 12- x 12-inch pieces for the kitchen floors. Brazilian Ubatuba granite countertops and bar tops can also be found throughout the hotel, and were supplied by SpecCeramics as well.
“We are very pleased with this project,” said Dave Leal, president of SpecCeramics. “We wanted the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa to be a ‘signature project’ for our firm -
one that exemplified progressive design and specification of both natural stone and porcelain tile materials. By all means, this was a world-class project that more than exceeded our highest expectations.”