As its name suggests, Grand Lux Café was designed with the intention of creating the ultimate dining experience. By incorporating a selection of rich fabrics and textures, custom handcrafted details and upscale materials such as natural stone into its design, the restaurant easily achieves the “upscale casual” appearance that it strives to project. While the first of its kind was opened several years ago in Las Vegas, other locations have since been established around the country. Among the most recent additions to the chain, which is a sister brand of The Cheesecake Factory, is the Grand Lux Café at the Town Center Mall in Boca Raton, FL, which includes elegant mosaic work that was manufactured by Mosaico Italiano of Pompano Beach, FL.
When construction began on Venuti’s Ristorante - a combination conference center, banquet hall and restaurant/lounge in Addsion, IL - owner Vittorio Venuti and his consultants selected a broad palette of stone materials for the interior as well as the exterior. And to ensure that the project would maintain its initial beauty over the long term, the contractors treated all of the stonework after installation with Fila maintenance products, including both indoor and outdoor applications.
At a private residence in North Carolina, the stonework that was fabricated and installed make the home a virtual exhibition of the possibilities in natural stone. The homeowner and stone supplier collaborated to create a one-of-a-kind space in several rooms of the residence, highlighted by innovative stonework.
As usual, Coverings 2007, which was held in Chicago, IL, from April 17 to 20, hosted the annual Prism Stone in Architecture Awards. The competition, conducted by Coverings, along with the Marble Institute of America (MIA) and Architectural Record - recognizes creative and unique architectural projects in which stone was a fundamental part of the design.
A combination of onyx and travertine transformed a contemporary master bath into a Zen-like spa in a private residence in Excelsior, MN. The stone palette - combined with 3-inch plank Brazilian Walnut flooring - created a haven where the homeowners can retreat at the end of a tiresome day.
For the design of a 4,500-square-foot private residence in Vail, CO, Fritzlen Pierce Architects sought to create a home that reflected an intimate relationship with the Gore Creek area surrounding the development, and natural stone was an obvious choice to help accomplish this goal.
When designing a private residence in Southern California, the designers were challenged to establish a Mediterranean feel with a classic Italian look to it. To meet the owner’s desired aesthetic, Massangis French limestone was selected for the exterior facade, while a number of stone materials were carried inside the home, adding to the overall charm of the space.
Natural slate roofing and natural stone flooring from Burlington of Cumbria, England, adorns both the exterior and interior of the Potton Show House - one of the main showpieces at the recently opened National Self Build and Renovation Centre in Swindon. Created by BuildStore and standing as the U.K.’s first endeavor of its kind, the three-bedroom, timber frame Potton Show House featured within the Centre utilizes Burlington Blue/Grey natural slate roofing, and the company’s stone floor tiles have been installed within the hall, dining room/kitchen and utility room.
Slate proved to be a versatile material for the redesign of a 2,700-square-foot lake home outside of Austin, TX. The multi-colored textured stone was used as flooring throughout the interior of the residence as well as for the floor surface of the veranda. Its warm tones and natural cleft finish helped to create an elegant yet relaxing family environment.
In rocky, snowy splendor, Utah's Wasatch Mountains rise as high as 12,000 feet above sea level, barely a mile east of the Utah County Courthouse in Provo, UT. Completed in 1926, and designed by Joseph Nelson of Provo, the neoclassic courthouse sits in the morning shadow of the great range. Yet even here, on this venerable building, in this seemingly pristine environment, the heavy hand of acid rain has left its destructive mark. People might think that acid rain is an unlikely culprit in Provo, which has a population of 105,000 and is located far from eastern industries, West Coast smog and vast cities that count their citizens in the millions. But unfortunately, the city was plagued by a Utah County steel mill -- now shut down and dismantled -- that had pumped pollution into the mountain air for decades, according to John Lambert of Abstract Masonry Restoration in Salt Lake City, UT, and Boston, MA. That pollution reacted with water and oxygen in the atmosphere to create mild solutions of sulphuric and nitric acids which fell -- and fall -- on Provo as acid rain.
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