Alexandria, VA, Mar. 24-- Coverings, the leading showcase for ceramic tile and natural stone floor coverings, announced that Studio Gang Architects LTD has won the $10,000 Grand Prize in the 2004 PRISM Stone in Architecture Awards for their stone curtain, "Masonry Variations."
The PRISM Stone in Architecture Award honors outstanding examples of architectural achievement in the use of natural stone in residential and commercial design.
The "Masonry Variations" stone curtain, a project for the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., began as an exploration of the technologies and tools for cutting stone into thin sheets. The task was to create a structure that explored the future possibilities for the use of stone in architecture. The result was a hanging marble curtain weighing 1,500 pounds. What started as a necessary effort to make something light for a building with floor load limitations was transformed into a translucent marble curtain made of 619 interlocking pieces, a jigsaw puzzle suspended from the museum’s vaulted ceiling.
The project team members for "Masonry Variations" stone curtain included the architect-craftworker team of Jeanne Gang, Studio Gang Architects and Matthew Stokes Redabaugh, International Masonry Institute; the structural design consultant was Peter Heppel and Associates; and the engineer was the Thorton-Thomasetti Group.
Other 2004 PRISM Stone in Architecture Award winners include:
· First Prize, Residential: "House in the Rocky Mountains," by Alexander Gorlin Architects. The project team also included general contractor Tim Cremer. Based in Genessee, Colorado, the private residence was conceived as both an abstraction of the rugged landscape of the Colorado Rockies and as a re-inhabited ruin, inspired by the Anasazi stone constructions of the Southwest in Chaco Canyon. The cruciform plan anchors the house to the site, with one axis running up and down the hill forming a series of terraces defined by a 200-foot long skylight and staircase. The walls are covered in a native "moss rock" that changes with the humidity, becoming greener with increased precipitation.
· Award of Merit, Residential: "London Penthouse," by Peter Marino & Associates Architects. Located along the Thames River, this residence is a rigorous exploration of geometry within an internal open landscape. A 20x20 square meter glass box with shallow double vaulted ceilings defines the perimeter of the penthouse. At the center is a brown arco iris onyx-clad cube. This shimmering translucent inner structure wraps around the mechanical core thereby creating an inner boundary. Outside the cube is an open, loft-like space defined by three abstract bianco P Carrara marble-lined pavilions which house the structure’s private zones.
· Award of Merit, Commercial: "Agudas Achim Synagogue," by Lake/Flato Architects, Inc. Project team members included architect/designer David Lake, Lake/Flat Architects, Inc.; general contractor Browning Construction Company. Based in Austin, Texas, the client required a worship space that was uplifting, acoustically tuned for the spoken voice and able to intimately accommodate groups of 150 to 1,000 worshippers. The solution came in the form of a mezzanine that floats delicately above the main space, gently backlit by expansive windows that let in natural light. The 'Ole Yella' native limestone occurs in few quarries in Kendall County, Texas, and was historically used as the primary building material for the area.
· Special Award of Merit for Detail: "InterContinental Hotel & Conference Center, Cleveland," by Ceramic Technics, LTD. Project team members included project manager Michael Reddy of Ceramic Technics, LTD; architect/designer Design Continuum; and, general contractor Turner Construction Company. To create the larger 38’ x 16’ oval mosaic of a 17th Century old-world map, approximately 3,000 pieces composed of 43 different types of granite were brought in from countries including Italy, China, Brazil, Russia, Finland, Canada, India, Sri Lanka, Norway, Portugal, the U.S. and several African nations. The mosaic depicts the two hemispheres, identifying cities and regions that were not known to exist at that time. The outer regions of the mosaic are divided among the four natural elements: earth, wind, water and fire.
