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Advertising supplement provided by
The Marble Institute of America
Stone Finishes
A polished stone finish has a glossy surface that reflects
light and emphasizes the color and marking of the material.
This type of finish is used on walls, furniture tops, as well
as tile floors.
A honed finish is a satin-smooth surface with little light
reflection. Generally, a honed finish is preferred for floors,
stair treads, thresholds, and other locations where heavy
traffic will wear off a polished finish.
A flamed (thermal) finish is a rough-textured surface, produced
by application of temperature flame to the surface; it is
used frequently on granite floor tiles.
Fine-rubbed finishes are smooth and free of scratches, but
have no sheen. Other finishes, such as shot ground, sand-blasted,
brushed, and bush-hammered are available. Water-jet finish
is a new finish available for use on floors and wall stone.
It highlights the natural crystalline structure of the material.
Some stone finishes can affect strength and durability. Both
bush-hammered and thermal finishes initially reduce a stone's
thickness and also make it more vulnerable to weakening from
the stress it undergoes during production and exposure to
freeze and thaw cycles.
A "Real Work of Art"
The main aisle of the Nave of Our Lady of Angels Monastery
is paved with colorful inlaid marble designs in geometric
patterns. Talleres de Arte Granda, S.A. (TAG), of Madrid,
Spain, designed marble floor patterns. Masonry Arts, Inc.
coordinated the layout in conjunction with Savema, S.P.A.
of Pietrasanta (near Cararra) Italy, where the flooring marble
was cut, honed, and polished.
The floor surrounding the monastery's main altar incorporates
rare Bianco Sivec marble (known as "sugar marble"
because its pristine whiteness glistens like sugar) from Macedonia.
Inlaid red jasper was quarried in Turkey. The background field
of the floor is Cremo Delicato. An inlaid Star of Bethlehem
design is of Cremo Valencia stone from Valencia, Spain, on
a background of Cipollino marble quarried at Lucca, Italy.
Altars are of Yugoslavian marble; tapered columns of the
temple of curved sections of Cremo Delicato. Square column
bases and wainscoting are inlaid with Breccia Pernice from
Verona, Botticino Classico from Brescia, Italy and columns'
Gothic capitals were designed by TAG and fabricated by Savema.
"I went to Europe three times with (founder) Mother
Angelica," says Swindal. "It took us three months
to get a palette. We did mock-ups of the floor and wainscot.
This was a job we were all very proud of."
"When considering exterior cladding materials,"
Swindal says, "architects must first take into consideration
the thickness of the material, which relates to the strength
requirements of the cladding.
Unless a year is devoted to making stone cladding decisions,
"you may as well put a gun to your head," Swindal
says of lessons learned the hard way. Critical decisions must
be made involving stone slabbing and fabrication. Shipping
can be an aggravating bottleneck. "If you wait until
six months before you need the stone to make the arrangements,
you are in trouble."
Another of Swindal's maxims: conflicts, if they are to occur,
should occur early in the project. Early architect-owner agreement
with regard to a project's vision is critical. Contractors'
schedule requirements, once a job has begun, make course modifications
difficult. "I believe," he says, "in having
any likely controversies resolved up-front."
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