2004 Design & Manufacturing Award Winners

The Cast Stone Institute is pleased to announce the winners of the 2004 Design & Manufacturing Excellence Award competition. The purpose of the annual award is to recognize excellence in both design and manufacturing of Cast Stone elements. Any kind, size or type of structure using Cast Stone elements may be entered.

Designing excellence is judged on the relationship of individual elements to the whole, and compatibility with its natural surroundings. Concept excellence includes functional and innovative use of cast stone, unique detailing of cast stone elements and successful adaptation of Cast Stone as the natural stone alternative. Manufacturing excellence is judged on color and texture consistency and degree of difficulty.

The 2004 Design & Manufacturing Awards Competition was judged by a panel of three architects, Michael Voit of F&S Partners; Clifford Horsack of HKS, and Rick Del Monte of Beck.

The jury selected the following two winners:

City Suites
Boston, MA
Architect: Claude E. Menders Architects
Cast Stone Producer:
Thunderstone

Dole Institute of Politics
Lawrence, KS
Architect: ASAI
Cast Stone Producer:
Continental Cast Stone Manufacturing

City Suites
City Suites, a renovation project, is unique in that the entire (finished) exterior is Cast Stone. The key to the building's success is that the entire building was clad in cast stone units and also done in "L" shaped units at all corners so that the completed project looks like it was done in large, one piece units, just as a typical U.S. government building would have been in limestone during the turn of the century, i.e. post offices, libraries etc... The building is located in an old part of Boston where the streets and sidewalks are very narrow. In order to maintain the sidewalk's minimum width, the city's building codes would not allow for more than few inches of projection of the Cast Stone from the original masonry substrate. The building is located on a corner lot, however, the building's two adjacent sides are not at ninety degrees to each other, and the corner of the building was built was a radius and has an entrance on the first floor and window on the second, also set into this radius.


Colors selected by the architect were based on actual limestone samples in his possession. He chose two basic contrasting colors. The first course on the building was the darker of the two colors and was cast in a press hammered texture. The balance of the building was cast in a lighter color with a subtle range of color in a smooth texture. Randomly changing the amount of pigments during the casting process allowed it to appear as a "blend" of quarried limestone units.

This project was simply a jigsaw puzzle of sorts, in which all design elements, dimensions and anchoring details were adapted to existing situations that were not typically favorable to a Cast Stone application. This project is a perfect example of what cast stone can do to enhance a building's appeal.
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Dole Institute of Politics
This new building was composed of a Cast Stone cylinder wall in the front of the reflecting pool. The cylinder was made up of radius panels with doorways cut through them.

The Governor's State Seal on the face of the building was the most difficult element of this project. To make the 14 foot diameter Seal in four pieces for the face of a cylinder wall, there was an extensive amount of artwork involved involving rubber molds. The building seal and letters were "cast into" the stone creating a 3D effect for the Seal and a recessed effect for the lettering.

This project took a lot of artistic ability, as well as drawing consideration to create the "curved" stone pieces for the cylinder wall. The project resulted in a beautiful, monumental building for the City of Lawrence, Kansas.
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Honorable Mention
St. Martin's
Episcopal Church
Houston, TX
Architect:
Jackson & Ryan Architects, Inc.
Cast Stone Producer:
Dallas Cast Stone Co.

Lambert Residence
Palm Beach, FL
Architect:
Thomas Kirchhoff
Cast Stone Producer:
Palm Beach Cast Stone Inc.

Church of Incarnation
Dallas, TX
Architect:
F & S Partners
Cast Stone Producer:
Advanced Cast Stone Inc.

La Casona
Austin, TX
Architect:
Realm Design & Construction
Cast Stone Producer:
Southern Cast Stone Manufacturing