The winners of the 2017 Pinnacle Awards were announced at the Natural Stone Institute Awards Ceremony during TISE 2018 in Las Vegas, Nev. For the tenth year, a Grande Pinnacle Award was presented to the best overall project. The 2017 Grande Pinnacle Award was presented to Port Morris Tile & Marble (Bronx, N.Y.) for their work on the 520 W 28^th Street Lobby Feature Wall in New York City.

Envisioned and designed by late renowned architect Zaha Hadid, the 520 W 28^th Street project is a futuristic and upscale residential condominium building developed by New York City real estate firm, Related Companies. Apart from the stone work in the condominium’s luxurious apartments, the client also commissioned the engineering and execution of an artistic feature stone wall and matching floor design in the lobby area. Artfully carved from Grigio Brasile marble, the wall creates a breathtaking piece of art that expands a dramatic 34 feet across the lobby. This stone was chosen in part due to its highly durable characteristics, as well as its beautiful smoky grey color tones.

The initial phase of the project started with sourcing marble blocks in Greece that were just the right color variations and quantities for the monochromatic design. The next steps involved working closely with Hadid’s team to refine the layouts required to accommodate the sizeable blocks, as well as to allow for proper installation of the large three-dimensional portion of the wall. 

From Greece, the stone was shipped to Italy for a highly detailed fabrication process, then carefully transported via airfreight to New York, where the expansive blocks of marble were expertly installed like one big vertical puzzle.
The 520 W 28^th Street feature lobby wall project exemplifies unique collaboration of creativity, experience and craftsmanship and is now a standing landmark that represents how an inspired vision combined with skill and engineering can push stone design to the limits.

The judges appreciated the beautiful design and flawless execution of this project, calling it a “careful celebration of the stone’s natural characteristics.” They also called it one-of-a-kind, noting that “the characteristics of the marble used is a big part of the success of the execution.”

Eleven Pinnacle Awards of Excellence were given out during the ceremony. The winners are as follows.

Commercial Interior

Euromarble

Carrara, Italy

Brookfield Place Tower 2

Perth, Australia

 

Commercial Interior

Camarata Masonry Systems Ltd.

Houston, Texas

609 Main

Houston, Texas

 

Commercial Interior

Masonry Pte. Ltd.

Singapore

Guoco Tower

Singapore

 

Commercial Exterior

ROCAMAT Pierre Naturelle

L’Ile-Saint Denis, France

The Russian Orthodox Spiritual and Cultural Center of Paris

Paris, France

 

Commercial Exterior

Coldspring

Cold Spring, Minn.

Boston Children’s Hospital

Boston, Mass.

 

Commercial Exterior

ABC Worldwide Stone, LLC

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Perry World House

Philadelphia, Pa.

 

Commercial Exterior

Coldspring

Cold Spring, Minn.

Riverside Roundabout

Los Angeles, Calif.

 

Residential

3D Stone, Inc.

Bloomington, Ind.

V House

 

Residential

Stones and Roses International Co. Ltd.

Samutprakarn, Thailand

Baan Phetkasem

Thailand

 

Renovation/Restoration

Marmi Natural Stone

Norcross, Ga.

Recreation Pier Baltimore

Baltimore, Md.

 

Renovation/Restoration

H E Satterwhite

Richmond, Va.

Buckingham County Primary & Elementary Schools at the Carter G. Woodson Education Complex

Dillwyn, Va.

 

The Natural Stone Institute would like to thank the sponsors of the 2017 Pinnacle Awards: Marmomac (Grande Pinnacle Award), MAPEI (Commercial Awards), GranQuartz (Residential Awards), and Coldspring (Renovation/Restoration Awards).