Stonethica meets tp bennett: 2020 saw the birth of a collaboration between the Italian stone upcycling brand and a London-based architecture/interiors studio. tp bennett breathed new life into the reception area of Cesar Pelli's 50 Bank Street in Canary Wharf, using Stonethica's "Waste-to-Wow" marble to create an iridescent field on the floor.
To maintain circulation routes from three different entrances, a central lift bank and two peripheral staircases, most of the floor needed to remain transparent, meaning that the floor finish would significantly impact the feel of the space.
The tp bennett design team already knew of Stonethica's innovative product and saw it as an ideal solution. The new floor had to be hard-wearing, high- quality and easily maintainable. The requirements for this space were to reflect the values of the principal occupier (asset management), combine timelessness with a sense of the contemporary, sit comfortably within the building envelope aesthetics, also on a tight budget. Stonethica matched the brief perfectly, enabling the use of a noble material, Statuario Marble, at a similar cost to more functional options such as high-end tile.
Using a luxury marble like the Statuario, the panelled format made for an easily managed laying technique, creating a unique overall pattern. However, at pre-final inspection, before progressing with grouting, Neege and Giuseppe (architect friends that practice together in Catania, Sicily, and like to bring an ‘Italian touch’ to their designs) selected a few panels to swop out due to heavier markings than neighbouring panels.
Stonethica’s product has contributed to a stunning reception admired by tenants and the building owner.
Like many buildings from the first phases of Canary Wharf development, the original interiors adopted a heavy, solid, US/Canadian downtown central business district aesthetic. However, as offices have become agile environments, led by 'user experience' and well-being rather than 'corporate ethos', and since the Covid lockdown accelerated a move to work-from-anywhere, reception spaces now need to be the 'shopfront' to attract new tenants, retain existing ones, and draw staff into the office for at least part of their week, to collaborate and bond with colleagues.
Stonethica’s system replied perfectly to the request of the market of recyclable materials, rolling up its sleeves and getting to work seeking a more sustainable future. Stonethica’s design demonstrates extreme versatility, which translates into creating an innovative, multifunctional material appropriate for both architects and interior designers.
Stonethica is a Global/local product: starting with local, through a circular form of production in the local community, considering ecological sustainability a must-have in design, and becoming Global at the level of the brand, which is available all over the world by several international distributors in slabs 17 mm and 27 mm in the selection of 7 standard colours (Calacatta, Carrara Mix, Bardiglio, Bianco Carrara, Statuario, Pietra del Cardoso and Pietra Grey) and some unique mix of textures required for the projects from the architects.
Stonethica and the stone industry generally have a solid attachment to the material itself: the manual skills required to work with it are the central engine for the project. Moreover, by emphasizing the “industrial” side of the process, the company demonstrates that production can also be standardized and made efficient, providing the cut-to-size of Stonethica directly and eliminating the new wastage of the slabs.
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