Thin-Veneer Natural Stone
There’s no shortage of the material – new vendors seem to enter the market every week – but not everyone wants a split-face facade or recovered wall. Isn’t there anyplace else to use the stuff?
Thin veneer’s main attributes, as far as installation, are weight and width. And that makes the stone perfect for plenty of residential and commercial interior use … as detailed by some cross-country case studies.
THE LOOK OF LIMESTONE
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APPLETON, Wis. – Can a public space provide both a “wow” factor and serenity to ill patients and their concerned families?
For executives of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, both were easy to achieve with the help of natural stone – and, thanks to the use of thin-veneer limestone, they even saved money in the process.
As operating company Affinity Health Systems sought to update the hospital, structural limestone from Fond du Lac Stone has become an important part of the facility’s look, says Gary Kusnierz, vice president of performance excellence for Affinity.
He explains that parts of the facility – which currently encompasses approximately 750,000 ft² – date back to the 1920s, when red brick was the norm.
“Until the 1970s and ‘80s, red brick was the consistent design theme,” Kusnierz says. “But, when we started our south addition in 2006, we tried to modernize the campus and accent the red brick. That’s where the beige-tone Fond du Lac stone came in.”
It’s a look common to the Appleton area, which is located about an hour’s drive away from Fond du Lac.
“Across the street, Sacred Heart Catholic Church has a lot of stone,” says Kusnierz. “Lawrence University, which is located downtown, has a lot of stone. And, on the flats by the river some of the older buildings are done in a similar-style stone. We wanted to be consistent with the community and blend in.
“It also works great with the red brick; it’s a nice contrast,” he adds.
The Fond du Lac limestone actually made its first appearance at St. Elizabeth’s in 2004, when work began on a parking garage for the medical facility.
“There’s quite a bit of stone on the parking ramp to help link it to the registration and main entry area,” says Blaine Tuchscherer, director of health care construction for locally based Boldt Construction Co., which has served as Affinity’s contractor. “Then, late in 2004, we started on a new main entry and registration area that also includes some conference space.”
It was at that point that the then president of Affinity Health System told Tuchscherer about his desire for a “wow” factor. However, the contractor says Fond du Lac limestone also provided another big advantage the health care provider was also seeking.
“They were also looking to get LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building System™) certification on the project, so we used native materials from a certain geographic range, and the Fond du Lac stone came into play,” he says. “We wanted to use a local limestone and Fond du Lac isn’t too far away.”
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While the bulk of the exterior stone is a 3” full veneer, thin veneer shows up in the interior. Kusnierz says it certainly isn’t apparent that there’s any difference in thicknesses between the exterior and interior.
The administrator adds that the plan for the new addition was based on evidence-based design criteria, which focuses on ways to achieve the best possible outcomes from several perspectives that include economic and financial measures, clinical and safety outcomes and satisfaction indicators.
“We’re trying to reduce stress on the patients and their families as they come into our facilities,” he explains. “When you come into the atrium of the new south addition, you have a natural-stone wall, and there’s a water feature that has the natural stone around it and a terrazzo floor with speckled glass in it; it’s just different.”
Surveys bear that out; Kusnierz says a common response is that it doesn’t look or feel like a hospital.
Boldt’s Tuchscherer is equally pleased with the cost-savings the use of the thin veneer created, starting with the fact that the interior stone didn’t need the same structural supports as a full veneer would’ve required.
To build even more savings into the project, the company chose not to install the thin veneer in a random ashlar pattern.
“We negotiated with the architect on the project and kept everything in random lengths, but with a constant course height,” Tuchscherer says. “We might have a 3” band and then an 8” band. The look is rather rustic. It’s not laid up like bricks, but by keeping that solid height, it made the installation go along more smoothly and also made it more affordable.”
He adds that Boldt also worked closely with Fond du Lac Stone to figure out which heights were most-economical.
“Of course, we always like to have a durable material in a high-traffic public space,” Tuchscherer says. “That played into it, too. The prime objective was to have something that looked rich, and then with the sustainable element, that really forced the rest of it to happen.”
Affinity Health System officials are so pleased with the look that it’s also being incorporated into a new addition – the St. Elizabeth’s Heart and Lung Center –scheduled for completion at the end of the summer. They’ve also utilized it in some of their clinics.
“Boldt built the first clinic; it’s a seven-physician clinic with about 12,100 ft²,” says Kusnierz. “That had a significant amount of stone in the design, and since then we’ve built four other clinics with that same design. It’s become a standard in our system.”