Natural Thin-Veneer Stone: Thin and Real
“It was a good example of what you can do with the thin veneer,” he says. “You can put it just about anywhere.”
The tops of the exterior walls are capped, and Knauer says he had lengthy conversations with Mesch about the best way to finish them.
The architect describes himself as being “old-school,” and says he was initially worried about using the thin-veneer stone without a vapor barrier or flashing at the top and bottom.
“We haven’t had any problems,” Knauer says. “We might have had reservations about using a thin-set product like this on the exterior, but I don’t think we do any more.”
“We made sure that it was done right,” says Mesch. “It’s holding up well.”
Knauer says one of the things he likes most about the thin-veneer stone is that it can be used for both interior and exterior use.
“It allows us to use the same stone on both,” he says. “We can run glazing into it and it looks like a continuous wall, even though the construction is different for the wall behind it.”
And, while he wishes some suppliers would improve their corner products to create a thicker stone look, the use of the thin-veneer stone on this job really gave the client what he wanted.
“What we all wanted was to warm up the building,” Knauer concludes. “The veneer brings in a natural feel, an organic feel, and does it in a very quality way. I think that’s important.”
SUSTAINABLITY WITH STYLE
PARK CITY, Utah – The look of the Park City Medical Center needed to be extraordinary for both the owner and the community … and thin-stone veneer helped clad the way to its success.
Saying Park City is just another small town is akin to calling Paris just another European city. The community of fewer than 10,000 people is home to three ski areas, as well as the U.S. Ski Team, the country’s largest independent film festival and myriad celebrities.
Still, when Intermountain Health, the Salt Lake City-based nonprofit provider of health-care services to people in Utah and southeastern Idaho, began looking at building a hospital in Utah’s Summit County, they weren’t totally sold on Park City as a location.