Stone Curtain Wins PRISM Award

The Stone Curtain portion of the ?EUR??,,????'??Masonry Variations?EUR??,,????'?? exhibit at the National Building Museum won the Grand Prize of the PRISM Stone in Architecture Award for 2004. The installation was done by Jeanne Gang, AIA, principal of Studio Gang Architects in Chicago, and Mathew Redabaugh, INI Special Projects Coordinator. The entries explored masonry variations on the themes of materials, technologies and collaboration. Stone is the symbol of weight and solidity that depends on the compression of stacking. Made of 600 pieces of interlocking pieces of marble that hang in tension from the ceiling, this piece turns traditional marble usage on its head. Gang and Redabaugh shaved their stone into lighter and thinner pieces that could then be suspended like a translucent curtain that depended on the tension of the interlocking puzzle pieces. The exhibit was sponsored by the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC), and the International Masonry Institute (IMI). The awards honor outstanding examples in the use of natural stone. Studio Gang Architects have also done some innovative examples of masonry walls using light such as their Starlight Theater at Rock valley College in Illinois.