-City of London- Wall Architecture

Early in 2008 the teams of Andre Schuberth and stonemason Laurent Chauvaux joined forces to carry out the stone work for a large interior wall structure. It was to become the most striking visual feature of the atrium at 20 Gresham Street in the City of London, and an award-winning piece of architecture. The wall in question was 8 metres high and 60 metres long, comprised entirely of Travertine blocks from Italy.

The design was provided by international architects Kohn Pederson Fox. Sheer scale made it technically demanding: each stone weighed in between 500kg and 1 ton. The stones were to be fixed upon a metal framework, as opposed to more traditional methods of fixing with mortar. The complementary skills and expertise of both Carvero and Laurent Chauvaux formed a dream team perfectly suited to tackling this monumental project.

The wall was successfully fixed to precise measurements with 1mm tolerance. Fixing stones which made up a curve in the surface was the most challenging aspect of the job. Situated above an opening in the lower part of the wall, these stones were hung with the utmost precision, since they had to be supported by the structure without any foundational contact with the floor.

 

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