The Marble Institute of America (MIA) today announced the winners of its prestigious 2006 Pinnacle Awards competition, which recognizes excellence in commercial, residential, and restoration of natural stone projects worldwide.

The Pinnacle Awards honor projects that demonstrate exceptional beauty, creativity, ingenuity, and craftsmanship in the use of granite, marble, travertine, limestone, and other natural stones. The competition is open to MIA members around the world.

The winners were announced at the MIA’s Annual Awards Luncheon in Las Vegas on November 10, 2006, during StonExpo.

Serving as judges for the competition were two Albuquerque, NM architects, Mark D. Rohde and Jon Anderson; Scott Lardner, president of Rocky Mountain Stone Company and past president of MIA; and Chuck Muehlbauer, technical director of MIA.

The 2006 Pinnacle Awards winners are:

Commercial Interior Award of Excellence to Dan J. Sheehan Company of Savannah, Georgia for Telfair Museum’s Center for the Arts. The Dan J. Sheehan Company also received an Award of Merit for the exterior of the project.

Commercial Exterior Award of Excellence to Carnevale and Lohr of Bell Gardens, California, for the new construction of the Getty Villa, in Malibu, California.

Restoration Award of Excellence to Rugo Stone of Lorton, Virginia for Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church in Potomac Falls, Virginia.

Rugo Stone also won two Awards of Merit. The firm was honored in the Commercial Interior category for its stone work on the Commodore Uriah P. Levy Center, a new Jewish chapel at the U.S. Naval Academy, and in the Commercial Exterior category for the Divinity School addition at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Two Awards of Merit were presented in the category of kitchens and baths. Millennium Marble and Tile of Pembroke, Florida was selected for their work on a kitchen in a Boca Raton, Florida home. Walker Zanger received an award for a unique bathroom application of natural stone in a show house in New York City, which highlights the best in interior design as a fund-raising initiative for the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club.

To view a copy of the 2006 Pinnacle Awards brochure which depicts the winning entries, or to see the actual awards presentation please go to http://www.marble-institute.com/awards/

The construction of this huge hotel building on behalf of the Abu Dhabi government started in December 2001. The work on the exterior facades started in 2003 and was completed as early as the beginning of 2004. A team of over 10000 persons worked on the »palace building«. The official opening is planned for the end of 2006...more