DENVER, Colo. — The Spectrum Awards acknowledge and reward the most creative and amazing uses of ceramic tile in residential and commercial projects; this year, Keith DeWald, founder of Becoming Tile, LLC, takes first place for the exterior mosaic mural on the Hong-Kong based, Wing Lung Bank, in the busy financial section of Alhambra, CA.
The Spectrum competition is opened to architects, designers, builders, contractors, distributors, retailers, installers and other professionals whose projects demonstrate creativity and achievement in the use of ceramic tile in residential and commercial projects.
Past winners have represented four continents and their entries have been featured widely in trade industry, architecture, design and consumer home publications. The Spectrum Awards have become the ceramic tile industry’s leading recognition of the ultimate in tile craftsmanship and creativity.
When Wing Lung Bank commissioned Tsang Architecture to design a new bank building for their Los Angeles branch, Tsang Architecture contacted mosaic mural fabricators, and discussed different possibilities for their elliptically-designed entry-hall.
After reviewing several prototypes, DeWald was commissioned to work with Neil Seth Levine, the artist selected by Tsang Architecture, to create a beautiful and unique 4,300 square-foot mural. The mural was manufactured with tiles from the Kaleidoscope(R) glass mosaic tile series provided by Mosaic Tile Supplies, LLC (www.MosaicTileSupplies.com).
The elliptical entrance hall to Wing Lung Bank establishes a unique presence.
It was decided to use glass tile because of its small scale which could easily wrap around the ellipse. It was also cheaper than using metal panels while appearing richer and unique.
DeWald, who translates digital images into tile murals, worked closely with the artist, and after some artistic experimentation, it was decided that the ellipse was governed by the mountain element. An abstract design was suggested working with overlapping strata; the San Gabriel Mountains served as creative inspiration.
Incredible colors, branching foliage and swirling shapes make the mural into a work of art wrapped around the entrance to the bank and the rear of the elliptical entrance hall which is visible from the banking hall.
“The initial challenge,” DeWald explained, “was working with the artist to explore how different color gradients converted to dithered tile colors, and helping him choose the color ranges that worked well with the tile available, including new colors the tile supplier was able to find and import on request.”
A special software program was written to convert the design using sophisticated color dithering and color balance in order to create the exact instructions for each sheet’s fabrication. It also calculated the number of each tile color required for placing the tile orders.
Twelve people, in three shifts, fabricated the 4,208 sheets of mural tile, correctly labeled them, organized them according to installation order, and shipped them to the construction site. The fabrication of the mural took nine weeks.
Tile sheet installation began in late December 2005 and was completed in late February 2006, in time for the bank’s opening ceremony in March.
Becoming Tile, LLC was formed by a talented group of artisans and engineers. The company recognizes that facilitating a revolution in artistic tile applications requires an entirely new approach to this discipline and they have developed imaging techniques and manufacturing processes designed to ensure fast turn-around times, the lowest possible per-square-foot costs, and unparalleled fidelity in tile imaging.
For more information, visit: http://www.BecomingTile.com .
[tags]Mosaic Tile Supplies, Becoming Tile LLC, Spectrum Awards, Tsang Architecture[/tags]
