Porphyry pavers ability to be used indoors and outdoors make the material perfect for connecting these spaces. It can unify the architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture. The recent publication featured below, explores these vital connections and interfaces.
“The current environmental crisis calls for a unified practice of landscape and architecture that would allow buildings and landscapes to perform symbiotically to heal the environment. Over the past ten years, a diverse group of architects, landscape architects, and artists have undertaken groundbreaking projects that propose an integration of landscape and architecture, dissolving traditional distinctions between building and environment. Groundwork: Between Landscape and Architecture examines twenty-five projects, on an international scale, that consider landscape and architecture as true reciprocal entities.
What these projects all have in common is a desire to pay attention and homage to the liminal space where indoors and outdoors meet. The critical connection between natural and synthetic, exterior and interior space, paves the way toward a more inclusive—and indeed more alive—conceptualization of the physical world.” Review from Amazon Books.
The Authors:
Diana Balmori is an internationally renowned landscape and urban designer. She is also the founder of the landscape design firm, Balmori Associates. Dr. Balmori’s interest in landscape and urban design grew out of her interest in public space; the way it is used and designed, and its role and effect on the larger environment. Her design style is recognized by the way it creates a fluid interface between landscape and structure in the development of urban public spaces. The work explores how form can respond to a new understanding of nature – not simply as visual imitation – but contingent on an understanding of process. Diana Balmori has established a signature and functional aesthetic by applying inventive design thinking to a careful study of the social aspects of ecological, hydrological and temporal dimensions of projects.
Joel Sanders is the Principal of the New York–based practice Joel Sanders Architect. He is a Professor of Architecture at Yale University. His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions at international institutions including the Art Institute of Chicago, Vitra Design Museum, SF MoMA, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, and MoMA. Projects designed in his practice belong to the permanent collections of MoMA, SF MoMA, Art Institute of Chicago, and the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. Among the awards his firm received are six New York AIA Design Awards, two AIA New York State Awards of Excellence, and an Interior Design Magazine Best of Year Award.
Porphyry’s composition determines its high compression strength, resistance to stains, slip resistance, and high freeze/thaw ratings. The stone is the most popular paver in Europe, and is favored for its flexibility in design, beauty, durability and low maintenance requirements. ADA Compliant Porphyry pavers are also adaptable to a permeable paving set. The stone is by far one of the most durable pavers in the world. These beautiful materials are available from Milestone Imports. Milestone supports the creativity of architects, planners and designers. Porphyry offers surfaces of various finishes and mixed colorings, tending towards tones of grey, gold, violet and red, depending on where it is extracted. – www.milestoneimports.com
