Location: Syracuse, NY
Project Type: Retail Center
Product: Crystal, Beige Field Tile | 12″ x 12″, 12″ x 24″, 24″ x 24″ | Custom Rectified
Terra di Siena, Terra Scura Mosaic | 2″ x 2″, Custom Mounted
Sistem A, 12″ x 24″ & Field Cut Triangles Setting Materials
Quantity: 135,000 Square Feet (SF) Field Tile | 28,000 SF Mosaic Tile
Creative Materials Corporation’s vast experience and resourcing capabilities have been relied upon to build some of the most complex and highly trafficked retail centers across the United States.
Twenty-six million people visit Destiny USA’s 250+ shops and attractions each year. New York State’s largest retail center offers visitors many unique attractions such as an antique carousel, the world’s largest suspended ropes course, and an I-Max movie theatre.
When The Pyramid Group – the largest privately-owned developer of retail centers in America – needed 160,000+ SF of porcelain tile for Destiny USA’s expansion and renovation, Creative Materials was the right partner to manage through the complexity of the project. Pyramid Group was looking to apply a certain aesthetic for the field tile which required working with a trusted factory partner that could complete the project on a tight timeline with the required customizations. Custom sizing was critical in keeping with the design concept and technical requirements. Completing the project as quickly as possible was also critical so that the mall could be opened as soon as possible. Creative Materials’ detailed project management ensured the project was kept on schedule.
Challenge
Destiny USA’s architect conceptualized an outdoor European town square with heavily textured, large format stones installed in a pattern, with a meandering pathway moving through the space. Creative Materials translated the vision into product options with an easy-to-maintain surface, knowing that would be important to Destiny USA’s long-term satisfaction. The architect envisioned unusually large grout joints to create a “flagging” effect. Although current trends in tile flooring often use tighter grout joints, this particular vision required 3/8” grout joints. The addition of a scattering of “leaves” in the form of vibrant, bright-colored accent triangles completed the tile design concept.
Solution
During product selection, the Creative Materials team airfreighted pallets of samples of different tile options in order to complete a layout of each proposed option at the job site. At one point two Creative Materials team members had their SUVs loaded up with over 600lbs of tile samples! The perfect field tile wound up being a porcelain tile with a quartzite look. The tile had a smooth, matte finish for ease of cleaning, plus the added benefit of visual depth and texture from ink-jet technology.
Creative Materials knew that the tiles would need to be rectified to precise, pre-determined sizes in order to work together modularly in pattern with the 3/8″ grout joint. The team worked to customize the dimensions of three tile sizes to make them modular in the pattern. The size of the mosaic tiles used for the “pathways” was also customized to be modular with the field tile.
Creative Materials airfreighted production samples from Italy to Syracuse, NY, and met the Destiny USA team on-site to ensure that the product would work when installed. Creative Materials also facilitated an on-site preinstallation meeting with all parties (owner’s representative, general contractor, tile contractor, setting materials manufacturer) in order to review existing conditions and determine the proper setting materials and methods. Not only did Creative Materials deliver products to exacting specifications, and work to ensure proper installation, the team also worked with an extremely tight timeline and coordinated production and shipping schedules to deliver 160,000+ SF of material within six weeks. The material was staged properly to ensure installers had the correct materials on-site to maintain installation around the clock.
Getting “in the middle” of a project and working closely with all parties involved is vital to large retail center projects such as Destiny USA, and it is something in which Creative Materials takes great pride. As a matter of standard operating procedure, Creative Materials works to understand and facilitate a designers’ vision, manages multiple parties to ensure proper installation, and meets aggressive deadlines. The end result in this case was a designer’s vision met, a project completed on time and on budget, and New York’s largest shopping center open and ready to be a premier destination for the retail savvy customer.
