Location: East Greenbush, NY
Project Type: K-12 Education
Product: Mechanized, Taupe | Mineralized, Dark Grey | Mosa Global, Porcelain White Matte | Mosa Murals, Bright White Matte | Mosa Colors, Pompeian Red
Quantity: 3,000 Square Feet (SF) Mechanized | 3,000 SF Mineralized | 3,700 SF Mosa
Design Firm: CSArch
Tile Installer: Hudson Valley Tile
Columbia High School is a public high school located in upstate New York. It is the only high school for the East Greenbush Central School District. 1,500+ students in grades 9-12 are educated each year at Columbia.
Columbia High School approached design firm CSArch with a need to update the cafeteria in the building. As part of the renovation, the high school was looking to increase seating capacity and shorten the meal serving time.
The design vision included increasing the natural daylight in the cafeteria space as well as enlarging the cafeteria space and flow into the school’s courtyard. The cafeteria at Columbia is a unique space in that it is also used quite frequently as a gathering space for the public. A versatile, modular design would be critical to meet the needs of the district.
CSArch envisioned a modern yet timeless look so that it would be inviting for students, modern and updated looking for the public, and able to stand the test of time. The design concept involved a white and red “checkerboard” type mural for the wall in the serving area of the cafeteria, a taupe budget-friendly but durable field tile for the serving area, and stone-look tile for the seating area that could be extended out into the school’s courtyard in the future if budgets allowed.
Creative Materials Corporation specializes in sourcing a wide variety of products so that designers have a “one stop shop” resource. CSArch knew that Creative Materials could reliably source all of the products needed.
Creative Materials recommended the Mosa collection for the checkerboard wall tile because Mosa offers one of the widest ranges of colors of any tile manufacturer. Designers can match virtually any color scheme with Mosa. Mosa also offers industry-best tolerances so tiles can be installed with extremely tight grout joints while minimizing the likelihood of lippage, which tends to be highly noticeable on walls.
A budget-friendly, yet durable field tile was sourced for the serving area which would have high-traffic and need to stand up to frequent cleanings. Creative Materials suggested a tile with some movement to hide dirt and spills.
Lastly, Creative Materials found a stone-look collection offering sizes that could be used in a pattern (8″ x 24″, 16″ x 24″, 24″ x 24″). This collection is also unique in that it offers a 2cm outdoor paver option that could carry seamlessly from indoor to outdoor should funds be available to do so in the future. (Only a limited number of manufacturers produce indoor floor tile in standard thickness to match outdoor tile in paver thickness).
The Creative Materials team is here to ensure that sourcing tile is the least of a designer’s worries. Creative Materials helped CSArch successfully transform the cafeteria into an updated, versatile space for students and the public.
[su_button url=”https://www.creativematerialscorp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/ColumbiaHighSchool_Case_Study_rev2022.pdf” background=”#0d0d0d” size=”7″]Download the Columbia High School Case Study[/su_button]
