NATURAL STONE
Stone as a building material
Natural stone stands out among building materials for its exceptional durability. Many classical buildings and statues built in natural stone, like marble and travertine, have lasted from ancient Greece and Rome until present day. Its durability, along with the low CO2 footprint during extraction and processing, makes stone one of the most sustainable building materials.
Sustainability
With its remarkably low carbon footprint, stone enables the construction of negative CO2 buildings when used as a structural material. Natural stone is an abundant material that is consistently reformed on and below the earth’s surface, making it inexhaustible. In addition, stone has excellent natural thermal insulation and is an easy material to maintain, repair, and refurbish.
Cohesion
Natural stone has immense historical and socio-cultural value, creating a unique link between buildings and their geographical context. The use of local materials reinforces cohesion and ensures cultural continuity. Yet each type of stone has its own diversity, with different colours, textures and finishes within the same family, offering unlimited design potential.
Value and lifecycle cost
Stone guarantees longevity, ease of maintenance, permanence and stability – all factors that contribute to reducing the life-cycle cost of a building and improving the comfort of its users and owners.
Recent technological developments have made the extraction and processing of stone more efficient, establishing it as a building material that is both effective and economical.
This perspective is all the more relevant when we take into account the life-cycle costs of other materials considered to be less sustainable.
Types of stones
Marble: Marble is a versatile material that can be used in bathrooms, flooring, kitchens and furniture. With its distinctive veins and varied shades, it embodies timeless elegance. Each piece of marble tells a story of sophistication, making this material a preferred choice for those looking to infuse their surroundings with a refined ambience.
Granite: Granite is resistant to abrasion and household acids. Widely used for kitchen countertops, exterior and interior cladding, as well as for funerary purposes, its neutral colours tell a story of resilience, making it an ideal choice for those seeking to create an environment that is at once sober, elegant and durable.
Quartzite: Like granite, quartzite is a resistant material. Its unique, vibrant colours and patterns make it an excellent choice for projects that require decorative and hard-wearing properties, such as worktops and bathrooms.
Limestone: Limestone is characterised by its soft appearance and earthy tones. It’s a popular choice for all kinds of projects, from flooring to facades.
Basalt: Because of its volcanic origins and appearance, basalt is extraordinarily resistant to abrasion and weathering. It is an exceptional choice for all types of project, and particularly for flooring and facades. It is available in shades of grey and black.
Onyx: Onyx, with its unique translucency and vibrant colours, symbolises elegance and mystery. It is mainly used for interior decorative applications, such as wall cladding. Each piece of onyx tells a story of natural beauty, making this material a preferred choice for those seeking to create an interior environment that is both refined and captivating.
Semi-Precious Stones: Semiprecious stones, including agate, sodalite, amethyst and malachite, are renowned for their captivating tints and sparkling surfaces. Used as decorative accents, they infuse every space with unparalleled richness and exclusivity, transforming an ordinary interior into a sanctuary of unique elegance and refinement.
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