New wall for Children's Medical Center of Dallas

Children's Medical Center is building a new tower, integrating a new front entrance for one of the largest pediatric healthcare providers in the nation. The architectectural firm on the project is RTKL.

Sonia is creating a mosaic wall for the main lobby, continuing her long relationship with Children's. Sonia's first four mosaic walls at Children's Medical Center won an international Spectrum Award recognizing creativity and achievement in the use of tile in residential and commercial design. The awards are presented at Coverings each year and are sponsored by the Tile Council of America, the Association of Ceramic Tile Manufacturers of Spain, Assopiastrelle (the Italian tile association), the National Tile Contractors Association and the Ceramic Tile Dealers Association.

The wall will be located in the main lobby along a curved wall. It will be viewed form the elevator waiting area and going up or down the stairs to the cafeteria area. Here's a rendering of the area as well as a few images of the wall during construction.

The sparkly bits below are the fiberoptic stars in the ceiling. Very cool!

Because the wall will be seen from several different points, it is especially important that the focal elements have both complexity and visual impact. These will float on a background that will have a lot of interest through the laying style and materials as well as the hand-colored 'fresco grout' which is a popular feature of my earlier walls at Children's. The design was driven by the way the mosaic will be viewed - from the elevator area as well as going down the stairs. The designs are weighted to the right for maximum impact. Coming up the stairs, interest will be piqued as more and more of the mosaic comes into view. From wherever they are seen from, the variety of materials and differing levels of reflectivity will be intriguing, even over multiple viewings.

It is impossible to convey the beauty of mosaic in a simple sketch. The design drawing is really only a guide to scale, placement and color. The reality of the mosaic begins to come together as one piece is laid next to another, interacting in multiple ways: color, scale, texture, reflectivity and so on.

Below you see the beginning of the mosaic as it is being created in the studio on fiberglass mesh. You can see the line drawing through the mesh. But the real creativity is in the decision about each tessera's size and shape and color and how it interacts with the pieces around it. A huge variety of materials are being used that are sourced from around the world: glass tiles from over ten manufacturers, multiple types of ceramic, agate slices, marble gems, beach glass, art glass, vintage mosaic glass and more. And the talented mosaicist, Beth Norton of TigerLily Treasures, came out of glass fusing retirement to once again make amazing custom glass and dichroic fusions for a Children's Medical project.

As you can see the element begins with a firey hot center of reds which blends into orange, then yellow, moving on through limes, greens, aqua and teals. Purple accents will sprinkle through the aqua and teal areas. Leigh Davis, intrepid assistant extraordinaire, and I are are surrounded by a rainbow of luscious materials that have taken over the Dallas studio.

'Nebulae'

The images below are the beginning of a mosaic installation for a private home. It will be a series of five to seven 'Nebula', integrating semi-precious stones, mineral specimens, tiles, smalti and more. The mosaics are being created on mesh and will be installed, ungrouted, moving around a curved stucco wall and floating downstairs. These are an interpretation of Sonia's fine art mosaics into a larger, permanent setting.

The list of materials for this one is huge, including glass, ceramic, paua shell, golds, smalti, turquoise, malachite, labradorite, pebbles, chrysocolla, crystald, pearls, beach glass, amazonite, stainless steel, abalone and more.