StoneLite® Education Construction Spotlight: Washington State University

In 1998, Stone Panels, Inc. completed Kimbrough Hall at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. The 4-story project was done with Chantilly Limestone panels.

Kimbrough Hall serves as a center for the University’s performing arts. Its custom-designed, high-tech facilities allow the creation of music in the space to be a whole new experience. The building encompasses two concert halls, an electronic MIDI piano lab, a lecture hall with audio-visual capabilities, a music education lab, listening library, practice rooms, a professional recording studio and more.

Kimbrough Hall, originally built in 1964, was in need of a remodel when Stone Panels, Inc. was approached to take on the project with Thompson Vaivoda & Associates. One exceptional feature of the remodel was the curved lightweight limestone panels on the exterior side of the building. SPI’s lightweight limestone panels can be curved to a 20-foot radius, offering builders design potential that can’t be found with dimensional stone. Of all the buildings on the Washington State campus, Kimbrough Hall certainly stands out because of its curved exterior stone siding. It appeared to be no accident that once the project was complete, its façade had a strikingly sculptural appearance and included a large drum shape at the front of the building.

The thin stone veneer and reinforced aluminum honeycomb that make up our lightweight panels give them the unprecedented ability to be curved. Designers and architects admire the aesthetic potential of our panels’ flexing capabilities.