Frost Tower - 2019 NSI Pinnacle Award

Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects - Interior design

Via Lactea

San Antonio, TX

Frost Tower is now an iconic addition to the downtown skyline of San Antonio. Designed by world renowned Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, the tower offers 460,000 sf of Class A++ office and retail space.

The 14,000 square feet of Via Lactea black granite honed on the floors in the lobby provides a pleasing contrast to the Roman travertine wall and concrete columns. Of the 2,250 pieces (14,000 square feet) over 200 pieces were culled at the factory in China and another 110 were culled on the jobsite to ensure the floor was within the architect’s specifications.

The monumental stairs were designed to give the appearance that the three-inch thick granite treads and landing were floating between the glass handrails. To accomplish this, each piece of stone had to be routed out one inch on the bottom side to hide the steel support while maintaining the three-inch thickness along the exposed edges.