In 1984, the acclaimed artist Elyn Zimmerman designed and supervised a modernist landscape granite boulder fountain for the central courtyard of the National Geographic Society headquarters building in downtown Washington, DC. The boulders were hand-selected at the quarry for their shape and then cut to straddle the reflecting pool basin, with down-turned legs which dive into the water basin. The Carnelian granite was then quarried, shaped using wire saw cuts on the boulders, and polished and delivered by Cold Spring Granite. This task was very complicated, and much of the work was done at the actual quarry due to the massive and irregular size of the boulders.

In 2021 the DC Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) issued a resolution that allowed the National Geographic Society to relocate the fountain four miles away at American University. This resolution allowed the NGS to complete plans to infill their courtyard for a large building expansion. In late 2021, Rugo Stone was interviewed and later selected as the firm responsible for the excavation, rigging, crane sizing, and transporting to a vacant park at the American University opposite the Katzen Art Center, another award-winning project Rugo completed years ago.

Rugo developed extensive crane rigging plans to carefully remove the boulders and relocate them to a new landscape pool basin at the American University. Rugo team also performed 3D scanning of all the boulders, developed as-built drawings, and performed volumetric calculations to document the footprint of the boulders as well as to aid the design team in overlaying the footprint of the boulders in the new location. The team at Rugo applied all their engineering, rigging, and experience with heavy piece picking to remove these massive boulders, some of them weighing as heavy as 65,000 lbs.

Working closely with Ms. Zimmerman, Rugo successfully removed all seven massive boulders and installed them in the new fountain at the American University without any damage or incident. The new fountain also features new Carnelian granite pool aprons manufactured by Cold Spring and installed by Rugo. Rugo also performed all the detailed boulder conservation, which included cleaning soils and biological growth, repairing old quarry lifting holes with new Carnelian Dutchmen, and repolishing the boulder surfaces that had always been polished but had become dull over the years.

This project is an excellent example of repurposing an acclaimed landscape art piece and truly professional rigging and stone masonry skills. Rugo Stone regularly performs safe and efficient custom rigging projects, and this is yet another example of our skilled stone masonry staff’s ability to perform expert work on even the most challenging projects.

Location: Washington, DC
Completion Date: 2023
Owner:  National Geographic Society
Architect: Elyn Zimmerman Studio
General Contractor: Jame G. Davis Construction
Size: N/A
Services Performed: Design Consultation, Rigging, Relocation and Installation

The North Bethesda Market project involved landscape elements throughout an exterior, open-air plaza in a high-scale apartment community. The project is an excellent example of “Biophilic” Design aimed at integrating natural systems into architectural designs. The goal is to harness humans’ innate affinity for nature and connect natural elements to a constructed environment.

The landscape consisted of over eight stone types quarried in the USA and other countries, with various textures and smooth finishes. The stones also varied in color, creating a unique palette. The finished design features trees and greenery surrounded by natural stone

Location: Bethesda, MD
Completion Date: 2014
Owner: Avenue5 Residential
Architect: N/A
General Contractor: Clark Construction
Services Performed: Design Consultation, Stone Sourcing, Cubic Stone CNC fabrication, Supply and Installation
Size: 25,000 Sqft

This project involved a complete replacement and expansion of the large urban streetscape and crossing located just in front of the Maryland State Capital in Annapolis, Maryland, called Lawyers’ Mall.

This prominent plaza is a gathering point for legislators and attorneys working in the state Capital. The focal point of the plaza is a salvaged and restored limestone colonnade element from a previous design and a bronze statue of the late US Supreme Court Justice, Mr. Thurgood Marshall.

We worked closely with our partnered supplier to design, fabricate, and finally install over 10,000 sq. ft. of granite paving, steps, benches, and staircases to clad this streetscape. The granite pieces feature many custom finishes, which create a very uniform and bold appearance. This project is an excellent example of using and blending granite in an historic urban streetscape.

We carefully dismantled the Indiana limestone colonnade and pedestal and transported them to our marble shop for restoration. The stone was heavily soiled and required nearly two months of work, including cleaning, patching, and dutchman repairs. 

The bronze statue of Justice Marshall, original to the Mall, was temporarily on display at a remote state office building plaza. Our skilled rigging team dismantled the statue and relocated it to its original setting. The rigging and crane operations at the newly renovated Mall were challenging due to the statute’s very tight tolerances and weight. 

The project had many challenges. Being in a historic part of the city, the narrow streets and proximity to historic buildings were challenging from a crane operations and deliveries standpoint. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic and the weather influenced the work of our crews and fellow trades on site. Despite all that, the mall was dedicated as scheduled in December 2020.  

Both the Owner and the architect are very pleased with the finished appearance.

Location: Annapolis, MD
Completion Date: 2020
Owner: State of Maryland Department of General Services
Architect: Ziger Snead LLP Architects
General Contractor: North Point Builders of Maryland, LLC
Services Performed: Design, Consultation, Restoration, Supply, Fabrication & Installation

The Lerner company wanted the backstop behind home plate to simulate the canal walls in Georgetown, and so they turned to Rugo Stone. We suggested and sourced a local mica-schist quarry, Carderock, to be used for the sawn bed rock-faced rubble stone ashlar walls which rest behind home plate.

Rugo’s skilled stonemasons exhibited their significant experience in this old world craft to hand-cut these walls, creating a unique stone appearance that ties the ballpark to historic Washington DC.

Location: Washington, DC
Completion: 2008
Owner: Lerner Enterprises
Architect: HOK Sports and Devrouax & Pernell Architects
General Contractor: Clark Construction
Size: 8,000 sqft
Services: Furnish sawn bed rubble stone, hand cut onsite, and install granite coping

It was a great honor for us to work with acclaimed architect Michael Graves on this project. Clark Construction contracted Rugo to prepare detailed shop drawings and furnish and install a complex granite water feature which runs parallel to the building face and span 112’ long. The fountain had to be installed with high precision to ensure the water spillways all created the same volume of water.

Location: Washington, DC
Completion: 2008
Owner: US Department of Transportation / JBG
Architect: Michael Graves & Associates
General Contractor: Clark Construction
Size: 49,000 sqft
Services: Design, furnish and install large site granite water feature

This project is an excellent example of Rugo’s ability to purchase thick slabs of marble, and custom manufacture in our factory over 700 sqft of thick saddleback coping, ramp and twist pieces, and custom cubic marble benches and legs.

Rugo also installed 26,000 sqft of bluestone paving in a custom color to create all-new walkways around the building. Our work also included all the cataloging and conservation and restoration to existing landscape curbs, steps, and various elements in need of repair.

Location: Washington, DC
Completion: 2013
Owner: Architect of the Capital
Architect: Rhodeside & Harwell
General Contractor: Forrester Construction
Size: 30,000 sqft
Services: Design, fabricate, and install marble curbing, benches, and bluestone paving

City Center in Washington DC is a 6 block development created by world class international real estate developer, Hines. The designs were prepared by two of the most well known international architects. The landscape design is the creation of GGN, a long time Rugo client for complex stone landscape projects. The NW plaza is a covers 85,000 sqft of patterned slate and granite paving for both pedestrians and vehicles. This most unique aspect are the 3 dimensional water features sculptured with 6 axis robotic machinery modeled in the our Rhino 3D software system, These unprecedented water features display a serious of interconnected massive granite blocks all shaped like a 3D topographical map, where each milled groove in the granite aligns with the adjacent block of granite, and creates beautiful pathways for the water to travel. The project has received great acclaim for its design and installation. The project was awarded the 2018 Tucker Award from the Natural Stone Institute.

Location: Washington, DC
Completion: 2015
Owner: Hines
Architect: Foster and Partners Architects / GGN
General Contractor: Clark Construction
Size: 85,000 sqft
Services: Design, fabricate, and install complex plaza water 3D features, plinths, and paving

The Maryland WWII memorial was a tremendous collaborative experience executed in the early years of Rugo Stone. This memorial is dedicated to the casualties of Maryland, who perished and is located on Route 450, overlooking the Naval Academy.

The design calls for a series of stone-clad columns which straddle large upright tablets displaying the over 6,000 casualties form Maryland. Rugo was instrumental in offering design savings suggestions for material types and methods pf engraving. The project included custom sandblasted developed globes for both the Atlantic and Pacific theatres. The granite elements and their engraving is a lasting memory to these brave men and women who gave their lives in defense of freedom.

Location: Annapolis, Md.
Completion: 1999
Owner: Maryland Department of General Services
Architect: Secudino Fernandez AIA, DAT Consulting
General Contractor: Priceless Industries Inc.
Size: 20,000 sqft
Services: Design, fabricate, engrave, and install granite memorial

Rugo Stone was contracted to furnish and install this huge stone-paved plaza, which connects the new Reach structures to the original Performing Arts Center.

This project is an excellent example of Rugo’s ability to procure a vast amount of 3″ paving and install the paving in an exact location, maintaining all the various site grades required to shed the water runoff.

Rugo used an inventive stone lifting system to ensure the installation of these heavy pavers was safe and efficient. The project was performed ahead of schedule and with zero lost-time accidents.

Location: Washington, DC
Completion: 2019
Owner: John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts
Architect: Steven Holl Architects
General Contractor: The Whiting Turner Contracting Company
Size: 40,000 sqft
Services: Design, fabricate, and install large exterior stone paved plaza

This memorial is dedicated to the Ukrainian people who died in the great famine of 1932-1933. It is a unique triangular site near Union Station which required precision coordination to fit the stone in a fashion for high visibility.

Due to the small size of the site and heavy road traffic, we needed to execute a highly unusual coordination of logistics and deliveries. Rugo furnished and installed textured 3″ black slate, sourced from the United Kingdom, and as well as black granite paving, benches, and walls which were all integrated with the bronze bas-relief statue.

Location: Washington, DC
Completion: 2016
Owner: Embassy of the Ukraine / National Park Service
Design Architect: Kurylas Studio
Architect of Record: Hartman Cox Architects LLP
General Contractor: Forrester Construction
Size: 10,000 sqft
Services: Design, fabricate, and install unique slate and granite memorial