Minnesota Members Add to Tradition of Excellence
Mayo Clinic’s Demanding Project Depends on BAC Skills

The Gonda Building’s Nathan Landow Atrium bathes a wide variety of natural stone in bright light.

Recognized worldwide as an innovator of advanced medical treatments, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota offers those suffering from chronic health problems hope for the future. The Clinic’s reputation and record of excellence have made expansion a necessity, and Local 1 Minnesota members are helping the institution fulfill its crucial mission through their work on the Mayo Clinic’s Gonda Building.

The Gonda Building bridges existing Mayo Clinic facilities, and creates an integrated complex. When finished, the 22-story building will be the largest interconnected medical facility in the world.

“This is the largest project we’ve ever undertaken. We really had to gear up to take on a job of this magnitude,” explains Twin City Tile and Marble Stone Division Vice President Joe Becker. That’s significant given the fact that the St. Paul-based contractor has been in business since 1910. “We hired an on-site project manager, contracted with draftsmen, and regularly employed crews of 20 or more Local 1 members.”

Local 1 marble mason and tile layer Rick “Pete” Peterson, a 16-year BAC member, butters a column base on the Gonda Building’s 7th floor.	With safety glasses and hearing protection in place, Local 1 finisher Dan Miller uses a gravity-fed wet saw to trim a Cream Pearl panel.

“The skills of our members are easily seen on a job like this,” says Local 1 President Gary Goblirsch. “And the project has also played an important role in continuing Minnesota’s long-running construction boom. In fact, Twin City Tile and Marble has become the single largest contributor to our trust funds, thanks in part to the many hours of work generated by the Gonda Building.”

Local 1 marble masons are working on the building’s higher reaches, installing marble on floors, walls, and columns, while Local 1 tile setters are busy laying out porcelain and ceramic installations in the facilities’ numerous lavatories. Local 1 bricklayers are also on the job, finishing back-up work above atriums that will eventually receive marble panels.

Curtis Nelson, a 14-year Local 1 marble mason, takes measurements for marble soffits in the Gonda Building’s 7th floor waiting area.	The last remaining bricklayer at the Gonda Building, Local 1 member Rob Williams lays half-high block on a radius wall above an atrium.

With 20 varieties of marble and granite, such as regionally quarried Minnesota Cold Springs Granite and more exotic marbles including Vietnamese Gold and Bolivian Sodalite Blue, the Gonda Building presented Twin City Tile and Marble and their Local 1 crews with many challenges.

“The floors for the building’s subway, a broad pedestrian walkway, slope at 1% to 2% grades to match up with adjacent buildings. We used terrazzo grinders to mill down travertine floors, making sure that low spots and lips were not present, then we buffed the stone back up to its original luster,” says Becker.

The Twin City Tile and Marble Gonda Building Crew

The Twin City Tile and Marble Gonda Building crew (August 26, 2002), from left, Joe Becker, Stan Munson, Ed Geiwitz, Local 1 MN President Gary Goblirsch, Jeff Wolf, Quinn Hilke, Claude Dobbelaere, Tim Grittner, Eugene Jakobi, Al Snowaert, Chris Cartney, Rick Peterson, Curt Nelson, Dan Miller, Robb Williams, and Mark Lindholm.

Set in 2" to 4" mud beds, most of the stone flooring is 1-1/4" thick Roman Travertine. Stairways got special attention, receiving Italian Breccia Aurora marble with inlayed stainless steel non-skid strips. The rich reds and maroons of Spanish Rosso Quipar and Rojo Alicante are used to highlight elevator lobbies and floors. One of the primary materials on interior walls is Cream Pearl, a Sicilian marble noted for its fine finish and consistent workability. Held in place with copper wire, plaster, and steel pins, marble walls and columns were set with 1/8" joints, while floors were set with tighter 1/16" joints.

According to Becker, the Gonda Building is a “world-class project” and as “well-designed and sophisticated as any other stone job going up in the world today.”