A History of Quality
Dura Art Stone and the Art of Precast
In the early 1930s, a sculptor named Bruno Mariani immigrated to the United States from Italy. An accomplished model maker and craftsman, he found work at Cecil B. DeMille Studio, creating masks and plaster castings for films that shaped the Hollywood landscape. Drawn to the epic sensibility, large-scale production and collaborative spirit of Tinseltown, Bruno brought old-world techniques and a refined aesthetic to a studio devoted to filmmaking legend and academy award-winning director DeMille. Those years were formative and foundational for the young immigrant, who was able to sharpen his skills while advancing complex projects with a lot of moving parts.
A few years later, Bruno embarked on a venture that would, in time, set a new standard for residential and commercial exteriors in major cities in California; he began crafting ornamental plaster for high-end residences in San Francisco. And so, in 1935, Western Artificial Stone Co. (soon to be renamed Western Art Stone) was born. Bruno spent the next 30 years employing the finest technical personnel to design and adorn the exteriors of Northern California’s most exclusive private dwellings and corporate facades, including its first precast concrete high-rise in 1967.
Gene Mariani Takes the Helm
Bruno’s son, Gene Mariani, took the helm just a year later, in 1968, and continued to leverage the expertise of sought- after architects, engineers, plastering craftsmen, sculptors and carpenters to design precast architectural ornamentation and facades for building exteriors, all the while staying true to his father’s artisan heritage and creative influence. In time, the company adopted pivotal material innovations, including precast panels that incorporate brick, granite, marble, travertine and tile. Gene supervised the fabrication, finish and installation of projects, and ensured every undertaking aligned with the company’s brand and legacy to such a degree that it ultimately put Western Art Stone on the map.
That day came within three short years, when Western Art Stone was awarded one of the most important contracts of its tenure—the Transamerica Pyramid Center in San Francisco’s Financial District. The project was an immense undertaking and solidified a new era for a company that thrived on challenges and creating solutions that are sustainable and long lasting. Western Art Stone won a very competitive bid with what today is known as Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Co. and went to work fabricating the entire exterior building panels of the Transamerica Pyramid in precast concrete, including the elevator cores and the facade rendered in crushed quartz. The project took Western Art Stone exactly a year to complete, from the Notice to Proceed to the day when the cap was placed on the top of the pyramid with a helicopter. That year was 1972, and at that time the 48-story postmodern marvel was the eighth tallest building in the world, an impressive 853 feet high.
The Tenure of Sam Diesendruck and Carl Payden
In 1980, Gene hired Sam Diesendruck and Carl Payden. Sam was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil, and had every intention of becoming an architect. “I grew up wanting to be an architect,” Sam says. “I come from a family of architects. Somehow, I ended up in civil engineering. During my last year in college, the largest precast concrete fabricator in Brazil was just across the street from the campus. I applied for an internship and got a job.” While proximity and experience were milestones in Sam’s early career, his expertise would eventually carry him a long way from home. After college, Sam made contacts with the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute in Chicago, immigrated to the U.S., and soon after joined the team at Western Art Stone in California.
“I started out as a draftsperson, and prepared engineering calculations,” Sam says. “My office was right next to the plant, and several times a day I would watch my drawings become manufactured precast panels right in front of my eyes. My first reaction was ‘Wow! It’s that big!’ The sense of scale and seeing drawings become reality made an impact on me at 23 years old.”
That was 38 years ago. In the mid-1980s, Western Art Stone changed its name to Dura Art Stone, and today Sam is company President and highly respected for driving quality and innovation for more than three decades with the company. He believes such long-standing loyalty and tenure with the company is not unique to Dura Art Stone, but is typical of the industry as a whole. “There are many people in management positions today that have been with their companies in this industry 30 to 40 years,” he says.
While a lot of time has passed, Sam still marvels at the projects that have been completed under his watch. “I live very close to San Francisco and I always enjoy seeing projects that I’ve worked on over the past 38 years,” Sam says. “I still remember the challenges of each project, that’s the fun part of being in this line of business. Because they’re physical and above-ground structures, the experience stays with you forever.”
Sam and his business partner, Carl Payden, Operations Manager, have worked together for close to four decades on design, fabrication and installation, under the guidance and mentorship of Gene. Through it all, they’ve developed a strong friendship, and a powerful connection with one another, coupled with a shared belief in the company.
“Gene Mariani has been an inspiration for Carl and me,” Sam says. “He’s instilled in us the importance of the quality of the product and the tooling (the mold making). Gene stresses the importance of high-precision drawings and forms, as well as quality and timely delivery. This is what he’s reinforced in us, and continues to reinforce. Gene is still very involved in the company.”
Durable Art with Simulated Stone
For decades, Sam and Carl found achievement and fulfillment that were driven by completing challenging projects that continued to expand Dura Art Stone’s reputation in the industry.
“Our manufacturing facility is in northern Mexico, in the city of Tecate, about an hour from San Diego,” Sam says. “We look for projects that are architecturally unique and structurally challenging. The more complicated and challenging a project is, the more appeal it holds for us. We offer the opportunity to design something that’s really complicated, but would be expensive elsewhere. We can bring designs to reality with a more competitive approach.”
The company is also involved in the region by supporting local schools and donating products to people in the community. “We support several sports programs for schools in the area,” Sam adds.
All of this has been a labor of love by a team whose North Star has been an intense interest in designing and manufacturing an almost perfect simulation of natural stone. “Turning concrete into art made the name of the company: Dura Art Stone,” Sam says. “We’re making durable art with simulated stone.”
That commitment to quality is noticeable immediately when you inspect the appearance, finish and color of the product during the fabrication process. “When buildings are done, it’s as if they’ve been designed with natural stone,” Sam says. “Precast has the rigidity, quality, detail and appearance of the natural product. Everything you’d see on a building in Europe that has withstood the test of time is there, designed to the best possible simulation of stone.”
Every Day Is a New Challenge
This year marks the 50th anniversary of precast solutions for Dura Art Stone. That’s 50 years of innovation and talent—50 years of belief in the company’s shared vision and artisanal origins. How does it retain such talent year after year?
“We let the work do it for itself,” Sam says. “We try to keep work interesting and challenging for our employees. People are attracted to it because of the challenges every day. Motivation is primarily performance based, and we let the work be the main driver.”
Many of the projects that keep employees coming back day after day fit the mold of being technically challenging and architecturally unique. Not to mention, the high standards that Gene continues to set, and the improved processes the company has set in motion. There is talent that comes to Dura Art Stone to complete a project—working in tandem, each skill set unique and complementary.
“It’s all about craftsmanship and design,” Sam says. “One of our biggest challenges recently was a large complex for USC Village at the University of Southern California. It involved six buildings that contain housing for 2,500 students as well as retail space. We were involved from early stages of schematic design. Once on board, we worked for two years with the project architects completing the design of the gothic-style facades. We built over 400 custom forms and fabricated more than 9,000 pieces of precast.”
It was a project that took the team over three years to complete. Ultimately, the USC project was the challenge of Sam’s career. “It was a fast-track project, and we were brought on board as soon as construction had started. We had to work nonstop with the design team so we could build forms while construction was going at a very fast speed. We needed every ounce of talent from everyone in the company to accomplish the work.”
For Dura Art Stone, and for Gene, Sam, Carl and the rest of the architects, engineers and craftsmen who make up the company, the daily challenges have become the foundation for growth, establishing a skill set for excellence and perfection. The team strives to outdo itself while remaining loyal to Bruno and Gene’s mission. What other company can boast such an impressive portfolio, an old-world artisan heritage, ties to Hollywood and such an innovative and unique product?
Clearly, Dura Art Stone continues to push the boundaries of creativity while enhancing the sustainability, durability and quality of product—day after day, year after year, challenge after challenge.