Project Spotlight: Hilton Rainbow Towers

The Hilton’s Rainbow Tower stands tall over the Waikiki beach and Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon in the Waikiki neighbourhood in Honolulu. Whether you spotted it in the opening credits to “Hawaii Five-O” or in photographs, you have likely seen the hotel's impressive dual rainbow murals. In 1968, the Rainbow Tower opened with what is considered “the world’s largest ceramic tile mosaic.” With 16,000 tiles the murals stand 87 metres tall, 8 metres wide and can be seen on either end of the tower. After more than 45 years, the integrity of the installation was failing, and the murals’ loose and weather-beaten tiles posed a serious safety concern - the entire installation needed to be replaced.

The project faced two major challenges: 

Scale and Orientation - Not only was the total size of the project daunting, but the tile installation required a flat vertical surface. The nearly-91 metre vertical span of the murals made a completely flat surface difficult to achieve under the best of circumstances. 

The Elements - while Hawaii enjoys famously pleasant weather, the towers are constantly buffeted by wind and temperatures that could reach 60°C on the surface of the murals. Furthermore, the seaside-facing mural had to deal with saltwater spray. 

The Solution: LATICRETE! Click here to read the full Project Spotlight, how Hilton Worldwide and their engineering consultant Professional Consultants International, Inc. (PROCON) worked with the LATICRETE Technical Services team to select the right mix of products (3701 Fortified Mortar Bed, HYDRO BAN®, 254 Platinum, PERMACOLOR® Grout, and LATASIL™) to complete a project of such incredible proportions. 

Contact us to discuss your next project, visit your job site or to arrange FREE samples. Call 1800 331 012 or email us here.

Waiea Tower Hawaii

From the top of the mountains, all the way out into the ocean, every aspect of life in the Kingdom of Hawaii aims to be synergistic and sustainable, including its residential communities. With the goal of becoming the largest LEED for Neighbourhood Development Platinum (LEED-NP) certified community in the country, building owner Howard Hughes Corporation hired James K.M. Cheng in collaboration with Rob Iopa and WCIT Architecture to design Waiea Tower, the flagship building of what is to be Honolulu’s most distinguished neighbourhood, Ward Village.

The 60-acre coastal master planned community allows for approximately 863,998m² of mixed use development and offers numerous outdoor gathering spaces that embraces Hawaiian culture, the perfect mix of urban and eco-friendly living. To complete the construction of the 36-story tower, BMK Construction was enlisted to handle the tile and flooring installations for all of Waiea’s units and public spaces including the pool deck, level one lobby, porte cochere and four levels of penthouses.

To meet the goal of acquiring LEED certification, all LATICRETE products chosen for the construction of Waiea Tower were those that have received multiple certifications and declarations including Health Product Declarations (HPD), Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) and UL GREENGUARD Gold Certifications for low chemical emissions. Products used include HYDRO BAN®, 3701 Fortified Mortar Bed, and PERMACOLOR® Grout. Read the full Project Spotlight here.

For more information on using LATICRETE in your projects, product demos, samples or technical support please contact LATICRETE on 1800 331 012, email sales@laticrete.com.au or visit www.laticrete.com.au.

Project Spotlight: Hilton Rainbow Towers

The Hilton’s Rainbow Tower stands tall over the Waikiki beach and Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon in the Waikiki neighbourhood in Honolulu, HI. Whether you spotted it in the opening credits to “Hawaii Five-O” or in photographs, you have likely seen the hotel's impressive dual rainbow murals. In 1968, the Rainbow Tower opened with what is considered “the world’s largest ceramic tile mosaic.” With 16,000 tiles the murals stand 87 metres tall, 8 metres wide and can be seen on either end of the tower. After more than 45 years, the integrity of the installation was failing, and the murals’ loose and weather-beaten tiles posed a serious safety concern - the entire installation needed to be replaced.

The project faced two major challenges: Scale and Orientation. Not only was the total size of the project daunting, but the tile installation required a flat vertical surface. The nearly-91 metre vertical span of the murals made a completely flat surface difficult to achieve under the best of circumstances. The Elements—while Hawaii enjoys famously pleasant weather, the towers are constantly buffeted by wind and temperatures that could reach 60°C on the surface of the murals. Furthermore, the seaside-facing mural had to deal with saltwater spray. 

The solution: LATICRETE. Click here to read the full story of how Hilton Worldwide and their engineering consultant Professional Consultants International, Inc. (PROCON) worked with the LATICRETE Technical Services team to select the right mix of products (3701Fortified Mortar Bed, HYDRO BAN®, 254 Platinum, PERMACOLOR® Grout, and LATASIL™) to complete a project of such incredible proportions. 

Contact us to discuss your next project, visit your job site or to arrange free samples. Call 1800 331 012 or email us here.

Pukalani Elementary Mosaic Mural

Credits: Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.
Photo Credits: Kealoha Bower & Calley O'Neil 

'Na Wao A’O Pi’ilani' - The Life Giving Forests of Maui

This incredible Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts stained glass mosaic 14'x52' mural was installed for the Pukalani Elementary School in Hawaii. 260 school children and community members helped to create the lei aloha border and the remainder was completed by artist, Calley O'Neill, installer Isaac Homza & the team at Higher Standard Tile & Stone. This project took almost 2 years to complete from inception and has been installed using a range of LATICRETE materials including 254 Platinum (previously 345 Platinum) and PERMACOLOR® Select grout.

PERMACOLOR Select was used to show the different parts of the island with 5 different colours. The panels of the mosaics were then attached to the wall with 254 Platinum. 

This beautiful mural comes with a very meaningful message: 

'The mural seeks to inspire children to nurture their connection with each other and the land, teach the children who they are, where they come from, and how to support life, so that they can communicate this and pass it on to the next generation. The children that understand this will become wise and great innovators and leaders, for there is great work to be done to create a healthy and truly abundant future. There is infinite potential for all the children and their children’s children to thrive and make a positive difference in the place we love the most  -  home!'. - Calley O'Neill. 

Contact us to discuss your next project, arrange a demo or your FREE samples by calling 1800 331 012 or contact us here.

Mosaic Mural in Hawaii

LATICRETE installed on a Bank

This gorgeous mosaic mural has been installed at a new branch of the Bank of Hawaii in Maui. 

The Installer, Isaac Homza and the owner of Higher Standards Tile & Stone, is a huge LATICRETE supporter and a top notch installer!

Isaac used the following LATICRETE products:

• HYDRO BAN® - click here for more info and to view an installation video.
• 254 Platinum - click here for more info.
• PERMACOLOR® Grout - click here for more info.
• LATASIL™ - click here for more info and to view an installation video.

The mosaics used are by Trend, out of Italy and the artist is Phil Sabado from Maui.  

Can we interest you in a few no charge samples? 

Contact us on 1800 331 012 for more information or contact us here.