It has taken just a few weeks to build the Austria House, but it took the basalt lava natural stone more than 150,000 years to find its way into the house at Whistler as tiles. And the stone would probably last another 150,000 years, if the house could last such a long time. In addition to its wonderful open-pored structure this natural stone is particularly characterized by its hardness and durability.

Pictures of this in the gallery

This natural product evolved from volcanic eruptions in the eastern Eifel. Enormous streams of lava solidified slowly in five- and six-edged columns. This stone is crushed, serrated and processed into various products in Mendig, at the company-owned stone quarries of Mendiger Basalt. One of these products is the tiles, which are currently being laid at Whistler by Reinhold, Thomas and Oliver - members of staff of Mendiger Basalt - and glued into place with Mapestone 1 by Mapei.

During the Sneak Peak a lot of visitors were able to step on the already finished area and had the chance to see the benefits of this unique material for themselves. This flooring material attracted interest from the media and architects and the question arose of whether this stone will be available in Canada. With some imagination and entrepreneurship, Mendiger Basalt’s efforts as a sponsor might be rewarded with commercial success in North America.  As mentioned above, this natural stone is extremely durable, so the Austria House can showcase the tiles as an example of a unique natural-stone flooring material for a very long time.

© Austria House, Austrian Passive House Group (APG): Drexel und Weiss, Optiwin, Erich Reiner, Sohm Holzbautechnik, Zweiraum.