Case study: Foyer facelift for world-class performing arts centre
Opened in 1990 by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Auckland's Aotea Centre is a multi-purpose venue of world-class design. The many spaces within the Aotea Centre are serviced by a main entry foyer totalling over 700m2 of stunning Carrara marble. However a thick coating was hiding the stone's beauty, and making it appear yellowed and old.
The central corridor clearly shows the old, yellowed coating, while either side has been restored.
Slique Technicians working their magic on the Carrara marble.
30 years is young by marble standards – marble floors have been known to remain intact for millennia. However the Aotea Centre’s Carrara marble floors looked much older than they should have, mainly due to the state of its coating.
This coating had been laid many years previous (no one really knows when) and hadn’t been well maintained in the years since. It was thick, discoloured to a yellowy-brown shade, and covered with scratches and marks.
When new marble was laid in the outside areas, it highlighted the substandard condition of the main marble foyer. Slique was asked to restore the flooring to achieve more consistency throughout the venue.
The first step was for Slique Technicians to strip the coating off completely, revealing the natural stone beneath. This time-consuming process was completed on manageable areas of 50m2 at a time.
Once the stone was revealed, it became obvious that the floor had been damaged before the coating had been laid. A light grind to resurface the marble removed most of the damage.
A new maintainable coating system was then applied to protect the marble from ongoing damage. Slique provided the appropriate maintenance products, and Slique Technicians ran a training session for the Aotea Centre’s cleaning staff, showing them how to maintain the coating so the foyer floors will always be pristine and gleaming.
