Library pavers provoke lawsuit

From the Trib:

Library pavers provoke lawsuit
Salt Lake Tribune

The Jerusalem-based company that supplied the faulty pavers surrounding Salt Lake City's new library has yet to chip in $250,000 to help correct the problem and now the building's award-winning designers are going to court to get it. In a federal lawsuit filed this week in Salt Lake City, the architecture firms that teamed with Boston-based building designer Moshe Safdie say street pavers supplied by Jerusalem Gardens, an Israeli stone company, appears to be "significantly different from that required by the project specifications." Library employees noticed the stones' tendency to crumble in wintry weather, shortly after the $65 million structure opened in February 2003. The suit alleges that tests performed on the stone used in the library's plaza and sidewalk areas shows a deficiency in water absorption, causing the stones to crack. Salt Lake City architects VCBO and Colorado-based Civitas oversaw plaza construction. The suit details a November 2004 accord in which Jerusalem Gardens agreed to assist VCBO, Civitas, Safdie and Salt Lake City construction company Big D in replacing the stone with new pavers from China. "Jerusalem Gardens has refused to execute the formal settlement document," the lawsuit reads, "and has refused to perform its commitment in the [contract] to fund $250,000 of the project to replace the deficient and deteriorating stone pavers." Architects originally agreed to use the Israeli stone because it has the same gold tone as the building, whereas limestone from Utah typically has a gray hue.