From humble origins, sandstone now performs a vast array of tasks, ranging from incredibly fine façade cladding to remarkable sculptural elements, feature walls, paving, and a timeless load-bearing material. Extraction practices, cutting, and shaping techniques create sandstone blocks that form a fingerprint of their source.
While constantly evolving technology creates new possibilities, the age-old natural sedimentary process, geological features, and combination of minerals are still responsible for some of our clients' inspiring and award-winning projects.
Sandstone’s regional fingerprint
Australian sandstone hues vary regionally due to unique geological features, such as mineral content, sedimentary structures, and weathering patterns. Different regions lay down sediment in their own way, with blocks displaying a unique fingerprint of their source – each with a distinct hue and pattern creating a regional fingerprint produced over thousands of years and refined by sustainable extraction and innovative cutting and shaping techniques.
Many of our clients have made their unique mark on inspirational and award-winning projects thanks to their understanding of these regional variations.
When specifying sandstone, designers are working with a living material, and to ensure colour matching and consistency in supply, you'll need to know its source.
Sandstone extracted from Sydney's Hawkesbury region typically features yellow and cream tones caused by iron oxide. Hawkesbury sandstone also typically features banding throughout and is a non-oxidising stone, while Yellow block stone extracted from various sites in the Sydney CBD will oxidise over time.
Grampians' sandstone in Victoria exhibits rich reds and browns influenced by its high iron content.
Gosford Quarries sandstone is sourced from nine different quarries, and variations in the stone can even come from within one quarry.
Australian sandstone weathers over time due to exposure to environmental factors such as sunlight, moisture, salt attack, and temperature fluctuations. As the stone ages, it develops erosion patterns, surface texture, and colour changes influenced by local climates and geological conditions.
If the sandstone is being used as a new product, the stone will come as a freshly cut stone. The only natural way to incorporate an ‘aging’ look is to use recycled sandstone that has already taken on some weathering.
“Architects can benefit from technical advice regarding porosity and permeability during the selection process to ensure the sandstone meets performance requirements for specific applications.”
The unique characteristics of different sandstone varieties, including colour palettes, veining, and grain patterns, influence architects' choices to achieve specific design aesthetics and spatial experiences.
Architects creatively integrate sandstone's geological properties into their designs through various techniques, such as texture, colour, and structural elements. Sandstone's natural beauty and versatility allow for seamless integration into traditional and contemporary architectural styles, ranging from façade cladding and paving to sculptural elements and feature walls.
By leveraging sandstone's natural beauty and integrating it, the architects, landscape architects, and development designers we work with are creating stunning, long-lasting buildings that will stand the test of time.
