For the last 20 years, Fabio Ferruzzi, 65, has worked in the stone and tile industry, but prior to that, he was measuring the curvature of the earth and making maps while working as an engineer for the government.
One recent project had him dipping back into his knowledge of trigonometry, as his company, Vancouver-based Venice Genoa Stone and Tile, was hired to install the Sonic Dish art installation under the Tilikum Crossing in Portland.
“Normally, we lay stuff out and it’s all right angles or straight lines,” Ferruzzi said.
The Sonic Dish was a bit different. It’s a 24-by-12-foot parabolic structure made up of circular tiles. The dish is concave and will reflect sound out about 10 feet from the structure.
“We had to find two radius points in the ellipsoid and strike lines from that so we could lay out tile,” Ferruzzi said. “Otherwise, it wouldn’t have looked natural.”
He added that the dish curves in about 2½ feet. Another concern he and his crew of three tile-setters and two apprentices had was making sure the dish would stay in place, as they were going to attach the stainless steel to concrete and knew the dish would also have to deal with outside exposure and vibrations from the bridge.
To do this, Ferruzzi and his team used a urethane grout.
“With a urethane grout, ultraviolet light doesn’t break it down,” he said. “It’s also a little softer and flexible, which will help with expansion and contraction due to vibration or temperature changes.”
Ferruzzi said they also needed the piece to be sturdy enough to sustain use of strong chemicals that would be used to clean off any graffiti, which, he said, already occurred back in January. His team used thinset to attach the tiles to cement.
While Ferruzzi isn’t sure how his company was picked to work on the project, he’s happy he was selected.
“It’s pretty cool that you can do something different,” he said.
Typically at Venice Genoa Stone and Tile, Ferruzzi does a lot of work fabricating counters, engineering stone and various other tile work. The East Fourth Plain Boulevard location, which Ferruzzi opened 17 years ago, also has a showroom.
Ferruzzi and his team have another larger project coming up in the fall. They’re going to work on the new Science, Technology, Engineering and Math building at Clark College, setting tile in the entryway and restrooms, and making a periodic table of elements with tile for the main lobby floor.
Ferruzzi is happy where he is now, after years of working for the government and time spent living in Detroit, Colorado and Alaska. The Canadian-born Vancouver resident said he always wanted to live in the Northwest, and he knew it was time to leave his government job once it involved more time spent in an office than out in the world.
“I wanted a change,” he said. “I like the scenery out here. It’s softer than other places where I’ve lived. I like the greenery.”
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