High above Toronto's Yorkville neighborhood, Studio Munge designed a residence that balances the warmth of natural materials with the clean lines of contemporary minimalism. The project called for three distinct stones: Calacatta Borghini for the main living areas, Emperador Dark for the library and study, and Pietra Cardosa for the outdoor terraces and garden walls.
Calacatta Borghini, from the Carrara region, is distinguished by its warm golden veining on a white background — a variation that occurs only in specific seams of the Borghini quarry. We worked with the quarry master to identify a production run of 40 slabs that maintained consistent background color and vein density. The slabs were resin-treated and fiberglass-meshed before polishing to ensure they would withstand the underfloor heating system without cracking.
Emperador Dark, a Spanish marble from the Alicante province, was selected for its rich chocolate-brown tones punctuated by lighter veining. The stone's coloration results from manganese oxide infiltration during its Jurassic formation. For the library, we supplied book-matched panels for the wall cladding, creating symmetrical patterns that give the relatively intimate space a sense of expanded depth.
Pietra Cardosa is a grey sandstone from the Italian Alps, historically used in Lombard architecture. Its tight grain structure and high quartz content make it exceptionally frost-resistant — essential for Toronto's extreme winter freeze-thaw cycles. We selected a flamed finish for the terrace surfaces to maximize slip resistance during ice and snow conditions.
The residence integrates the three stones through a transitional palette: the warm whites of the Calacatta lead to the deep browns of the Emperador, grounded by the grey neutrality of the Pietra Cardosa at the building's perimeter. Studio Munge described the sequence as a chromatic journey from hearth to horizon.
Toronto winters demand honesty from materials. Sandstone doesn't pretend.
— Studio Munge