rvine, Calif. is a high-tech eco- nomic powerhouse sometimes referred to as “Silicon Valley South.” This fast-growing city’s skyline was transformed by a pair of distinctive glass office towers located at Irvine’s Spectrum Center, an open- air retail and dining district. Each 323-foot tower creates a vertical business campus offering impressive 360-degree views of coastal Orange County and showcasing large-format tile and stone on every floor. Both tile contractors on this project used a Build Green® Emerald System™ of products from CUSTOM to prep, set, grout and seal the assemblies and contribute to expected LEED Gold certification. Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, the architecture firm behind the Louvre’s iconic glass pyramid, designed the Spectrum Center’s new glass-walled, 426,000-sq.- ft. towers. Curtain wall construc- tion creates an open, contempo- rary lobby to welcome employees and visitors to the many corpo- rate offices headquartered here, including Mazda’s North American Operations. This effect is enhanced by the luxurious expanse of over- sized natural stone on floors, walls and even inside the elevator cabs. CUSTOM System selected for tile and stone in Orange County’s two tallest towers skyline was transformed by a pair of I F E A T U R E S T O R Y The Spectrum Towers are the tallest buildings in Orange County 40 TileLetter | June 2018