26262625 Architects: Bus Shelter 2002, (+ Parker Williams)

Limestone from quarries near Bloomington, Indiana was used in the Empire State Building, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, and the rebuilding of the Pentagon following 9-11.

When the city sponsored a bus shelter design competition, 26262625 looked to local quarries and craftspeople for inspiration, but a total budget of $22,000 per shelter worked against such a response.

Following visits to local quarries, a finishing mill, and a walk through a graveyard of rejected stone hulks, a design of flawed limestone blocks -- known as 'rough backs' -- emerged.