The elevations of this brick building tell an important and dramatic geological story, that of the Champlain Thrust Fault that formed the local landscape hundreds of millions of years ago. The individual bricks by their color, texture, position and scale (each brick represents 88 feet of vertical depth and 500 feet of horizontal length) create a giant mural for the public’s education and enjoyment. It accurately explains how a fault propagated through this area and pushed very old rock strata 8,000 feet below the earth’s surface up on top of surface rock one hundred million years younger!
The tradition of buildings telling stories on their exterior is ancient. Here, a relatively low cost and simple structure becomes a rich addition to its surroundings as its skin becomes both art and message.