Armourcoat Ltd.

, a manufactured of surface finishes based in the United Kingdom, is learning to solve BIG problems - just one example, an eight-story tall egg. Why would anyone in their right mind want such a large egg? For the Darwin Centre project’s “cocoon” of course, part of the Natural History Museum in London, United Kingdom.

ArmourCast Sculptural, Coral Finish. Manufactured by Armourcoat Ltd.

The giant egg will house over three-hundred years of plant and insect specimens, including some gathered by Charles Darwin himself. Working in tandem with C.F. Moller Architects of Denmark, Armourcoat creates an ideal solution for the cocoon’s outer insulation layer: the surface of the cocoon is finished in honed Armuralia polished plaster. 3ringers, unfortunately you’ll have to wait another year to get an inside look at the enormous egg, as the cocoon is slated to first open to the public in September 2009.

But in the meantime, you can choose ArmourCoat products for your own designs - on a much smaller scale, of course. And for residential and commercial projects, you might opt for ArmourCast, the material that looks and feels like stone. Unlike stone, which is quite heavy, ArmourCast is a composite of crushed limestone, marble, and gypsum that is lightweight enough to create three-dimensional cast designs for wall applications. Anything from waves to flowers, smooth finishes to complex shapes can be sculpted from ArmourCast. Because it can be used to create patterns that are too complex for the hand-applied finish of Armourcoat Polished Plaster, ArmourCast is a great alternative, broadening Armourcoat’s surface options (and yours).

The company will design, select, and install ArmourCast, taking you through a complete service until they install every last panel. Like Synthetic Stone Columns, ArmourCast broadens the possibilities of virtual stone, minimizing the weight and cost of natural stone. Besides wall applications, ArmourCast can be used to make furniture, mirror frames, and columns. Available in various finishes and many colors-all within the natural stone spectrum-ArmourCast can bring the outdoors inside, turning an office wall into a rippled expanse of sand dune or a bathroom frieze into a pinwheel of semi-relief flowers.