FT-20 bonds natural stone to a translucent honeycomb core. The core diffuses the light so no diode shows through, and the finished panel weighs 3–4 lbs per square foot — light enough to hang a lit stone wall where solid onyx could never go.
Wake Forest University School of Medicine — The Pearl, Charlotte, North Carolina
Backlighting doesn't brighten stone so much as reveal what's inside it. Veining that reads as grey in daylight turns amber, and the depth of the block becomes visible for the first time. These are single materials photographed both ways.
A $1.5 billion innovation district that opened in June 2025, anchored by the Charlotte campus of Wake Forest University School of Medicine — the city's first four-year medical school.
The atrium runs the height of the Howard R. Levine Center for Education, and the stone banding wraps it as a continuous lit line. At that scale the material question answers itself: solid backlit stone would have meant a structure built to carry it, and joints every time the light source changed.
FT-20 carries the same stone at 3–4 lbs per square foot. The translucent honeycomb behind each panel acts as the diffuser, so the banding reads as an even band of light rather than a row of bulbs behind rock — no diode visible anywhere along the run.
The district was master-planned by Ayers Saint Gross and developed by Wexford Science & Technology with Atrium Health. It welcomed its first medical class in July 2025.
Backlit stone fails in two ordinary ways. It gets too heavy to hang, and you can see the light source through it — a row of bright spots where the diodes sit, and dark bands between them.
The translucent fiberglass honeycomb behind an FT-20 panel solves both at once. It carries the load the stone thickness used to carry, and its cell structure scatters light before it reaches the stone, so the panel is lit evenly across its face from almost any source: LED sheet, rope light, panel light, even daylight.
Panels are strong enough not to need structural reinforcement behind them, and can be ordered with bonded returns and finished corners so a lit feature can turn a corner as one piece.
FT-20: 5mm stone bonded to 20mm translucent fiberglass honeycomb. The core is the diffuser.
Onyx first, then the semi-precious and translucent quartzites. Blocks are selected for translucency and for veining that holds up when it's lit — not every beautiful slab makes a beautiful lit wall.
Several onyx, quartzite and semi-precious options never appear on a stone list. Ask and we'll pull what suits the light you're designing for.
Hospitality, gaming, luxury retail and private residences — anywhere a lit surface has to look like stone rather than a lightbox.
FT-20 is the translucent honeycomb panel. Where a project needs stone bonded to glass instead — for structural, tempered or blast-resistant glazing — that's DS-10.
| Code | Buildup | Weight | Attachment | Suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FT-20 | 5mm stone + 20mm translucent fiberglass honeycomb | 3–4 lbs/ft² | Mechanical | Backlit vertical installations, feature walls, casework |
| DS-10 | 5mm stone + 10mm laminated glass | 8.5–9.5 lbs/ft² | Mechanical | Backlit panels where a glass substrate is required |
Feature wall, bar front, reception desk, retail display — send the scope and we'll come back with stone options, panel sizing and lead time.