A 2.5-acre pool complex sits at the heart of Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Gainey Ranch (now Grand Hyatt Scottsdale after a $115M renovation). Six pools, raised decks, sunken lounges, grottos, gathering spaces, and (after the renovation) fourteen newly built staircases. The surface tying it together is 24 by 24 inch light-toned porcelain.

The installation won First Place in the Porcelain Paver Pavement Commercial category at the 2025 Hardscape North America Awards. It is among the largest commercial porcelain installations in the Southwest, and the work was completed on a schedule that lost two months before it started.

Project Snapshot

Hyatt Regency Scottsdale’s pool complex is the centerpiece of the property. Guests spend their days there, and the pool deck is the single largest connected hardscape surface on the resort. The renovation reset that entire surface, integrated raised pool decks, added sunken lounges, defined grottos, and rebuilt fourteen staircases that tie five different elevations together.

The scope demanded one material that could hold up around water, under furniture, next to food and beverage service, and across five elevation changes. Porcelain met all four conditions. Installation started in December, two months behind the original October date, with an immovable deadline of spring training season opening.

Why Light-Toned Porcelain Works on Arizona Pool Decks

The material decision starts with heat. Porcelain reflects heat differently than concrete or natural stone, and lighter colors reflect more of it. On a Scottsdale pool deck where summer ambient temperatures cross 110 F and unshaded surfaces can reach 150 F or more, that difference decides whether guests can walk on the deck barefoot.

Light-toned porcelain also offers:

  • Density. Porcelain is fired to produce a vitrified body with very low water absorption (typically below 0.5 percent). It resists stains, chlorine, sunscreen, and pressure washing.
  • Dimensional stability. Quality porcelain pavers do not warp, swell, or shift size under temperature or moisture change. Large-format units hold tight joints over long runs.
  • Color consistency. A single batch holds color and texture across every piece, unlike natural stone.
  • Slip-rated finishes. Commercial porcelain comes in tested slip ratings for wet, barefoot use.

The 24 by 24 inch format gave the deck a refined, large-scale rhythm that matched the resort’s contemporary architecture. The light color did the heat work. The porcelain itself stood up to every category of wear the deck would see.

A Stack Bond Layout That Took a Week

A stack bond layout sets each paver directly above and beside its neighbors. No offset. Lines run continuous through the field.

It is the cleanest pattern in hardscape and the hardest to install at scale, because every line is visible from every angle. Offset patterns hide small alignment errors. Stack bond compounds them. On a 2.5-acre installation that runs 125 yards across five elevation changes, every joint had to align with every other joint or the pattern would visibly drift.

“They wanted all the lines,” says Rex Mann, General Manager. “It was a stack pattern, stack bond. They wanted all the lines to line up from one side of the project all the way to the other side.”

Achieving that alignment took a week of layout work before any porcelain was set.

“It took us about a week to lay it out,” says Mann.

The layout had to account for the position of every drain so cuts landed symmetrically, the position of stairs and grottos so paver lines resolved cleanly at transitions, the position of furniture and food and beverage stations so high-visibility lines fell where they would be seen, and the changes in elevation so risers and treads tied back into the field pattern.

Two Installation Methods on One Connected Surface

Most commercial paver projects use one installation method. Hyatt Scottsdale used two.

Most of the porcelain was set on a sand-set base, the standard method for permeable, drainable deck areas. Sand-set lets individual pavers be lifted for service, drains naturally through the joints, and accommodates seasonal expansion and contraction.

In the food and beverage service zones (bars, restaurant seating, similar areas), the method changed to mortar-set with grouted joints. Mortar-set produces a sealed surface that meets food-service sanitation requirements. Grouted joints prevent debris, spills, and contaminants from collecting between pavers.

Combining the two on a single connected surface required:

  • Joint pattern continuity across mortar-set and sand-set zones even with different joint widths and finishing methods.
  • Substrate coordination so mortar-set zones had a fully prepared concrete substrate and sand-set zones had compacted aggregate.
  • Drainage planning for both, since sand-set drains through joints and mortar-set drains across the surface to outlets.

“It’s hard to tilt and manipulate 24 by 24 inch pieces of porcelain to get to the drain,” says Mann.

Sand-set large-format porcelain around drains is one of the genuinely difficult elements of a commercial pool deck. Every cut has to land precisely. Every paver has to be repositioned and tested before final placement, and a 24 by 24 inch porcelain unit is heavy enough that trial-and-error placement isn’t practical.

How Three Crews Met a Compressed Timeline

The original schedule called for an October start. The actual start landed in December, two months late, with the spring training deadline holding firm.

The team scaled the crews to fit the time. Two to three additional crews ran in parallel across different zones of the pool complex. Multiple-crew installations on a single surface introduce their own difficulty, because every crew has to be working from the same layout or seams between zones won’t match.

This is where the week of layout work paid back. Each crew worked from the same reference grid. The five elevation changes resolved cleanly because each crew knew where its zone stopped and the next began.

The installation finished in time for spring training season opening. The client’s review of the renovated pool amenities came back at 10 out of 10.

Why Porcelain Is the Fastest-Growing Commercial Hardscape Material

Architects specifying resort, hospitality, and corporate amenity projects are choosing porcelain at a noticeably higher rate than they did three years ago.

“Porcelain is an up-and-comer, surging in the market,” says Mann. “I would say it is the fastest growing segment of hardscaping material.”

Reasons:

  • Climate performance. Low water absorption and dimensional stability hold up in Southwest heat and Southeast freeze-thaw.
  • Design range. Porcelain is manufactured in wood-grain, stone-look, and concrete-look finishes with consistency natural materials cannot match.
  • Lifecycle economics. Lower staining and lower re-sealing requirements than natural stone.
  • Slip ratings. Commercial-grade porcelain is available in tested slip ratings for wet, barefoot, and ADA-compliant use.

For owners and developers, the math has shifted. Porcelain that costs more per square foot to specify often costs less per square foot over a fifteen- or twenty-year operating life.

What This Means for Commercial Porcelain in the Southwest

Three takeaways from Hyatt Scottsdale that apply to any large commercial porcelain project in the region:

  • Material selection is both a design and an operations decision. Color and texture matter for the eye. Reflectivity, slip rating, and absorption matter for the operating environment.
  • Layout separates a finished deck from a great one. Stack bond, mortar-set transitions, and elevation changes all reward planning.
  • Crew scaling is a real lever on timeline if every crew works from one shared layout.

Lessons We Apply to Every Porcelain Project

A few principles that hold across every large-format porcelain project we run.

“Spend the money for good tools,” says Mann. “Use the right blade. Use the right tool.”

Porcelain demands the right blade, the right saw, and trained hands. There is no shortcut.

“Align yourself with the right vendors that will help show you how to use the right tools and help you be successful,” says Mann.

Material suppliers and equipment vendors who actively support contractors save time on every project.

“Anytime you’re looking at obstacles, think outside the box,” says Mann.

Every difficult site or material constraint has a solution if the team is willing to think laterally.

Plan a Commercial Porcelain Project With European Pavers

European Pavers has installed commercial porcelain across luxury hotels, multi-family communities, corporate campuses, and resort properties across the Southwest. We are a member of the Concrete Masonry & Hardscape Association (CMHA) (the post-merger successor to the Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute) and the Southwest Hardscapes Association (SHA). Our president serves on the CMHA national board.

We support commercial porcelain projects in three ways:

  • Pre-construction. Material selection, slip-rating specification, color and reflectivity coordination, large-format planning, substrate prep, submittals, scheduling.
  • Installation. Crews experienced in sand-set and mortar-set commercial porcelain, large-format layout discipline, and multi-crew coordination on tight timelines.
  • Maintenance. Cleaning, sealing, and repair after installation.

Contact us to talk through a specific project, request a bid, or walk a site.

See also: our rooftop paver case study at the North Central Project in Phoenix.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is porcelain a good choice for pool decks in Arizona?

Porcelain reflects heat better than darker stone or concrete, has very low water absorption (so it resists staining and chemical attack from pool water), and is dimensionally stable under high UV and high temperature. Light-toned porcelain in particular keeps surface temperatures lower, which matters for barefoot use.

What does stack bond mean in paver installation?

Stack bond is a layout pattern where every paver is set directly above and beside its neighbors with no offset, producing a continuous grid of horizontal and vertical lines. It is visually clean and architectural, and it is also the most demanding pattern to install at scale because every small error in alignment is visible.

What is the difference between sand-set and mortar-set porcelain installation?

Sand-set installations place pavers on a compacted aggregate and sand base, with sanded joints between units. They drain through the joints and allow individual pavers to be lifted for service. Mortar-set installations bond pavers to a concrete substrate and grout the joints, producing a sealed surface used in food service and high-sanitation areas.

What awards did the Hyatt Scottsdale porcelain installation win?

First Place in the Porcelain Paver Pavement, Commercial category at the 2025 Hardscape North America Awards.

How long does a 2.5-acre commercial porcelain installation take?

Schedules vary with scope, layout complexity, and crew size. For Hyatt Scottsdale, the timeline was compressed by two months before the start, and the project was completed in time for the spring training season deadline by scaling up to three parallel crews working from a single shared layout.

Is porcelain more expensive than concrete pavers?

Porcelain typically carries a higher per-square-foot material cost than concrete pavers. Over a long operating life, however, porcelain’s lower staining, lower maintenance, and longer aesthetic life often produce a lower total cost of ownership on commercial projects.