Projects

“I have always been interested in the concept of fragmentation and the idea of ​​abstraction and explosion, de-constructing the ideas of repetitiveness and mass production.” – (Zaha Hadid, 2007)

On the waterfront of Lisbon, there is a mid-1900s building constructed on the landfill established in the wake of the 1755 earthquake that changed the city and its layout forever.

1,74m x 1,95m, the Pietà (“Pity”) of San Pietro is a beautiful marble sculpture by the great Michelangelo Buonarroti, which is now preserved in the St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City.

The tale of Cupid and Psyche, written in the second century AD and included in the “Metamorphosis” by Lucius Apuleius, is a story of love and envy destined to inspire artists of every kind, including Antonio Canova.

The evocative setting inside Hall 1 – The Italian Stone Theatre during Marmomac 2019 highlighted for visitors the rich and varied panorama of everyday products which use natural stone to interpret the theme proposed by Raffaello Galiotto for the Natural Things exhibition.

A crossways analysis of the design projects that gave life to the installations in Natural Things, the exhibition curated by Raffaello Galiotto for the 2019 edition of The Italian Stone Theatre, helps identify a number of characteristic ways of relating with natural stone.

The entrance to Hall 1 where The Italian Stone Theatre – the Marmomac exhibition dedicated to stone design culture – is traditionally set up is preceded by an open area where the education works of the Young Stone Project are displayed.

On the one hand, a poetic inspiration based on the idea of a garden with its roots – as one may well say – in the western philosophical tradition; on the other, a radically different concept that embodies the seeds of the Japanese garden.

The name that the designers used to define this architecture is unequivocal and readily understandable: “casa de piedra”.

Where history and current affairs merge yet again, it is up to architecture to help build the identity of the venue: and this can only be achieved by stone architecture when the landscape context and the public and symbolic role of the building alike so require.