In this installation, our first purpose was to change the general concept of thin marble, while being aware of the thickness limits due to stone cutting processes.

Thinking about how water and wind manage to erode rocky landscapes, we decided to consider new working processes, such as removal and polishing, to achieve this unique result. Starting with a marble slab, we decided to gently remove some material and shape it as an eroded terrain.

Kengo Kuma (1954) graduated from the University of Tokyo (Graduated School of Engineering – Department of Architecture) in 1979. He founded the Spatial Design Studio in 1987 and Kengo Kuma & Associates in 1990, followed by the opening of European branch Kengo Kuma & Associates Europe in 2008. He was Visiting Scholar Graduate School (1985-86) and Lecturer at the Graduate School of Architecture (1994) of the Columbia University. Since 2009, he has been a Professor at the Graduate School of Architecture of the University of Tokyo. He designed the Yusuhara Visitor Centre (Kochi, 1994), the Memorial Park in Gunma (Gunma, 1998), the Bamboo House (Kanagawa, 1999), the Hirosige Museum (Tochigi, 2000), the Art Center and Cité de la Musique (Besançon, 2012), the FRAC Marseille (Marseille, 2012), the Daiwa Ubiquitous Computing Research Building (Tokyo, 2014) and the Umeda Hospital (Yamaguci, 2015).

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Curated by Vincenzo Pavan

An exhibition experimentation and creativity in the use of natural stone that seeks to promote “Made in Italy” in this field through the interpretations of prestigious international designers. The act of reaching upwards, in architecture as in urban spaces, has always been an intriguing challenge for architects, as well as a test of skill in demonstrating a designer’s technical and creative skills.
Today as in the past, natural stone – more than other materials – has proved to be ideal for experiments in this context. Stone materials were used for the most ingenious and richly expressive staircases, from Baroque to Art Nouveau, from classic to modern. Similarly, natural stone lends itself to modelling ramps, paths and sloping, structurally complex and visibly steep surfaces. The exhibition seeks to generate new experiences and new interpretations of stone materials through input from internationally renowned architects and designers and groud-breaking Italian companies operating in the stone industry. Their collaboration led to a search for new forms and creative solutions for key construction elements, as well as an exploration of unsuspected technical and expressive qualities of a material boasting such ancient traditions.