The new concert hall in Rome, the funeral building in Milan’s monumental cemetery, the law court of Pescara are a modern hymn to stone. The designs and winners of the international MAA 2007 Award announced in Florence.

Florence – Italy is experiencing a new Renaissance of stone and keeps embellishing with marble and granite the monuments it wants to commit to history. Over the last few years, many works have been designed by great architects, who have embellished cities and towns of all sizes: from the new concert hall designed by Renzo Piano in Rome, with an exceptional use of travertine, to the law court of Pescara and the new buildings of the monumental cemetery of Milan, panelled in Carrara marble, through to the squares of Gubbio and Carrara that have been redeveloped by Gae Aulenti and Angelo Mangiarotti. They prove that the use of stone is second nature to the great names of Italian architecture, whose task is now made easier by the quality of the products supplied by the Italian companies, which are equipped with cutting-edge technology.

It was extremely difficult for the Jury to select the best designs that had entered the 23rd Marble Architectural Awards (MAA), which Internazionale Marmi e Macchine (IMM) of Carrara gives to those designers who have used Italian marble and stone in their works. The award, which is held once a year, is open to a different geographical area each year; in 2007, it focussed on Italian architects.

The winning architects and projects were presented to the press in the premises of Confindustria (Confederation of Italian Industry) in Florence, by the top managers of IMM (president Giancarlo Tonini, the jury’s chairman, CEO Paris Mozzanti), before the president of Confindustria Toscana, Sandro Bonaceto.

“The scenario that comes to the fore, according to the jury – said president Tonini as he explained the results –, is an intelligent, relevant use of marble and stone, which is used by our architects with masterly skills that come from centuries of experience, delivering impressive results that help promote the Italian materials and the excellent standards of our companies, which, when they have to make quality projects and fulfil the great architects’ requirements, have no rivals in the world and prove that their leadership is not down to chance.”

The MAA is given to a different geographical area each year, and, according to the regulations, the award is given to works in which stone has been used to “excellent” standards in one of the three major spheres of application: external facings, interior decoration or urban landscaping. For external facings, the award was won by the New Law Court of Pescara, designed by studio Giulio Fioravanti and architect Franco Agresta of Rome, who largely used white Carrara marble and grey stone from Yugoslavia in a work that, through a modern use of marble, looks minimal without detracting from the monumental proportions and starkness of the building. Also for external facings, two special mentions were given, one to Manfredi Nicoletti who designed the Provincial headquarters of Carabinieri in Rieti, achieving, even in a military building,, great architectural decorum that makes the most of the chromatic and functional features of granite, the other one to Calogero di Stefano for the new funeral building of the Monumental Cemetery of Milan, where white marble, along with bardiglio, beola, serizzo and Indian green marble, give a modern twist and great impact to a building that is set in powerfully symbolic surroundings.

For interior decoration (section II), the first prize was won by Mario Botta, who designed Papa Giovanni XXIII Church and Pastoral Centre in Bergamo, in which the Lugano-born master used red Verona marble with his typical skills and scenic effects playing with the shades of this material.

A special mention in the same section went to Studio Moretti of Milan for the Hospital Chapel of Prospiano (Varese), where the use of white marble sets off an extremely innovative pattern that was chosen for a place of worship set amidst earlier architectural features.

Great names were also the winners of the Urban landscaping section, where the big names of contemporary architecture produced works of great impact as well as powerful symbolic value, which show the universal character as well as the relevance of stone.

The equal first prizes were won by Renzo Piano and Gae Aulenti.

Renzo Piano signed the Concert hall for Parco della Musica, completed in Rome in 2002, where he used, in an extremely modern work, travertine, the quintessentially Roman material, thus giving universal dignity to a place of socialisation and intensive traffic for people who move in a place which is heavily marked by stone.

Gae Aulenti designed the redevelopment of Piazza San Giovanni in Gubbio (completed in 2006) with a lavish use of Extra-hard Firenzuola stone, a material which gives a strong imprint to a public area which this project gives back to great aesthetic dignity and a pleasant public use.

Again, a special mention for urban landscaping was given to Angelo Mangiarotti for the redevelopment of Piazza Battisti in Carrara (with the help of Mariano Billè and Renata Cussigh) where he used Firenzuola stone and Valcamonica porphyry and in which, by separating the shades of the different materials, he achieved an exemplary recovery of a downtown area, with a great, unique scenic effect, giving back to pedestrian use an area that gives new dignity to the ancient Teatro degli Animosi of Carrara, completely panelled in white marble.

All the winners and, as the jury decided, the works that did not win but were particularly significant, will be included in the official catalogue of the award, which will be presented at CarraraMarmotec, the international marble and technology fair, due from May 30th to June 2nd.

The award, which is organised by IMM in conjunction with ICE (Italian Trade Commission) and Toscana Promozione with the assistance of Cassa di Risparmio di Carrara, is sponsored by Pietra Autentica and Pietra Naturale.

As evidence of the attention with which the marble world looks to the Award, many are the sponsors, both institutional ones, such as Associazione Italiana Marmomacchine, and local companies, such as Campolonghi Italia, Henraux, Ezio Ronchieri, M.A.P. srl, Gemignani e Vanelli, Marmi Carrara, Sagevan Marmi, Società Apuana Marmi and Tonini & Donnini.