White marble leading feature of new architecture

 

The jury examining the over sixty projects entered in the Marble Architectural Awards (MAA) 2008 competition have chosen the winners giving in-depth assessments in terms of the trends in the use of natural stone in Australia, Central and South America and southern Africa, the areas concerned for this year's competition.

 

The Awards, organised by the Internazionale Marmi e Macchine Carrara, are held in a different geographical area each year with a special every six in Italy. Now in its 24th year, the competition is considered a must for architects and designers who have found "uses and solutions showing absolute excellence" in natural stone.

 

The six-year-long cycle allows for a good look at the developments and trends underway in the world of architecture and the use of natural stone in the three different categories: exteriors, interiors and urban landscape. The jury met at the IMM head offices in Carrara and was composed of Mariella Zoppi, professor at the faculty of architecture at Florence University and Chairman of the Fine Arts Academy in Carrara, the IMM Chairman Giorgio Bianchini and Sauro Cerri, from the scientific committee of the "Carlo L. Ragghianti " foundation. The jury all agreed on the fact that the use of natural stone in projects conveys prestige and that white marble adds particular distinction and value to projects or individual elements thereof.

 

Hence the very prominent trend to use marble in residential buildings, especially high profile villas. Naturally, thanks to the presence and work of many Italian entrepreneurs who have set up extraction and processing businesses all over the world, there is a trend to use local materials that are combined, especially in interiors, with quality pieces in white marble or other Italian materials. This trend is seen above all in countries such as South Africa, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico where there is "a great variety of architectural languages ranging from Asian minimalism to rationalism, to local architectural traditions".

 

 

"Once again we have seen that the great tradition of using Apuan marble is present in all styles and all contexts – said the IMM Chairman Giorgio Bianchini as he presented the results of the competition to the press – and the particular attention of architects/designers in its use to enhance the effects of local materials proves that white marble still has a great future, especially in quality architecture and design".

 

Among the award-winning projects are those by well-known designers in their areas, while others show great design vitality even in countries which may seem of lesser importance and others which are already examples of great architecture.

Among these is the Casa de Meditacion (first prize in the exteriors category) by Gerard and Carlos Pascal in Mexico City, completed in December 2006, where Grissal granite from Spain has been used.

 

In the Interiors category the jury assigned the first prize ex-aequo to the Argentineans Atelman – Fourcade- Tapia for the Museo de Arte Latino Americano in Buenos Aires and the already famous MALBA for which Labradorite and Gris Mara (Argentinean granites), Carrara white, Crema Marfil (Spain) and the German stone Jura Gold have been used.

 

The other ex-aequo went to the group of Mexican architects Zd+a (Yuri Zagorin Alazraki, Sindy Martinez Lortia, Walter Lingard, Francisco Garcia Marquez) for the Casa del Puente completed in 2007 in Sierra Amatepec (Mexico) where Mexican travertine has been used together with the Italian Verde Saint Denise.

 

A Special Mention for the interiors went to the Mexican office BGP Arquitetura for the CASA AV built in Mexico City using the Mexican stones Recinto and Gris Chiluca combined with the Greek Thasos white.

 

The projects entered in the urban landscape category were very interesting too, showing particular attention to the use of local stone in large urban spaces highlighted by interesting colour schemes.

The first prize was given to Luis da Silva and Kevin Johnston, South Africans who designed the NLC - Northern Cape Legislature a Kimberly using South African stones and slates: Agra red, Silver Blue, Pamas Green, Rich Autumn (slates) and Kimberlite.

 

The announcement of the winners is the first part of the competition process which concludes with the awards-winning ceremony at the CarraraMarmotec 2008, the International Exhibition for Marble, Technology and Design (29 May – 1 June), where the fully illustrated official catalogue will be presented featuring the characteristics of the individual projects and where the winning architects will illustrate the aspects and design philosophy of the award-winning projects and the motivations behind the choice of materials.