Large turnout for the round table presented by Philippe Daverio with leading architects including Mario Botta, Mario Bellini, Frank Spadaro and Alexander Sipkes on the use of marble that skilled craftsmanship turns into works of art.
Carrara, 10 June 2011
The main auditorium at the Chamber of Commerce in Carrara was not large enough to seat the huge audience enthusiastically awaiting the conference coordinated by Philippe Daverio on Designing with Marble held on Thursday 9 June during Carrara Marble Week, the event created to renew the strong and long-lasting ties between the town and marble.
The round table more than achieved its objective with Mario Botta who very clearly summed up his vision of marble and the relationship between Carrara and its precious material “Carrara’s wealth is not marble but those who work marble. Without this added value, the result of tradition, art and culture, stone is just a piece of mountain”.
This was just the beginning of a lesson, or rather a series of “lessons” held, together with Botta, by the other architects present and coordinated by the well-known Gilda Bojardi, editor of the magazine Interni, who was obviously very interested in the talks.
“I am a builder – said Botta – and I am fully aware that without the art, intelligence and work of man, marble remains matter, a neutral tool, just a piece of mountain actually. Marble turns nature into culture and Carrara that holds the culture of marble must not sell raw marble, just selling off the mountains, it must sell what is its most important added value which is experience and expertise which lead to quality work and make “Carrara marble precious, a unique element, irreplaceable in a world which is increasingly globalised, because architects like all humanity see marble as a material which comes close to eternity”.
This was the point that Philippe Daverio picked up on saying how marble is the material which actually turns building engineering into architecture and is decisive in “giving value to a building, creating the town and building a collective memory, generating identity and a sort of reassurance.
Mario Bellini’s participation was much appreciated too. Bellini traced his personal relationship with stone, and marble in particular, a material that is loved in all parts of the world, talking of his experience in Italy and Japan. Today – he said – we have to design and build weighing up the prices of the materials as clients are very aware of costs and so the use of marble must be very high level, a use which increases the value and prestige of the surrounding environment”.
Along the same lines was the talk by Frank Spadaro (senior project at Peter Marino offices in New York) who gave examples of his own personal work and his office’s “on prestigious housing and offices of leading fashion houses such as Fendi where stone was used as a material that conveys importance and value, a value that is guaranteed by the manual skills and experience of Italian craftsmen. This is why – said Marino – in my work I use a lot of stone from all over Italy and I never do without Italian creativity and manual skills”.
Of great interest too was the participation of Alexander Sipkes (associate director of the important SOM, Skidmore, Owen and Merrill) who was commissioned to work on Ground Zero, a commission the offices won thanks to their long experience and great professional skills which include the use of marble and stone shown in the photographs of projects all over the world in projects that have been included in publications studied by those who want to know more not only about building solutions but also about the modern, intelligent and rational use of materials like marble that SOM has always used with creative flair in prestigious works.
Carrara Marble Week is an event free of charge: every evening from 5 pm to midnight.
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