Tradition, innovation and modernity: the language of stone becomes culture. This is the message embraced over the years by MARMOMACC, the International exhibition of marble, natural stone and technology, scheduled at the Verona Exhibition Centre 3rd-6th October 2002; the exhibition has become a landmark for architects, designers and experts seeking new materials for use in their projects: commercial or residential centres, buildings, company sites, private villas, etc.
The Exhibition itself is also home to Marble, Art, Culture, an indispensable appointment for a better understanding of different design trends, the multitude of application possibilities for natural stone and its expressive and construction potential.
The works and lectures by leading contemporary architects - Rossi, Botta, Meyer, Salgado, Podrecca, Gregotti, Afra and Tobia Scarpa and Moneo - have represented, over the years, the added value of the event, attracting young students and professionals through the prestige of such 'names' and the original alternation in the use of marbles and granites.
The 37th edition of Marmomacc equally promises significant educational content through three major events: the exhibition of "New Stone Architecture in Italy", co-ordinated by Veronese architect Vincenzo Pavan scheduled 19th-23rd September (Abitare il Tempo), and 3rd-6th October (Marmomacc); the convention “Structure and surface”, mutations in language and new identity in recent stone architecture in Italy (held during Marmomacc); the exhibition “Fire & Water” (organised by Carlo Amadori and Vincenzo Pavan), dedicated to kitchens and bathrooms, the new protagonists in our homes (19th-23rd September and 3rd-6th October).
The first appointment, a 'tour' involving drawings, photographs, models and videos, brings together around twenty works for public and private buildings, urban areas, squares and roads by a prestigious list of architects: Augusto Romano Burelli and Paola Gennaro, Gianmatteo and Roberto Romegialli, Francesco Venezia, Mario Botta and Giulio Andreolli for public buildings; Aldo Rossi, Emilio Battisti, Umberto Riva, Antonio Citterio and Terry Dwan, Afra and Tobia Scarpa, Mauro Galantino and Marco Zanibelli, Claudio D’Amato, Mauro Sàito and Studio Archea for private buildings; Carlo Pozzi and Antonio Conte, Alvaro Siza Vieira and Roberto Collovà, Boris Podrecca, Franco Mancuso, Bernard Huet – Ceschia and Mentil Associate Architects for public spaces.
After a complicated period of theoretical debate, in more recent years Italian architecture has experienced a truly interesting season, thanks not the least to the impetus provided by the vast and multi-form European movement, that emphasises research into new languages for Contemporary Architecture combined with a more precise and timely connection between design, construction and materials. Within this architectural-construction approach open to innovative technologies and materials, important emphasis is now given to the main traditional materials, first and foremost natural stone. Thanks to the combined research and experiences of architects of different generations and backgrounds, Italy in recent years has witnessed a more mature culture of stone materials.
This exhibition aims to draw up a critical statement of the most important architectural experiences in Italy, involving the creative and qualitative use of marble and stone quarried and processed in the main Italian natural stone centres.
Language and identity of stone materials, on the other hand, are the focal theme of the meeting organised by VeronaFiere during MARMOMACC (VeronaFiere, 3/6 October 2002) engaging historians and critics of architecture with authors or major works finalised in Italy to debate certain major aspects of the new culture of “stone architecture”. The questions that speakers will be called upon to answer - all names of great prestige (Fulvio Irace, Paolo Portoghesi, Romano Burelli, Claudio D’Amato, Umberto Riva, Emilio Battisti and Francesco Venezia) - particularly include: the existence of an identity in current Italian “stone” architecture; the features of the relationship between current architecture and local building traditions (for example, in Mediterranean or Alpine areas) and the relationship with Italian XX century traditions (rationalism and historicism); the presence and influence of current international research into languages and technologies of stone materials in Italy.
As regards the exhibition "Fire & Water", two essential elements in everyday life, it must be said that in recent years there has been increasing interest in kitchen and bathroom "systems". This new frontier – the search for comfort and interest in the perceptive, sensorial and intellectual aspects of living – has seen interior design engage for some time (and today as never before) in far-reaching research into forms and materials.
The showcase is the outcome of synergy between Marmomacc and Abitare il Tempo, with the collaboration of architects, designers and artists of international status (such as Giulio Cappellini, Aldo Cibic and Elvilino Zangrandi, Ludovica and Roberto Palomba, Claudio Silvestrin, Simone Micheli Studio of Architecture, Giovanna Talocci and Giancarlo Vegni) and leading companies in sectors such as stone materials, home furnishing and accessories for bathrooms and kitchens (Flaminia, Dornbracht, EffetiCucine, Kos, Minotti Cucine, Stone Italiana, Teuco-Guzzini, Units).
Comprising settings and objects ensuring "sensorial reaction" in "ancient" materials such as natural stone, marble and wood together with modern products such as steel, glass and plastic, the exhibition will be immersed in a magnificent physical environment involving integration between real places and objects and virtual, digital representations.
Following huge success in recent years, lastly, the course detailing the use of stone and marble in modern architecture will once again be a major attraction. It is targeted at US architects, who every year must attend a given number of hours of "refresher" lessons in order to remain in the national listings. The initiative, organised during Marmomacc by VeronaFiere in collaboration with ICE (Foreign Trade Institute) and Stone World Magazine, offers professionals in-depth courses covering innovative technologies and decorative aspects in the use of stone and marble, to ensure valorisation of conventional architecture and its possible developments.
VeronaFiere presented the course in May at the architects convention in Charlotte (North Carolina) and is now officially recognised as an "education provider" by AIA (the American Institute of Architects), thus becoming a landmark for American architects interested in expanding their awareness of stone material applications.
