Cava Arcari / David Chipperfield Architects

Cava Arcari / David Chipperfield Architects

Textual content description offered by the architects. Sitting relatively exterior of any standard fee and even typology, the mission to design a efficiency area inside the Arcari caves – which used to produce Pietra di Vicenza stone till their closure – advanced by way of a protracted skilled collaboration between David Chipperfield Architects and the Laboratorio Morseletto, who produce conventional artisanal Venetian stone and marble.

The caves are the results of 60 years of quarrying which left a cavernous area supported by irregular large piers and largely crammed with water beneath a wooded hill in Zovencedo, close to Vicenza. Upon coming into the caves, it’s doable to expertise area, materials, and construction as one distinctive entity, the place nature and structure appear to mimic one another. Recognizing these extraordinary qualities, the Morseletto household had usually used the area for casual occasions, which inspired them to develop a extra everlasting resolution.

The romantic and tectonic qualities of the quarry with the carved stone and the filtered water had been already so sturdy that minimal interventions had been required. The mission reintroduces the standard white Vicenza stone into the area with a collection of platforms, steps, and ramps, harking back to Adolphe Appia’s stage units. The platforms are often known as Cavea, a reference to the stepped tiers in historical Roman theatres. The intervention has created a dialogue between the unintended structure of the caves and the formalized stage and seating platforms that characterize occupation and efficiency.

Vicenza stone is the one materials used within the mission. The stone is each added and subtracted, and the mission could be seen as a continuation of the historic quarrying executed on the location. Each the ambient and stage lighting, designed by Viabizzuno, improve the ambiance, with the encircling, water-filled chambers lit from under including to the visible spectacle. The mission has created a multifunctional area that preserves and emphasizes the distinctive traits of the place.