ATELIER MDDN
PAR
MINH
DANG
&
DUNG NGUYEN
LES COURANTS BLANCS
Our visits to Carrara paint the portrait of a productive city. Surprisingly, it is not characterized by large factories but rather by vast cutting workshops, closely packed together and coexisting with collective housing and individual homes. Urban planning continuously seeks to integrate infrastructures that facilitate the flow of goods while also developing hydraulic structures to mitigate flooding.
Marble is omnipresent in the urban landscape, appearing in both architectural elements and furniture—sidewalk curbs, building cornices, window sills, tables, and chairs. As we approach the historic city at the foot of the mountains, we begin to see retaining walls made of discarded marble blocks. These blocks, rejected by the market due to imperfections—such as an off-white color or unattractive veins—cannot be exported or processed, as the cost of transformation is too high. Compared to high-quality marble, which costs thousands of euros per square meter, these discarded blocks are sold for only a few hundred euros for 10 to 25 tons. Thus, the local architecture is shaped by both an industrial optimization logic and a vernacular approach, characterized by the unconscious stacking of these discarded blocks.
Within this landscape, the project aims to develop a program centered on the use of raw marble. We propose a long table—an open space where different stakeholders can gather and engage in discussions about how marble is used today. This concept takes form through three interconnected buildings spread across two levels, housing essential functions: an exhibition gallery, workshops, archives, an auditorium, and an observatory.
LES COURANTS BLANCS
Our visits to Carrara paint the portrait of a productive city. Surprisingly, it is not characterized by large factories but rather by vast cutting workshops, closely packed together and coexisting with collective housing and individual homes. Urban planning continuously seeks to integrate infrastructures that facilitate the flow of goods while also developing hydraulic structures to mitigate flooding.
Marble is omnipresent in the urban landscape, appearing in both architectural elements and furniture—sidewalk curbs, building cornices, window sills, tables, and chairs. As we approach the historic city at the foot of the mountains, we begin to see retaining walls made of discarded marble blocks. These blocks, rejected by the market due to imperfections—such as an off-white color or unattractive veins—cannot be exported or processed, as the cost of transformation is too high. Compared to high-quality marble, which costs thousands of euros per square meter, these discarded blocks are sold for only a few hundred euros for 10 to 25 tons. Thus, the local architecture is shaped by both an industrial optimization logic and a vernacular approach, characterized by the unconscious stacking of these discarded blocks.
Within this landscape, the project aims to develop a program centered on the use of raw marble. We propose a long table—an open space where different stakeholders can gather and engage in discussions about how marble is used today. This concept takes form through three interconnected buildings spread across two levels, housing essential functions: an exhibition gallery, workshops, archives, an auditorium, and an observatory.
LES COURANTS BLANCS
Our visits to Carrara paint the portrait of a productive city. Surprisingly, it is not characterized by large factories but rather by vast cutting workshops, closely packed together and coexisting with collective housing and individual homes. Urban planning continuously seeks to integrate infrastructures that facilitate the flow of goods while also developing hydraulic structures to mitigate flooding.
Marble is omnipresent in the urban landscape, appearing in both architectural elements and furniture—sidewalk curbs, building cornices, window sills, tables, and chairs. As we approach the historic city at the foot of the mountains, we begin to see retaining walls made of discarded marble blocks. These blocks, rejected by the market due to imperfections—such as an off-white color or unattractive veins—cannot be exported or processed, as the cost of t
LES COURANTS BLANCS
Our visits to Carrara paint the portrait of a productive city. Surprisingly, it is not characterized by large factories but rather by vast cutting workshops, closely packed together and coexisting with collective housing and individual homes. Urban planning continuously seeks to integrate infrastructures that facilitate the flow of goods while also developing hydraulic structures to mitigate flooding.
Marble is omnipresent in the urban landscape, appearing in both architectural elements and furniture—sidewalk curbs, building cornices, window sills, tables, and chairs. As we approach the historic city at the foot of the mountains, we begin to see retaining walls made of discarded marble blocks. These blocks, rejected by the market due to imperfections—such as an off-white color or unattractive veins—cannot be exported or processed, as the cost of transformation is too high. Compared to high-quality marble, which costs thousands of euros per square meter, these discarded blocks are sold for only a few hundred euros for 10 to 25 tons. Thus, the local architecture is shaped by both an industrial optimization logic and a vernacular approach, characterized by the unconscious stacking of these discarded blocks.
Within this landscape, the project aims to develop a program centered on the use of raw marble. We propose a long table—an open space where different stakeholders can gather and engage in discussions about how marble is used today. This concept takes form through three interconnected buildings spread across two levels, housing essential functions: an exhibition gallery, workshops, archives, an auditorium, and an observatory.
LES COURANTS BLANCS
Our visits to Carrara paint the portrait of a productive city. Surprisingly, it is not characterized by large factories but rather by vast cutting workshops, closely packed together and coexisting with collective housing and individual homes. Urban planning continuously seeks to integrate infrastructures that facilitate the flow of goods while also developing hydraulic structures to mitigate flooding.
Marble is omnipresent in the urban landscape, appearing in both architectural elements and furniture—sidewalk curbs, building cornices, window sills, tables, and chairs. As we approach the historic city at the foot of the mountains, we begin to see retaining walls made of discarded marble blocks. These blocks, rejected by the market due to imperfections—such as an off-white color or unattractive veins—cannot be exported or processed, as the cost of transformation is too high. Compared to high-quality marble, which costs thousands of euros per square meter, these discarded blocks are sold for only a few hundred euros for 10 to 25 tons. Thus, the local architecture is shaped by both an industrial optimization logic and a vernacular approach, characterized by the unconscious stacking of these discarded blocks.
Within this landscape, the project aims to develop a program centered on the use of raw marble. We propose a long table—an open space where different stakeholders can gather and engage in discussions about how marble is used today. This concept takes form through three interconnected buildings spread across two levels, housing essential functions: an exhibition gallery, workshops, archives, an auditorium, and an observatory.
