The main idea of our project is that the way to innovate the marble sector is to build a parallel production chain that is able to undertake industrial production from its waste. Marble is still too much perceived as a sculptural material, even in its most commercial applications.

We noticed that the ventilated facade tile market is very broad and it offers options for both modular cladding and bespoke projects. However, it is easy to see how the most ambitious and innovative projects concern large commissioned buildings, where each tile system is designed to be used in a specific situation, respecting the needs of the place. Hence our idea of designing a system that has structural peculiarities, but which does not give up being adaptable to various projects, so as to be a convenient tool for architects and construction companies. The possibility of having a practical and ready-to-use solution arose when we visited the Lasa Marmi company and we really realized the difficulties involved in shaping the tiles in the absence of a pre-existent adaptable system. Project success is closely linked to the effectiveness of communication with the client and to the flexibility with which the system can be applied to different projects.

We started from the idea of reutilising the large quantities of marble dust that accumulate during the material processing, which are stored in the form of large dunes in the company’s outdoor storage area. We wanted to link the waste usage with the demand for architectural solutions and their design issues. In the construction industry, marble powders are already widely used as aggregates in the preparation of cement mixes, and this was a good opportunity to make use of an already established expertise. Hence, we designed a system of prefabricated tiles for ventilated facades by envisaging the use of marble powder and the inclusion of rounded shapes, in order to face the issue of corners’ cladding. This achievement required furtherance the design of an anchor system, which could let the worker to install the panels in a comfortable way, making it possible to eventually replace the single slab when it breaks.

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