PNA INTERNATIONAL FORUM_Stone is... @ University IUAV of Venice
- mborsett
- Jun 19
- 6 min read
Updated: Jun 20
Last weekend we had the pleasure of being invited to participate in the PNA INTERNATIONAL FORUM that aimed to explore architecture, design, art and sustainability by showcasing the innovative uses of natural stone.
There could be no better place to celebrate this event than the IUAV University of Venice, where the main entrance designed by Arch. Carlo Scarpa in 1966-72 already celebrates the Natural Stone of Istria!
The Forum's Scientific Coordinator was Raffaella Laezza, at IUAV, she's an Italian architect that followed the courses of Peter Eisenman, Manfredo Tafuri, and she was assistant of Franco Purini. She is Scientific Director and Adjunct Professor of Architectural Design at IUAV's Postgraduate Masters: "Emergency Temporary Circular Architecture” and " Architecture CO2=0".
Founded in 1926 as the Higher School of Architecture of Venice, Iuav University of Venice, is now a university that is a point of reference for both Italian and international architectural and urbanistic culture, thanks to its strong experimental vocation. It was one of the first Italian universities to introduce design laboratories and to open new research fields and studies on sustainability.
The Forum was held at the Aula Magna Tolentini, the historical main building of the Iuav University of Venice, known for its above-mentioned gate designed by Carlo Scarpa. Just an 8-minute walk from the railway station.
The Forum was divided into 6 study sections:
1. ORIGINS Stone: thought of the origin, thought of the material-stone preceding its derivative, the material.
2. QUARRIES Sites of Origin
3. DNA STONE: GENETICS OF THE PROJECT Protagonists: the role of stone use in the genetics of
architectural design
4. CONSTRUCTION SITES: CHECK UP CO2 Controlling CO2 emissions in stone use
5. URBAN ARCHIPELAGO: METAMORPHIC Landscape metamorphosis with architecture, design, stone art
6. "DO YOU STONE ART? Contemporary art forms in dialogue with natural stone.
Taken together, the sections trace a collection of ideas and examples found towards new ones to be imagined.
Through the contributions of some of the most significant speakers on the national and international scene (Visionaries such as Peter Eisenman, Yale University architect and educator , Najla El Zein, the innovative artist and designer, Suguru Watanabe from Kengo Kuma's studio, Kinue Horikawa of the Angelo Mangiarotti Foundation, and luminaries like Francesco Canali, Claudia Chiappino, Giovanni Santamaria, Christian Pongratz with Maria Perbellini, Peter Harrison, Stone consultant from London and Walter Mariotti, Domus director ), the intention was to construct a ‘material alphabet’, mapping, for the design of stone. Each speaker proposed a keyword in response to the Forum's title ‘Stone is...’. With the Forum will remain a mapping of heterogeneous words that orient us towards a new form of design for a zero-emission planet Earth that finds in the original, material question a possible custody of the immaterial quality of design thought.*
Peter David Eisenman (born August 11, 1932) it was the Special Guest of the first day of the Forum . He's an American architect, writer, and professor. Considered one of the New York Five, Eisenman is known for his high modernist and deconstructive designs, as well as for his authorship of several architectural books. His work has won him several awards, including the Wolf Prize in Arts.*
Peter Eisenman reflects on the use of stone in the design of the City of Culture of Galicia, which is entirely clad in local stone. With the wisdom accumulated over a masterful career as an architect and theorist, Eisenman looked at his work with introspection and questioning, asking himself and us why stone, or rather, why matter, in the dualism between expressionism and rationalism that he claims has always guided the evolution of architecture. The seminar concluded with a Q&A session in which Peter Eisenman engaged with the audience ..*
“Stone is...”, the international forum promoted by PNA and hosted at the IUAV University of Venice on June 12 and 13, was a great success.
The event did not merely discuss stone, but questioned, celebrated, and explored it. Under the scientific direction of Raffaella Laezza, the Forum brought together twelve international voices in a truly multidisciplinary exploration: craftsmanship, design, landscape, philosophy, quarrying, architecture. Stone? It is all of this. It is form and thought. It is matter and meaning. It is history, but it is also vision. It is, as Stefano Ghirardi, president of the PNA Network, pointed out, a starting point, not a fixed point.Stone is...
An open phrase. Like stone. Like the future that awaits us.*
Although due to time constraints we were not able to attend the second day of the Forum as well, it was certainly a real pleasure to be able to delve into this topic and have the opportunity to speak and meet colleagues from all over the world.
*Sources:
https://sites.google.com/site/raffaellalaezzaarchitecture/university?authuser=0
https://www.domusweb.it/en/Advertorial/2025/04/03/pna-international-forum-venice-iuav.html
https://www.naturalstoneisbetter.com/en/pna-international-forum/
https://www.iuav.it/sites/default/files/2025-05/25_PNAFORUM_Programma.pdf
https://www.archiweb.cz/en/b/vstup-do-benatske-fakulty-architektury-ingresso-universit-iuav
https://eisenmanarchitects.com/City-of-Culture-of-Galicia-2011
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