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The Mosque of Medina, along with the Mosque of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the premises of the Social Security Institute in Kuwait City and the Three Squares in Qasr Al Hukum, Riyadh, are the winners of the three sections of the Marble Architectural Awards 2004, selected by an international panel specially appointed by IMM and the Italian Trade Commission (ICE) gathered in Riyadh.
The prizes were awarded unanimously by an international panel, which included Luigi Danesi, President of Internazionale Marmi e Macchine, delegates from the Saudi academic and architectural community,Khaled Al Shokr and Mohammed Al Rubeish from the Saudi Umran Society (the Saudi Architect's Association) along with Mansour Al Jadeed and ahmoud Idris on behalf of the Architectural Faculty of King Saud University, and on the part of Italy, Amedeo Scarpa, Director of the Riyadh branch of the Italian Trade Commission, Luigi De Matteis, an Italian architect who has been working in the Gulf area for many years, and Marcantonio Ragone, Manager of the Promotion Department at IMM.
"An extremely representative panel, who worked with quality in mind, but also paid attention to cultural significance,which is absolutely essential - highlighted Luigi Danesi, President of IMM, on announcing to the press and to professionals the outcome of the award at the premises of Consorzio Cosmave, at Pietrasanta - in such situations in which the works to be awarded involve, as the entrants did, some co-operation between the designer, who expresses a culture and the building requirements related to a specific geographical area, and materials that come from different countries. The fact that the members of the jury have always been unanimous in their decisions proves that an assessment based on shared criteria leads to find the very best of what the entrants submit".
Among the criteria chosen for the assessment of the competing works, the jury gave priority to high formal standards in the use of stone rather than the amounts of stone used, since a massive use of marble does not necessarily mean high stylistic standards.
The international scale of the award, which was open to projects completed in North Africa and the Middle East, was corroborated by the entry of very many projects from all over the region: Kuwait. Oman, Dubai (for the Gulf region), Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt (for North Africa), Iran, Lebanon, Jordan and the Gaza Strip for the Middle Eastern area.
Many projects involved a massive use of Italian marble with top-rank applications of white Carrara marble, as well as materials from other Italian regions or different countries.
"It is the clearest sign that the stone industry is greatly developing all over the world - noted Khaled Al Shokr, President of the local architect's association - and that Italy is the main supplier to the whole area and in particular to Saudi Arabia. Through the award,we realised that there is the need to promote this product, but also that professional training and lifelong learning are essential for our designers as well as for the local companies, which can offer newer and newer materials processed according to cutting-edge techniques by our partners, in particular the companies of the Apuan-Versilian area, with which he have always had a great rapport, and not just in terms of business".
The award consists of three sections: External facings, Interior design and Urban landscape.The winners of each section will be invited to Carrara to take part in the prize-awarding ceremony on Friday May 28th during the CarraraMarmotec fair (26 - 29 May).
On that occasion, as well as collecting their awards, they will take part in a workshop, during which they will illustrate their winning projects, including the methods used for the selection and application of stone.As well as awarding the first prize for each section,the jury also awarded some special mentions to projects that they deemed particularly remarkable.
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