Marble eco-synergies. Sustainable cultural project in Pietrasanta

A site-specific project in Pietrasanta, Italy to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Cosmave consortium has been turned into a vast sustainability festival. The project is by Luca Gnizio and art critic, Luca Zanchi is the curator.



Luca Gnizio, an Italian architect who is very concerned about key environmental problems, has presented his project called “Ecosinergie di marmo” (marble eco-synergies) in Pietrasanta, Lucca: from May 20 through to June 7, this initiative will involve the whole town, particularly primary school children and citizens who are otherwise abled. 





As the architect Luca Gnizio says, his “projects are based on the principle that people must be informed and prodded into taking action to help and support the environment and the socially needy”. So, he devised a participated initiative and set up a permanent installation for the Piazza del Duomo in Pietrasanta. This work has been shaped from what is known as “marmettola” – marble dust from the local marble quarries .



With the addition of resins, this waste product turns into a kind of a modelling clay for 24 hours, open to all sorts of creative use. 



Other works made using the same material will be displayed in the, Virtual Museum of Sculpture and Architecture (MUSA).





So, Luca Gnizio is not only proposing a social project for the community, he is also offering a new way of using something that had previously been considered worthless, by turning it into something entertaining and real. An eco-sustainable idea that is intimately tied to the territory and to its traditions.

Project: Luca Gnizio
Year: 2014
Location: Pietrasanta, Lucca, Italia
Photography: Courtesy of Luca Gnizio