The material that is the basis of architecture and that shapes the men's environment includes the history of places telling it through its own symbolic language.
The time continuity of this story is fundamental. Indeed, the constancy of the symbols passed down by materials and techniques means the preservation of a culture, it is the main tool for recognising the roots of the "genius loci" and going on interpreting its strength and vocation through architecture. These are principles that are being re-discovered by contemporary design culture after a long lasting exile.
The last century, modern par excellence, wanted to "democratically" standardize new ways of life and production.
The tendency, which could be defined as radical, was to consider the environment as an entity to be conquered and defeated, an alien body to be tamed, denying any kind of relation between the object realised and its surroundings. In other words, it is the conflict between artifice and nature that led to an ever lasting fight.

Stone has its evident peculiarities, its strength, its own sense of excellence, all features expressed through the history of its usage. The strength of its nature is clear and manifest, its use combines the built up work with the primordial nature of building. Stone enhances the stereometric clarity of surfaces and the indefinite flexibility of shapes that in ancient times have merged architecture and sculpture, constructive functionality and elegant decoration, fixing in itself not only style and technique (constantly revised, updated, influenced by new cultural and expression trends) but also a clear representation of vocations and evocations. It is therefore important to re-discover ancient materials with their symbolic value, to make an effort to reappraise and innovate their use, with their cultural and methodological value. Western culture has always been characterized by stone architecture, as it is evident from the buildings of old town centres. This symbiotic relation has undergone a period of slowdown in recent years.

Following this trend that had affected our sector too, during the '80s our firm started, in collaboration with the firm Botti Pietro, a development and growth towards the characterization and valorisation of our territory through the only means at our disposal, the stone. Working this material, we learnt to appreciate it, to exploit its technical, mechanical and aesthetic characteristics, choosing the best combinations and correcting its defects.

This material is the main partner of our firm, our most effective means of expression. It is not a lifeless material, it has to be used with intelligence and sensitivity in order to create a product worth working at. If it is worked in the wrong way it avenges itself, even in strong ways.
It is a reappraisal of our historical memory. This material is a witness of its environment and of the building culture through the evolution of its technical use.

Architect Bianchi Albino

The materialization of this concept is shown in the works listed below.