Architect Scholarships for 'Designing With Natural Stone'

The fourteenth edition of “Designing with Natural Stone” will run from Sept. 24-30, 2012,  in Verona and Milan, Italy, in conjunction with MARMOMACC, a trade show for stone and design. More than 220 architects from all over the United States have participated in previous editions of the course. Scholarship applications for this year’s course will be accepted until July 15.

Veronafiere offers this course to help architects learn advanced techniques in the use of marble, granite and other stone materials. It is an ideal way for members of the stone trade to educate architects they work with about stone design. 

The program is a unique combination of classroom lectures, guided architectural tours, and field trips to local quarries, as well as to natural stone processing facilities. This comprehensive approach enables architects to better understand stone’s full life-cycle, including how marble is quarried, cut, processed, finished, selected for specific jobs and installed, all using the latest technologies and products. 

The 2012 edition will include visits to a nearby Rosso Verona quarry and stone processing plant, as well as case studies on stone use in the Canadian Museum of Human Right and the first certified “passivaus” building for a railway company. 

In addition, to celebrate its 75th anniversary, MAPEI will host the group in Milan for two full days. The Milan program will include visits of MAPEI’s plant in Mediglia, its R&D labs in Milan, and the City Life project, a residential and business district currently under construction in Milan. City Life was designed by architects Arata Isozaki, Daniel Libeskind, Zaha Hadid, and Pier Paolo Maggiora and has been recognized for the redevelopment of the historic area originally occupied by Fiera Milano. MAPEI’s involvement has included specifying and supplying various construction products that have contributed to the sustainability of this project and assistance with specifications for the stone installation.

Sustainable design (SD) became a principal focus of the course in 2008. Five AIA SD credits will be offered, including case studies of sustainable projects in stone. In addition, the course provides time to explore MARMOMACC, with its more than 1,500 exhibitors of stone and stone-related products from around the world.

Participants earn more than 20 AIA/CES learning-unit hours. Most classes also count as HSW credits and five as SD credits. The class is limited to 30 architects, 16 from the United States, the others from Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, India, and Singapore.

Scholarships – covering tuition, hotels and meals – are awarded on a competitive basis, based on a candidate’s demonstrated interest in the field, responsibilities within their firm, and experience with stone.  Participants are responsible for their own transportation to Verona as well as a $490 registration fee. Send applications to Wafa Ghnaim, The Consultants International Group: 1616 H Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20006, fax: (202) 393-4655, email: info@cig-dc.com.