Stones Venue

STONES VENUE is a public shelter in Brescia’s Parco delle Cave, a former sand quarry turned green space. Built with discarded stone blocks donated by eleven quarries from Bergamo and Brescia, it features ten pillars in nine local stone types. One pillar, a sculpture by Francesco Paterlini, symbolizes the union of the two cities. The project celebrates the territory, its workers, and suggests new meanings for reclaimed stone.

The project faced multiple challenges: transforming a disused sand quarry into a meaningful public space, honoring the geological identity of Brescia and Bergamo, and finding sustainable ways to use discarded stone. The strategy was to root the intervention in the landscape's history while minimizing environmental impact. Discarded stone blocks were donated by eleven local quarries and repurposed as ten monolithic pillars. A low-impact foundation system using steel plates avoided invasive excavation. The structure balances memory and function: the stones reflect the territory’s geological heritage, while the steel roof recalls the site's industrial past. The result is a space that serves both as shelter and civic monument—addressing the client’s wish for a symbolic project, the users’ need for a gathering place, and the site's transformation into a green public park.

The project was built using a low-impact foundation system consisting of ten steel plates that provide a stable base for the stones. On these plates rest ten monolithic pillars, made from nine types of discarded local stone donated by quarries of Arabescato Orobico, Ceppo di Gré, Nuvolato, Breccia Aurora, Breccia Damascata, Breccia Oniciata, Fiorito Chiaro, Marmo Classico di Botticino, and Porfido. The tenth pillar, a sculptural element, combines Botticino marble (from Brescia) and Ceppo di Gré (from Bergamo), symbolizing the union of the two territories. While the stones refer to the geological memory of the territory and the world of extraction, the steel roof—made of beams and corrugated sheet metal—recalls the industrial structures of the nearby, now-abandoned sand mining site.