Stone As a New Material

Among the aims of CTAP, Advanced Stone technology Centre, Macael, is the innovation in function, form and production in the Natural Stone and Artificial (composite) Stone industries. In 2010 CTAP invited Perry King and Santiago Miranda, owners of the Milan-based studio of the same name, to cooperate with the Centre in organising a programme of activity for the development of new manufacturing processes and new materials. Starting from observation of the manner of extraction and going on to the subsequent stages of processing, K&MD began with an analysis of the performance characteristics, of the uses that architecture and industry make of stone in function and form and, above all, of the alternatives available to minimise environmental impact by re-using quarrying rejects and production waste. The aim is to obtain materials that are innovative in their design, technical and aesthetic properties and their possible applications.