Stone-Ideas.com 
Limestone and glass will be the facade materials for the MET’s new wing for modern and contemporary art. Architect is Frida Escobedo: “Its mineral texture and stone lattice will create a diaphanous surface designed to subtly respond to the movement of sunlight throughout the day. The stone strips are coupled with the intermittent use of floor-to-ceiling glass,“ according to the museum’s press release. Escobedo is the first woman to design a wing in the New York institution’s 154-year history.
The Natural Stone Institute’s Tucker Design Awards will be partnered with the Pinnacle Awards program, with concurrent deadlines next year and combined presentations in 2026. In addition, the Tucker awards will move from a biennial schedule to an annual competition, Stone Update online magazine reports.
Desaster 1: Researchers from the Universities of Liverpool and Kiel have comprehensively mapped one of the largest underwater landslides on Earth from source to sink in the Agadir Canyon off the coast of Morocco, one of the largest canyons in the world. The so-called Bed 5 event around 60,000 years ago began as a relatively small underwater landslide with a volume of around 1.5 km³, grew a hundredfold in the canyon, and moved over 2000 km into the surrounding deep-sea basins.
Desaster 2: Internet glass fiber cables are promising for large-scale monitoring of earthquakes, avalanches or rock movements, Swiss researchers have shown using the example of the Brienz rockslide in 2023.
Limestone quarries with diverse landscapes and strong connectivity between quarries and calcareous grasslands are particularly valuable habitats for wild bees, researchers at the University of Göttingen have found out.
Italian Confindustria Marmomacchine and Iran Stone Association have signed a memorandum of understanding. “It is worth recalling that in the early 2000s, Iran was the top international buyer of Italian stone technology,“ is said on the Confindustria’s webpage.
Mineralica is an online magazine for mineral collectors.
“The Old House Handbook“ is a practical guide for care and repair, issued now in its second edition by the British Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB).
“We have selected the most iconic marbles and combined tradition with innovation in formats and technologies to offer a complete project in porcelain stoneware and white-body cladding,“ Italian ceramic producer Supergres describes its new collection called “Purity of Marble“.
The European Ceramic Industry calls for a “tailor-made support” to fight high energy costs endangering the sector. At the European Ceramic Days held in December 2024 in Brussels, representatives created the slogan of a “transition dialogue.”
Video of the Month: “Sculpting this Earth“ follows artist Strijdom van der Merwe over four consecutive seasons as he travels to remote locations in the southern African interior to make beautiful land art works in a striking range of natural settings.
(13.12.2024, USA: 12.13.2024)