RIYADH, 28 March 2004 — For the first time in the history of the Kingdom, Italian Marble Architectural Awards 2004 is to take place in Saudi Arabia. A total of six contestants from the Kingdom will be among the 40 international ones at the ceremony tomorrow at 8.30 a.m at the Sheraton Hotel in Riyadh.
This year, three winners will be chosen in exterior facings, interior designs and urban landscape Each will receive a cash award of 5,000 euros coupled with an invitation to attend the 25th International Fair for Machinery and Specialized Services to be held in Carrara, Italy, from May 26 to 29.
The program is sponsored by the Italian embassy in collaboration with the Italian Trade Commission in Riyadh and the Internazionale Marmi E Macchine Carrara (IMM).
It will include a seminar followed by an exhibition displaying the world’s best architecture based on natural stones. The exhibition will be inaugurated by the Italian Ambassador Armando Sanguini.
The Promotion Officer of IMM, Marcantonio Ragone, will deliver the keynote address. “This is a competition open to architects, designers, interior designers and urban landscape designers to encourage the use of stones in their works and to increase their knowledge of dimension stone and its appropriate uses,” Italian Trade Commissioner Dr. Amedeo Scarpa told Arab News.
A number of buildings in the Kingdom will be among those considered for awards by a panel.
Dr Scarpa said that the panel would include experts from IMM Carrara, the department of architecture from the King Saud University and from Al Umran Association For Architects from the Kingdom. The panel, comprising eight members from Italy and the Kingdom, will be chaired by the President of the IMM, Luigi Danesi
Previous winners of the Marble Architectural Awards include the Foreign Ministry building in Riyadh, National Commercial Bank in Jeddah, the French Embassy in Oman, the international airport in Kuala Lumpur and the New library in Alexandria.
The Kingdom is the fourth largest market for Italian marble. Last year, Saudi Arabia imported finished marble products worth $70 million from Italy. Italy is the Kingdom’s sixth trading partner and its exports amount to $ 1,500 million.
