Polydirective

Cava Arcari, Zovencedo, province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy,

The quarry has been a vital excavation site in the region for centuries, supplying the prestigious Pietra di Vicenza stone—a green calcareous rock excavated by hand at around 300 meters below sea level and later used for traditional neoclassical villas of palladian echo.

The extraction process generated a captivating space of intricate geometry, with intersecting tunnels and large, irregular blocks of rock left in between to give structural stability to the cave.

After the closure of its operations, the Milan-based arm of David Chipperfiled was commissioned to transform the visually intriguing space into a multifunctional performance venue offering a flexible layout.

The Strange Encounter, c. 1929-32