Peter Davies Y4

Carving Cusa. Cave di Cusa is an ancient limestone quarry in southern Sicily used to build the great temples of Selinunte. However, in 409 BC the quarry was abandoned due to an incoming invasion of the region. To this day the site lies incomplete, with half-cut columns embedded within the quarry and crumbling fragments strewn across the landscape. 

‘Carving Cusa’ uncovers and restarts the incomplete quarries of Cusa, through the development of a sculpture school. A ‘nose to tail’ approach is applied to the project; the objective of the scheme is to utilise all the limestone extracted from site, from its pure block form to dust and rubble, typically considered to be a by-product of the excavation and construction process. Carving studios are nested within quarried voids, amphitheaters are forged from open bench quarry scars and by-products are re-used to create new landscapes, blending old and new. 

The building highlights and celebrates the processes involved in stone craft, from material extraction to sculpting. Glimpses through the building reveal active quarries and high-velocity water curtains capture dust generated from carving processes, which form glistening limestone cascades that drape down atrium walls.

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