Lithic Chords/Corda Litica

Lithic Chords / Corda Litica
Venice Architecture Biennale 2025

Lithic Chords is a 21-metre-long sculptural structure that redefines the expressive and structural potential of stone. Composed of post-tensioned stone offcuts, it transforms a weighty, ancient material into a performative and interactive architecture—one that vibrates, resonates, and invites participation. The title plays on the dual meanings of “chords”—as both musical harmonies and structural tensions—and the Italian “corda”, evoking the taut string of an instrument.

Slender, suspended, and supported at just two points, Lithic Chords traces a line between geology and human presence. It operates as both a spatial device and a resonant body, shaped by the interplay of compression and tension, silence and vibration. Drawing inspiration from Pinuccio Sciola’s notion of stone as “the memory of the universe”, the structure is activated by a soundscape developed in collaboration with Fondazione Sciola and Andrea Granitzio. Visitors become part of a temporal orchestra, where subtle oscillations and sonic responses reveal the deep time embedded in matter.

Set within the historic Arsenale, the installation opens as a shared landscape—its first 14 meters forming a convivial zone for gathering and reflection, while the final 7 meters cantilever into space, inviting embodied interaction. Here, stone reveals unexpected elasticity, and the structure responds with a choreography of forces held in balance. Beneath the surface, steel cables and external tension rods articulate an expressive equilibrium—a synergy between stone’s compressive strength and steel’s tensile logic.

Encircling the central beam, modular seating elements crafted from quarry offcuts extend the material narrative. These fragments, at once functional and symbolic, shift into arched configurations that frame the surroundings and encourage a dialogue with the environment. The commitment to circular design is not only visible in material reuse, but also in the poetic continuity of the work—from discarded remnants to orchestrated form.

Rooted in Venice’s tradition of spolia, Lithic Chords becomes a contemporary palimpsest. Stones of varied origin—limestone, basalt, granite—assemble into a single body, each bearing its own stratigraphy and cultural trace. Like the city itself, the structure gathers fragments of displaced histories, recomposed into a new architectural language.

Rather than monumentalising stone as a static mass, the project reveals its latent dynamism. It listens, responds, and transforms—an instrument in dialogue with natural phenomena and human movement. Through its exposed mechanics, sonic atmosphere, and tactile surfaces, Lithic Chords reframes stone not as a relic of the past but as an active participant in the present: a structure that breathes, resonates, and holds the echoes of time.

Artwork title: Lithic Chords / Corda Litica 
Architectural Design and Narrative: Cristina Morbi/ Maetherea 
Design Engineering: Francesco Banchini 
Sound Composition: Andrea Granitzio / Fondazione Sciola 
Installation: The Stonemasonry Company 
Stone Supply: Cereser Verona 
Steel: Manni Sipre 
Tensioning System: Macalloy 

Sponsored by: CERESER VERONA, Macalloy, Manni Sipre, The Stonemasonry Company,  Sunnyday capital, Fondazione Sardegna Musica e Cultura ETS, Bronte Garden