WHEN: Thursday 26 March, 18:00–20:00
WHERE: The Market Building, 72–82 Rosebery Ave, London EC1R 4RW

The event is free to attend.

For millennia, stone has been in dialogue with water. From stone-built cisterns to the flour mills where stone and water became a single machine, stone has shaped how water is stored, used, diverted and resisted, while in turn water has carved, weathered and culturally charged stone.

This event celebrates two exemplary projects where stone and water work in unison.

The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain, designed by Gustafson Porter + Bowman, was one of the most high-profile publicly funded projects in the UK and, over the 20 years since completion, has attracted millions of visitors. The fountain’s sculptural form is integrated into the natural slope of the land in London’s Hyde Park and is designed to radiate energy outward as well as draw people inward. Designed and cut using ground-breaking digital technology, the fountain is made from 545 pieces of Cornish granite.

Joining the event is Mary Bowman, founding partner of Gustafson Porter + Bowman. As a qualified Architect and Landscape Architect, Mary has shared knowledge and promoted landscape architecture as a vital profession in the design of the built environment.

Also featured is Studio Weave’s stone toilet block in Maida Vale, which uses self-supporting stone to create a form that celebrates the different textural qualities of stone processing. The structure reuses stone reclaimed from the now-demolished 100 Liverpool Street, one of Broadgate’s earliest buildings, designed by the late Peter Foggo at Arup in the 1980s with a distinctive pink granite-clad façade.

Developed in collaboration with Webb Yates and the Stonemasonry Company, and designed for future adaptation, the stone — originally from Finland and Larvikite from Norway, provided by Lundhs — can be demounted and reassembled elsewhere.

This text is based on original copy by Vanessa Norwood.