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Maanta Stories

Renzo Piano's Pencils for Piazza Faber

Piazza Faber — Tempio Pausania

A tribute to De André that belongs to the city.

In the morning, the coloured pencils open over the cobblestones. One by one, slowly, precisely, until the shade falls on the stone and the square begins its day. At sunset they close, suspended again in the sky like unfinished drawings, like words still waiting to be written.

The pencils, in the sky above Tempio Pausania.

Fabrizio De André had a visceral love for Sardinia. Tempio Pausania was looking for a way to give that love back: not a static monument, but something that truly belonged to the city. Something that served a purpose.

Renzo Piano envisioned the Faber pencils — the ones De André used for writing. He suspended them in the sky, made them open and close.

The challenge was unprecedented.

Fourteen shade sails, all synchronised. Suspended only on cables, with no poles in the ground, no fixed support, tension alone. The shade sails had to roll onto shafts suspended in mid-air, opening and closing with force proportional to the aperture.

Nothing like this had ever been built before.

The answer did not come from electronics. It came from mechanics: a custom tensioning system, designed to work with precision and no unnecessary complexity.

The pencils cast shade on the stone during the hottest hours, and free the sky at sunset. People sit, meet, live the square.

Fourteen custom retractable shade sails, mechanical cable tensioning system.
Architectural design: Renzo Piano. Tempio Pausania, Sardinia.

Because the most beautiful memory is not the one that is preserved. It is the one used every day.

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