noVemBre/NOVEMBER 2010
INterNIews
INitaly
17 produzione production
smart technology
a ognuno la sua porta/To each his door
virtuosismi materici/Virtuoso matrix
oltre la superficie/Beyond surfaces
la famiglia si allarga/Extended family
33 giovani designer young designers
Fabio flora
37 project
DESIGN NEL PARCO/Design in the park
street lighting
42 showroom
twils a/in cessalto (TV)
45 anniversari anniversaries
IN copertina: un dettaglio della sedia operativa Sayl disegnata
lo/The spazio primario di/of carlo de carli
da Yves Béhar per Herman Miller. Ispirandosi ai principi costruttivi
dei ponti sospesi e applicando il suo caratteristico approccio AEM - Un secolo con milano/One century with Milan
di ‘eco-smaterializzazione’, il designer ha messo a punto un innovativo 52 concorsi competitions
schienale interamente sospeso, privo di intelaiatura rigida. anci creative award
Gradi diversi di tensione applicati al materiale dello schienale DES/IN-premio cifarelli
pressofuso garantiscono il sostegno costante della zona sacrale,
lombare e dell’intera colonna vertebrale; nello stesso tempo,
INternational
la sedia è libera di adattarsi alla forma e ai movimenti della persona.
disponibile anche la versione imbottita. 55 giovani designer young designers
on the cover: detail of the Sayl operations chair designed by Yves aamu song e/and johan olin
Béhar for Herman Miller. Based on the construction principles of 58 produzione production
rope bridges, and applying his characteristic approach architetture mobili/Mobile architectures
of ‘eco-dematerialization’, Béhar has developed an innovative back that 61 project
is completely suspended, without a rigid frame. Different degrees
il colore del legno/The color of wood
of tension applied to the material of the die-cast back guarantee
support for the various zones of the human back and the whole spinal 65 showroom
column; at the same time, the chair is free to adapt to the form luxury living a parigi/in paris
and movements of the user. Also available in an upholstered version. 69 sostenibile sustainability
2050.il pianeta ha bisogno di te/Your planet needs you
73 fiere
eire 2010 e/and social housing award
74 festival
DMY 2010 award winner
INtertwined
80 progetto città CITY PROJECT
people meet in/in the veneto
82 food design
People eat in architecture
84 mostre Exhibitions
Lucca digital photo festival
le cento sentinelle del/The 100 ‘sentinels’ of voralberg
cambiare il mondo con un vaso/Changing the world with a vase
scampoli d’ ‘estate indiana’/Indian summer remnants
baci dal/Kisses from rÖda stein di gÖteborg
sapore di sale, sapore di mare/Salt, sea
98 in libreria in bookstores
101 info & tech
dalla nuvola alla carta/From the cloud to paper
25 anni di notebook/25 years of notebooks
106 contract & office
il sogno del teletrasporto/The dream of the teleport beam
108 cinema
shanghai 12
111 fashion file
Milano Fashion Week Design INtopics
AMANDA CAINES e/and GUMDESIGN
1 editoriale editorial
INservice di/by gilda bojardi
118 traduzioni translations
126 indirizzi firms directorY INteriors&architecture
vivere all’italiana
living Italian-style
a cura di/edited by antonella boisi
CAse HIstory
26 torino, marco boglione a basicvillage con basicnet
di/by antonella boisi
INsight
INtoday
32 12a mostra internazionale di architettura, venezia
di/by matteo vercelloni
INmostra
40 g.b. piranesi alla fondazione cini di venezia
di/by francesco vertunni
INarts
32 42
46 in assoluto: mccracken
absolutely: Mccracken
di/by germano celant
INpeople
50 odoardo fioravanti VS marco ferreri
di/by Maddalena Padovani
INdesign
INcenter
56 neutral design
di/by nadia lionello
foto di/photos by simone barberis
64 note di turchese
turquoise notes
50 56 di/by katrin cosseta
foto di/photos by enrico suà ummarino
INproject
70 lavori in pelle
skin works
progetto di/design by FranÇois azambourg
di/by Cristina Morozzi
76
72 ogni cosa è una scoperta
everything is a discovery
progetti di/Projects by Yves Béhar
di/by Cristina Morozzi
INview
76 design e nuvole
design and clouds
di/by Laura Traldi
64
INfactory
82 massimi sistemi
chief systems
testo di/text by Rosa Tessa
foto di/photos by Giacomo Giannini
INproduction
90 living kitchen
di/by andrea pirruccio
foto di/photos by maurizio marcato
82
INservice
102 indirizzi firms directorY
di/by adalisa uboldi
EDiToriaLe
INteriors&architecture
L’abitazione torinese
TeaTro PrIvaTo
DI FRANCO DEBENEDETTI,
IL racconto progetto di Lorenzo Prando e Riccardo Rosso
P
COINCIDE CON IL tempo
del design, MENTRE spazi
E oggetti SI CARICANO
DI valore comunicativo iù dei libri letti, più delle fotografie
E simbolico, conservate, sono le case che si sono abitate a
DI parole E storie raccontare una vita. Ancor di più quando la casa non
è né di famiglia né di proprietà, e il permanervi non è
frutto di abitudine o di convenienza, ma il risultato di
ripetute volontarie conferme. In questo caso ripetute
per quarant’anni. Come l’architettura è prima di tutto
del committente, così lo è, a maggior ragione, il
progetto di una casa: al committente sarà dunque
consentito, rovesciando la nota prospettiva, fare il
ritratto della sua casa “dal” suo personale “interno”.
Di questo ritratto fa parte qualcosa che le fotografie di
Santi Caleca non possono riprodurre, la casa com’era
prima, nei primi dieci anni in cui vi ho vissuto.
Giorgio Ceretti, Pietro Derossi, Riccardo Rosso me
l’avevano fatta dura come duri erano gli anni di fine
’60, rigorosa come rigorose credevamo fossero le
nostre idee. Una casa senza i muri divisori della
pianta originale per consentire la vista su tre lati,
pagina a lato. la ‘Torre Littoria’ vista da piazza L’ingresso del piano inferiore: le ante scorrevoli
Castello, con la quale Armando Melis corona appese al traliccio metallico dividono
la nuova via Roma progettata da Piacentini: all’occorrenza l’ambiente unico. Sulla sinistra,
è uno dei primi edifici a struttura metallica un grande quadro di Salvo, Ercole e l’Idra di Lerna,
costruiti a Torino. tra le finestre un’opera di Aldo Mondino. contro
il pilastro, La consolle di appoggio e la rete
dal balcone si vede palazzo Madama, costruito porta-posta appositamente pensati per la casa
intorno alla porta romana di levante, al quale come i lampadari in tela che corrono lungo
Juvarra sovrappose la splendida facciata barocca l’intero soffitto. I mobili in legno sono prodotti
contenente lo scalone di accesso. da Fritz Hansen, i tappeti prodotti da Fès
in marocco sono stati disegnati da Prando & Rosso.
dell’abitare – scrive Adolf Loos – all’architetto non della cultura architettonica italiana del tempo in cui metallici, si sposano nuovi innesti, alcuni recuperati
resta, allora, che una sapiente regia dello spettacolo”. la torre venne costruita. Abbandonate le divisette della da vite passate, come divani e poltrone dentro le loro
Lo spettacolo era cambiato. Cambiato nella mia vita: prima versione e la loro ondulata illusione di nuove usse, altri, come i tappeti, ispirati a luoghi
mi serviva un piano in più, collegato dalla scala intimità, ora i tre grandi pannelli scorrevoli disposti a esotici. Nei successivi quasi trent’anni
interna dentro il tamburo giallo. Cambiato nel mondo raggiera più che delimitare gli spazi, accennano apparentemente nulla di rilievo è cambiato dal
esterno: al radicalismo del decennio precedente era appena a una loro definizione. L’annessione del progetto del 1982. Solo perché il baricentro geografico
subentrata l’attenzione alla continuità storica, sentita terrazzo, popolato dai solidi geometrici di Paolo della mia vita si è poi spostato? La realtà, di cui solo
non (solo) come vincolo, ma come deposito di segni in Pejrone acquista un valore, anche simbolico, di ora sono consapevole, è che il rapporto progettuale
cui è possibile riscoprire un significato, se del caso apertura all’esterno. Apertura di spazi, enunciata tra committente ed architetti non si è da allora mai
rovesciando quello originario. È spinta al limite del nella prima versione, qui compiutamente dispiegata. interrotto, si è solo spostato dalla casa a degli oggetti
possibile l’intuizione filologica della prima versione Apertura a diverse suggestioni di gusto: ai mobili “di casa”: quelli che dal 1986 al 2009 ho
rispetto all’ossatura metallica della torre, nel progettati espressamente, preziosi per materiale e commissionato a Lorenzo e Riccardo quali doni di
ripristinare la vocazione dell’edificio al plan libre, dettagli, generati dalla fascinazione sia dei legni rari Natale per i miei amici. Appena visibili in queste
rimasto “in pectore” al Melis per l’inadeguatezza sia degli oggetti industriali, carrelli, griglie, trafilati immagini, sono diventati, più compiutamente
Cà MaLonI
progetto di Sonia Calzoni
design team Maurizio Bocola
foto di Paolo Rosselli
testo di Antonella Boisi
C
progetto volto a rispettare i caratteri originari
dell’organismo architettonico, pur soddisfacendo le
esigenze della nuova residenza che ne attualizza e
nobilita i caratteri. “La differente tipologia dei
fabbricati” spiega “ha suggerito scelte tra loro
ascina e rustici in Val Tidone, diverse. Il fienile mantiene inalterata la struttura
appennino piacentino, tre corpi distinti disposti a originaria dei pilastri in mattoni e della copertura in
formare una piccola corte irregolare. Tutt’intorno un coppi. Ho soltanto chiuso le campate con ampie
prato che accompagna il declivio verso il torrente, vetrate in cristallo ed acciaio interrotte in
con un pero, un ciliegio e dei frassini preesistenti e corrispondenza della soletta arretrata dei due livelli,
nuovi gelsi, alcuni pioppi argentati, una parrotia e con particolare attenzione al contenimento dello
dei carpini a filare lungo la recinzione. Al momento spessore dei profilati metallici. Ricercavo l’effetto di
dell’intervento di recupero ad uso residenziale del una scatola di vetro trasparente e riflettente che
piccolo centro agricolo primi ’900 ampliatosi nel rendesse percepibili le funzioni introdotte e la scala
tempo con le esigenze del suo contesto, tutto versava di collegamento tra i due piani. All’esterno a
schermatura dell’edificio ho posizionato dei frame in valori prioritari del progetto. Restaurate infatti le
doghe di legno orizzontali montate su pannelli parti esistenti in intonaco e pietra, tutti i nuovi
scorrevoli, mentre all’interno sono delle veneziane a tamponamenti perimetrali, necessari a recuperare
garantire un filtro rispetto all’esterno. Per l’edificio maggior volume per la nuova residenza, sono stati
più grande (comprendente un’abitazione, un rivestiti in doghe di legno naturale disposte
granaio, una stalla e un portico), la riorganizzazione orizzontalmente. “Le doghe a spessore variabile”
spaziale ha previsto la creazione di due livelli: un precisa Sonia Calzoni “mimano le chiusure in legno
piano terra per la zona giorno e un piano primo per che spesso venivano realizzate nelle cascine per
la zona notte. Mentre il porticato antistante è stivare materiali nei granai, ovvero conservano la
divenuto un ampliamento della zona giorno: uno peculiarità di “contenitore” propria delle origini.
spazio a doppia altezza in relazione col paesaggio Formano delle superfici continue, apribili solo in
circostante grazie a un sistema di vetrate parte in corrispondenza delle finestre di cui
completamente apribili. Infine il piccolo deposito in costituiscono anche il sistema di oscuramento. E
pietra è stato restaurato in modo conservativo e nella parte corrispondente al portico del piano terra
mantiene la funzione di deposito e ricovero attrezzi”. si aprono anche ripiegandosi verso l’alto:
Grande cura nella ricerca di un equilibrato rapporto un’ulteriore pensilina verso l’esterno”. Un dentro-
tra volumi pieni e vuoti e scelte materiche fuori intimamente connesso, come era ieri, come
attentamente ponderate rispetto al genius loci sono i sarà domani.
soft
Loft
concepito
come un cottage
di tradizione scandinava,
uno spazio invitante dove
coltivare l’illusione
di abitare all’aria aperta
monolite
foto di Paolo Utimpergher
con la collaborazione di Antonino Savojardo
testo di Antonella Boisi
di luce
A Messina,
un’abitazione su due
livelli pensata come
un open space dentro
un volume unitario
scandito dagli arredi
fissi che rispettano
rigorose geometrie
classiche e la scelta
del total white
per abbracciare
appieno la luce
e il panorama
dello Stretto
il volume rivestito in fogli di laminato Abet Print la penisola della cucina verso l’area pranzo.
che contiene le attrezzature dedicate al bagno. la vista, nella zona soppalcata, del letto
illuminato da un lucernario, mette in evidenza
sotto: la palazzina in cui si trova l’abitazione, il sistema strutturale cruciforme
parte dell’ex fondo basicò destinato ai dipendenti della costruzione.
delle poste.
M
circonda. In questo modo si è amplificata la
dimensione del vuoto sia in sezione sia in pianta
supportata dal ruolo degli arredi fissi, affidati tanto
alle pareti perimetrali ritagliate da un nastro di
librerie e armadi a scomparsa quanto al volume
essina, centrale quartiere centrale che accoglie servizi igienici, ulteriori
Montalto, giardini ed edilizia post terremoto dei armadi ed elettrodomestici. Sulla pedana rialzata,
primi del secolo scorso. All’ultimo piano di una invece, una penisola-contenitore è stata destinata
palazzina del fondo Basicò, in origine destinato ai alla funzione cottura. Il piano superiore, collegato
dipendenti delle poste, viste panoramiche sullo con una scala dalla forma plastica, è stato
Stretto, si trova l’abitazione dell’architetto Rita organizzato a zona notte comprensiva di
Simone che, nella fattispecie, ha lavorato per se spogliatoio, lavabo e vasca da bagno.
stessa, facendo della ristrutturazione del proprio “Quest’ultima” spiega Rita Simone “è l’unico
interno un’occasione di sperimentazione elemento posizionato in modo non assiale al quale è
progettuale. “Le peculiarità del contesto” spiega stato delegato il compito di ‘ritagliare’ diversamente
“hanno determinato le scelte compositive e la lo spazio. Il sistema geometrico, infatti, composto
ricerca di una visuale a 360° in un ambiente dall’impianto rigoroso centrale delle travi aeree e
configurato come una vera e propria camera di dal nuovo piano orizzontale che appare sospeso, si
luce”. La totale demolizione sia dei tramezzi interni piega, improvvisamente, in una sua parte,
che dell’incannato di copertura esistenti hanno generando una complessità inaspettata”. La scelta
prodotto una “scarnificazione” del sistema radicale del total white per l’involucro (compresi i
strutturale cruciforme e dei muri perimetrali con il pavimenti in battuto di cemento) accentua la
risultato di ottenere una grande fluidità spaziale. luminosità degli ambienti, che accolgono con garbo
L’involucro è stato trattato come un open space arredi d’epoca giocati di contrasto con le superfici in
virtualmente articolato in quattro aree funzionali alluminio dell’isola cucina centrale e con il mosaico
veicolate dal posizionamento baricentrico di un di vetro adottato per il rivestimento del bagno.
1. 2. 3.
4.
1.2. Cidori, dall’installazione di Kengo Kuma,
nell’evento DECODE ELEMENTS, Cortile
della Rocchetta, Castello Sforzesco, Milano, 2007,
all’ architettura del recente gc prostho museum
research center, da lui realizzata in giappone.
6. 7. 8.
Non solo
Operare nell’ambito
dell’allestimento
temporaneo può
favorire e stimolare
Effimero
‘un seguito’. Gli eventi
di INTERNI, organizzati
ogni anno in occasione
della settimana
del design milanese,
hanno sottolineato di Matteo Vercelloni
Cidori
progetto di Kengo Kuma & Associates
foto di Daici Ano
Un foglio di
architettura
progetto di Bernard Tschumi Architects
foto di Esto Photographics
e la sua nave
direzionali e centri ricerca; sopra, ci sono nove un modo per sottolineare che cerchiamo eccellenza
ospitali loft per soggiorni a breve-medio termine. “Il nella diversità. In fondo, cose anche brutte dal punto
mio loft è il più grande con il recinto per le galline, di vista della fascinazione estetica, accostate in modo
l’orto e la serra sul tetto” racconta Boglione. “Un ordinato e rese funzionali nell’insieme, possono
grande rettangolo di ferro, lamiera, parquet convivere benissimo”. Qual è il plus di BasicVillage?
industriale con soppalco per continuare a lavorare “È un’entità viva per lo spirito dei tempi. Soltanto nel
ma anche rilassarsi; in soggiorno trovano posto un centro commerciale circolano circa 1000 persone al
mega-divano a otto posti, insieme al calcio balilla e al giorno. Durante le Olimpiadi Invernali del 2006,
sacco appeso per la boxe; poi, un tavolo da pranzo siamo stati il quartier generale degli sportivi russi e il
dove si mangia anche in venti; la camera da letto è roof garden, un prato all’inglese panoramico con ampi
una ‘casetta-capanna’ con guardaroba a vista; il terrazzamenti in legno, ha ospitato suggestivi eventi”.
bagno è stato ricavato da una serra. All’ingresso, c’è Ma, la cosa straordinaria di questo luogo fuori dal
la parete con la scritta ‘L’immaginazione è più comune resta soprattutto quanto offre in termini di
importante della conoscenza’, una frase di Einstein in comfort quotidiano: la possibilità di conciliare tempi e
cui mi riconosco come filosofia. Ma anche gli altri loft spazi della giornata lavorativa con dimensioni più
hanno arredi di design basic, memorabilia e affreschi private, dallo sport alla tintoria, dalla prenotazione
tematici, ognuno ispirato a un differente marchio del auto con driver al servizio baby parking. L’opportunità
gruppo. I mobili sono quasi tutti di recupero: molti di una casa & bottega nell’epoca di Internet, che
erano negli uffici della vecchia azienda. Amo lo stile riduce lo stress degli spostamenti, con metodo e
privo di patine. Ogni cosa sembra minimale, creatività. Mica poco considerato che a BasicNet
preferisco però parlare di massimalismo essenziale. lavorano circa 400 persone e sono oltre 1500 le
All’ingresso del ristorante una scritta recita: risorse umane attive a tempo pieno per il gruppo in
garantiamo che qui niente è disegnato da Starck. È circa 100 Paesi.
RacconTI DI
ArcHITeTTura di Matteo Vercelloni
A
architettoniche declinate in una miscela di diversità
espressive che non intende individuare né correnti
emergenti, né poetiche di riferimento, e nemmeno
celebrare protagonisti del momento dimenticando il
termine di archistar. Tutto è mostrato in modo
scolto dei luoghi, diretto, con una certa sincerità, tesa da un lato a
consapevolezza ambientale, riuso del patrimonio creare ‘emozioni’ attraverso l’espressione della il giardino astratto e artificiale della repubblica
Popolare Cinese disegnato da Zhu Pei. (foto M.V.)
architettonico esistente e del manufatto urbano, necessaria pluralità dei diversi punti di vista, e
spinta progettuale verso l’interazione con gli spazi, dall’altro, per molte installazioni, ad assumere lo
ricerca di nuovi modelli concettuali per la città del spazio espositivo non tanto come un contenitore in
domani; sono queste alcune possibili chiavi di cui ‘collocare’ progetti, ma piuttosto come occasione
lettura che emergono fortemente in modo corale e per interagire con il luogo, costruendo una forte
allo stesso tempo specifico all’interno della Biennale mediazione. Un’azione questa che, se a livello
veneziana che Kazuyo Sejima (prima donna espositivo, obbliga a una nuova interpretazione ed manifesto dell’architettura come luogo d’incontro da
chiamata a dirigere la kermesse internazionale di esperienza dello spazio da parte del visitatore, in parte di Sejima), è il Balancing Act di Anton
architettura e vincitrice quest’anno con il suo quanto momento progettuale sottende il valore e il Garcia-Abril & Ensamble Studio a inaugurare il
partner Ryue Nishizawa dell’ambito Pritzker Prize, tema del riuso del manufatto architettonico che tema dell’interazione con lo spazio in cui è ospitato;
riconoscimento massimo nel campo architettonico) emerge in vari allestimenti e partecipazioni le gigantesche travi in calcestruzzo (che ripetono,
propone ai visitatori in modo esplicito e nazionali. Le corderie dell’Arsenale si aprono con il quale frammento in scala reale, la soluzione della
anticelebrativo.“Un’ esposizione d’architettura è un ‘sasso abitabile’ dello studio Smiljan Radic + Marcela Casa Hemeroscopium a Las Rozas nei pressi di
concetto provocatorio, dato che è impossibile portare Correa, una sorta di nido ancestrale, di interno Madrid (2008), sorta di strepitoso collage di
in mostra gli edifici veri e propri, i quali devono protettivo che, in chiave simbolica, richiama alla elementi strutturali impropri all’universo
essere dunque sostituiti da modelli, disegni e altri casa e al tema dell’abitare domestico che ancora si domestico) creano una diagonale volumetrica
oggetti. In quanto architetto, ritengo che sia compito incontra in modo significativo in questa Biennale. rispetto all’andamento lineare dell’edificio. La stessa
della nostra professione utilizzare ‘lo spazio’ come Ma, dopo il film di Wim Wenders in 3D dedicato al tensione e qualità progettuale si ritrova poco più
un mezzo per formulare il nostro pensiero. Ogni Rolex Learning Center di Losanna di SANAA (il avanti nella sala occupata dall’installazione
Cloudscape di Transsolar & Tetsuo Kondo Architects, esistente torna anche nel padiglione olandese a cura
dove un’eterea passerella metallica praticabile si di Rietveld landscape, con un modello urbano
avvolge in modo sinusoidale all’intorno delle sospeso nel vuoto e osservabile dal primo livello che
colonne di mattoni, mentre una densa nuvola mostra le possibilità di riutilizzo e di riconversione
artificiale ne stempera la figura d’insieme, degli edifici della città esistente. In Preservation OMA
reinventando la dimensione dello spazio illustra la propria filosofia rispetto alla
complessivo; o ancora, proseguendo nel percorso, conservazione, forse anche per l’impegno locale di
dopo ‘l’officina di architettura’ (Work Place) dello Rem Koolhaas (Leone d’oro alla carriera) che nei
Studio Mumbai Architects, nell’ambiente buio di giorni del vernissage presentava alla città per conto
Olafur Eliasson, Your split second house, in cui dei getti di Benetton il suo avveniristico progetto di
d’acqua a spirale provenienti dal soffitto sono ‘fissati’ riconversione del Fontego dei Tedeschi a fianco del
nello spazio da luci stroboscopiche in grado di ponte di Rialto. Anche Luca Molinari, curatore di
disegnare geometrie variabili e ‘immobili’ nel vuoto. Ailati (un’Italia allo specchio) – dove nel padiglione
Per poi trovare il Decay of a Dome del cinese Amateur Italia ha selezionato “opere di resistenza contro il
Architecture Studio, sorta di scheletro ligneo in consumo di territorio e la cementificazione che vede
grado di creare una cupola in breve tempo, uno il nostro Paese tra i primi al mondo”– annuncia un
spazio leggero trasportabile e variabile per forma e futuro in cui il riuso e una più consapevole
dimensione, via via che la struttura, assemblabile in attenzione al patrimonio esistente saranno
gruppo, aumenta in altezza. Il tema del ‘riuso’ si riferimenti obbligati: “non potremo più permetterci
ritrova in altri allestimenti anche a livello di di consumare nuovo territorio, di aggiungere opere
partecipazioni nazionali; il Belgio, nella mostra Usus/ ad opere, si tratta di una priorità politica
Usures organizzata dallo studio ROTOR, assume fondamentale a cui l’architettura dovrà dare il suo
materiali provenienti da edifici comuni, “tracce di contributo tecnico e culturale. Non avremo più
usura”, presentati però con una tecnica di bisogno di costruire nuovi oggetti “moderni” per
Sopra: un’immagine del modello New Communities,
‘spiazzamento concettuale’, quali improprie opere vivere il nostro tempo, ma potremo re-interpretare new polarities nell’allestimento di Aldo Cibic
d’arte appese nelle sale del padiglione. Ecco che una abilmente il patrimonio che abbiamo, lavorando rethinking Happiness: New realities for Changing
moquette rossa sagomata copre un’intera parete; sul dall’interno, modificando con forza, densificando, lifestyles.
lato opposto una scala in ferro si affianca a una serie demolendo con chiarezza, liberando spazi senza
di sedie d’attesa, mentre altri brani materici, sentire il bisogno di riempirli subito”.
frammenti di spazi vissuti, riempiono in ordine gli Alla meritevole sezione antologica e critica che
spazi. La Russia nella mostra Factory Russia, curata raggruppa per temi-problemi di attualità e di
da Sergei Tchoban e altri, affronta il tema della riferimento una serie di progetti in corso e costruiti
trasformazione delle zone industriali del Paese, di architetti italiani anche poco noti si affianca la sala
assumendole come paesaggi storici in cui operare Italia 2050, in collaborazione con la rivista WIRED,
con attenzione. L’attenzione al patrimonio costruito con installazioni ‘creative’ che non offrono uno
l’architetto
scellerato
di Francesco Vertunni foto courtesy Fondazione Giorgio Cini onlus
Sogni L
di pietra
a mostra Su pietra, visitabile nel
castello di Acaya, a pochi chilometri da Lecce, fino
al 15 gennaio dell’anno prossimo, espone disegni e
modelli di alcuni degli ultimi progetti di Steven
Holl a cui aggiunge, come contributo originale,
foto di Alfio Garozzo testo di Alessandro Rocca quattro sculture disegnate dall’architetto
americano e realizzate nella pietra di Cursi,
materiale d’eccellenza del barocco leccese. Prodotta
dalla Provincia di Lecce, dall’Istituto di Culture
Mediterranee della Provincia di Lecce e
dall’Osservatorio Urbanistico Teknè, la mostra
segue una serie di personali dedicate a Heinz
Tesar, Alvaro Siza ed Eladio Dieste, ed è una
preziosa occasione per un contatto ravvicinato con
le ultime idee e progetti di Steven Holl. Sessantatré
anni, americano di Seattle con studi a New York e
Pechino, Holl si è affermato negli States con
progetti di piccola e media dimensione e di squisita
fattura, e ha sfondato a livello internazionale con il
Il 30 novembre di quest’anno Steven Holl riceve il Riba Jencks Award, il premio che l’associazione degli architetti
inglesi, per mano del critico di architettura e paesaggista Charles Jencks, conferisce a chi si distingue nel difficile esercizio di
promuovere tanto la riflessione teorica che la pratica della costruzione. Nelle passate edizioni il premio è stato attribuito a
Zaha Hadid, Foreign Office Architects, Peter Eisenman, Cecil Balmond, UNStudio, Wolf D. Prix & Coop Himmelb(l)au e
Charles Correa, progettisti di successo che sono anche ricercatori inquieti, che si mettono in gioco affrontando ogni progetto
con spirito inventivo, correndo il rischio della novità. Jencks, l’artefice del premio, è a sua volta un personaggio atipico:
americano, critico di successo negli anni Settanta, alfiere del postmodernismo nel decennio successivo, si è poi trasferito in
Scozia dove ha intrapreso una seconda vita dedicata alla progettazione di giardini e paesaggi. E Jencks, attualmente
all’opera anche nell’area milanese del Portello, coglie, come spunti importanti dell’architettura di Holl, l’attenzione allo studio
della luce e dei suoi effetti sulle superfici che portano a spazi tattili e vibratili, sensoriali, così come erano quelli disegnati dal
maestro veneziano Carlo Scarpa. (A.R.)
In assoluto:
Mccracken
L’artista californiano
ha teso sempre più
a semplificare i suoi moduli
volumetrici, che,
nel corso del tempo,
si sono ridotti a un plank
(tavola) e ad un block
(blocco). L’idea è quella che
ogni forma materiale,
come la sua percezione,
si definisce come in sé
di Germano Celant
L’
sono le dominanti architettoniche dell’International
style affermatosi in America.
In tale senso, l’erezione riduttiva dei volumi,
dei materiali, dei colori e della procedura costruttiva
avvento di una ricerca, primaria porta alla formulazione cognitiva di una serie di
e riduttiva, definita minimal art, dal 1964 mette in ‘immagini tri-dimensionali’ che sono aniconici.
discussione le polarità – espressive e figurali, Infatti, non interessano i problemi iconici,
materiali e ottiche – che avevano informato dall’arte d’ordine individuale e sociale, ma piuttosto ci si
informale alle vicende cinetiche e pop Contro focalizza sulle unità standard del display della ‘cosa’,
l’impulso soggettivo e l’assemblage casuale, emerge quindi si studiano le relazioni tra pavimento, pareti,
allora la consapevolezza di un operare come soffitto e dimensione scalare dell’oggetto quanto le
processo essenziale ed elementare, limitato e ridotto loro varianti e combinazioni. Si passa pertanto dai
ai termini specifici del colore e della forma, dello composti –simbolici ed espressivi, metaforici e
spazio e del tempo. Alla credenza che l’acquisizione letterari – delle ricerche antecedenti, agli ingredienti
del reale e del quotidiano, promossa dal Nouveaux costruttivi e ai risultati complessi delle entità
realisme quanto dal New dada, sia la via più diretta per elementari.
conoscere l’insieme contestuale, ora si contrappone Seguendo le teorie di John Dewey e di Ludwig
una tecnica di accertamento che si attiene solo alla Wittgenstein, s’intrecciano la visione esperienziale e
logica del costruire. la decifrazione concettuale che vengono così a essere
Qui i volumi e le articolazioni spaziali contrapposte al metodo romantico e astratto che
vengono determinate dall’ambiente e le verità aveva informato l’eroismo dell’Espressionismo
auto-referenti degli insiemi tri-dimensionali sono il astratto quanto il suo racconto per immagini senza
risultato di un azzeramento massimo delle forma. La tendenza analitica della Minimal art
componenti formali, che arrivano a ridursi alle coincide sostanzialmente con un’indagine sui fatti,
John McCracken, Blue Post and Lintel I, 1965. figure elementari del cubo e del parallelepipedo, che sulle cose osservabili e sul rapporto fra tali fatti e cose.
L’intersezione tra colore e luce, volume e assoluta e pura quando si relazionano alla Inoltre, il colore è storicamente associato alla
spazio è il fulcro della ricerca di John McCracken complessità di spazi espositivi diversi. fragilità del quadro (ed escluso dalla maggior parte
che, sin dal 1963, ha lavorato sull’irradiamento Accanto alle articolazioni elementari e della scultura) ed è quindi ‘relativo’ allo spazio
cromatico e luminoso di una forma tri- all’esperienza fisica dell’oggetto introdotti dalla bi-dimensionale, mentre con McCracken si offre
dimensionale nell’ambiente. Partito dai fenomeni Minimal art, l’artista californiano introduce una come ‘realtà’ autonoma ed estremamente concreta.
d’accumulazione semplice – quale la piramide e il meditazione sulla luce e sul suo riflesso sulla Assimilabile a un peso e a un ingombro, a una
portale, dove i cubi o i parallelepipedi si sommano superficie, utilizzando materiali sintetici come la forma e a un volume, a qualcosa che ha efficacia in
per creare un’immagine – l’artista californiano ha lacca e il fiberglass, così che le sue opere risultino un sé, senza agire all’interno di un altro territorio. Per
teso sempre più a semplificare i suoi moduli ‘ponte’, quasi anti-materico, tra scultura e pittura, questa ragione, l’artista ha continuato sino ad oggi a
volumetrici, che nel corso del tempo si sono ridotti a tanto da includere nel loro presentarsi sia il farlo valere come un ‘sé’ indipendente, al punto di
un plank (tavola) e ad un block (blocco). Sono “single pavimento che la luce sottopone a mutazioni enunciarlo in tutte le condizioni ‘scultoree’ possibili,
things”, che per McCracken “refer to nothing outside, but percettive differenti, rendendoli quindi cose anzi, conoscibile proprio in relazione a tutte le sue
which at the same time possibly refer, or relate, to ‘mutanti’, dove variano l’andare e il venire del varianti.
everything”. L’idea è quella che ogni forma materiale, colore, quanto la sua intensità e la sua fluidità. Ecco, allora, il manifestarsi di parallelepipedi
come la sua percezione, si definisce come ‘in sé’, ma Questa mutabilità si lega all’essenza o di piramidi, di cubi o di assi, la cui interazione
non in maniera assoluta, ma in rapporto a una percettiva di un’esperienza sulla luce che è tipica cromatica garantisce, attraverso la medesima
condizione ambientale e psichica. degli artisti in California. Per cui il fare di caratteristica, la singola realtà autonoma di rosso,
Di fatto le ‘cose’ di McCracken sono insiemi McCracken non va visto solo come minimal, ma verde, giallo, blu, nero...
cromatici chiusi, che aumentano la loro intensità in come fenomenico, nel senso dell’impermanenza La ripetitività è forma di senso e l’essenza di
relazione ad altri elementi simili, ma di diverso della percezione che si lega alla variazioni un ‘sé’ duraturo nel tempo: una meditazione sul
colore, oppure in dialogo con l’architettura in cui atmosferiche e ambientali, come si verifica nelle colore che è cardine della ricerca artistica. I singoli
sono collocati. Sono dei ‘rilevatori’ di fenomeni opere di Maria Nordman e di Robert Irwin. planks e blocks risultato quindi testimonianze di una
volumetrici e ottici, che aumentano l’intensità del Un’attenzione cosciente su ciò che una cosa è, nella esperienza cromatica che aspira continuamente a
colore e della superficie materica quando sono sua essenza, associata al vuoto che la circonda superarsi, mostrandone la progressiva
relazionati uno ad uno, ma esprimono una visione quanto alla natura del contesto. purificazione, quanto l’infinitezza.
L’uno si definisce
un designer industrioso,
l’altro un progettista
di pensieri. Il primo prende
atto di un modo nuovo
di produrre e di creare
bisogni, il secondo crede
ancora nei sogni
e nella poesia del lavoro
dei Maestri. A entrambi
Triennale Design Museum
ha dedicato una mostra
V
personale, mettendo
in parallelo
le espressioni di due
diverse generazioni
del progetto italiano
oDoarDo
di Maddalena Padovani
Fioravanti
L’ idea forse un po’ azzardata di
mettere a confronto due personaggi così diversi – il
‘maestro’ Marco Ferreri e il ‘giovane’ Odoardo
Fioravanti, due progettisti che, almeno per ragioni
anagrafiche, occupano ruoli molto differenti nel
panorama del design italiano – nasce in occasione
dell’inaugurazione quasi contemporanea delle
mostre personali a loro dedicate dalla Triennale di
Milano. Per Ferreri si tratta di un’importante
antologica (Progettarepensieri, a cua di Silvana
Annicchiarico, 6 ottobre - 6 gennaio 2011), volta a
documentare 35 anni di attività dell’architetto-
designer-grafico-artista che i critici definiscono il
passaggio chiave tra le generazione dei Maestri e la
Nouvelle Vague italiana. La rassegna di Fioravanti
(Industrious Design, 22 settembre – 24 ottobre 2010)
è certo più piccola, ma non per questo meno
importante per il designer che in soli cinque anni
di libera professione ha saputo distinguersi tra i
nomi nuovi del progetto italiano. Tanto che Silvana
Annicchiarico l’ha scelto per aprire il secondo ciclo
di mostre sui giovani ospitate nel CreativeSet.
Marco
un fine della ricerca, bensì quell’attimo magico, unico
e imprendibile che faceva diventare poesia un aspetto
tecnologico. Questo aspetto, a cui ancora io mi sento
S
legato, è stato superato dalla nuova scuola di
designer, che, non me ne vogliano, io definisco più
Ferreri
‘glamour’ rispetto a quelli del passato”.
Fioravanti: “Marco ha fondamentalmente
ragione. Bisogna dirlo: oggi capita che alcuni miei
coetanei disegnino allo scopo di catturare l’obiettivo
fotografico. Marco, invece, gode di una caratteristica
tutta sua che è quella di essere uno scrittore anche
quando progetta. Lo scrittore ha un rapporto
interiore con quello che fa, un rapporto molto lungo,
intimo, combattuto. Per Marco il progetto è un
piacere del tutto personale, estraneo a ogni ricerca di
consenso allargato. È una sorta di rapporto a due,
molto bello e molto intenso, che difficilmente
ammette la presenza di terzi e che talvolta non è del
tutto comprensibile ad altre persone. Penso, per
esempio, alla sua lampada Soap: un progetto
bellissimo ma introverso, comprensibile per i
progettisti ma forse un po’ meno per la gente comune,
pieno di delicatezze e di complessità nascoste che solo
un occhio esperto e molto attento sa cogliere, però”.
Qual è il concept delle mostre?
Ferreri: “Abbiamo definito un percorso
centrale, allestito con teli, pensato come uno stomaco
delle idee. Il percorso è introdotto da sei croci in
marmo inclinate a 30 gradi intitolate Piccole crisi.
L’ispirazione di questa piccola installazione nasce da
una rubrica de laRepubblica intitolata Piccole crisi
senza importanza, con cui Salvatore Mannironi faceva
L’incontro avviene proprio in questo contesto, periodicamente la cruda cronaca dei disastri
dove Fioravanti ha trasferito momentaneamente la dell’industria manifatturiera italiana. La mostra
sua attività giornaliera perché la sua intenzione è inizia dunque con un ritratto dello stato di fatto.
presentare in prima persona i suoi progetti, spiegare L’inclinazione delle croci, però, suggerisce due
direttamente ai visitatori il senso e i dettagli della sua diverse soluzioni: una possibile risalita, oppure, al
personale ricerca. Ancora alle prese con la contrario, la caduta definitiva. La seconda tappa è
preparazione del suo allestimento, Marco Ferreri rappresentata da un altro progetto inedito: Moto
arriva tenendo sottobraccio una raccolta di disegni, Tessuto, uno specie di scooter che ho sviluppato
immagini, prove di stampa, articoli di giornali che assieme a Dainese, la cui caratteristica è quella di
parlano del suo variegato universo immaginifico e di avere il motore elettrico nella ruota posteriore e la
un lavoro difficile da classificare nelle correnti carrozzeria di tessuto, dotata di tasche per il
categorie del design. contenimento delle batterie, che può essere levata
Da una parte, Progettarepensieri: un titolo che come un vestito e cambiata secondo le necessità di
allude alla componente più concettuale del progetto e trasporto: un posto, due posti, con il cane, per le pizze,
introduce a una mostra pensata per catturare lo stupore e eccetera. A seguire, ci sono altri progetti-pensieri
l’emozione del visitatore. Dall’altra, Industrious design: riconducibili ai vari ambiti in cui lavoro.
ti
percorso molto più breve, anche perché ho scoperto
an
solo a 24 anni che il design era qualcosa di più e di
diverso del disegno delle automobili. L’apertura del
av
mio studio risale solo al 2006, per cui la mostra si
basa su quello che ho progettato nel corso degli ultimi
or
4-5 anni. Per questo al termine ‘retrospettiva’
Fi
preferisco il concetto di ‘prospettiva’: più che
guardare indietro, la mia mostra si propone di
fotografare ‘in movimento’ quanto sta succedendo
oggi e quello che potrebbe avvenire in un immediato
futuro. Non a caso, a 11 oggetti del passato recente ho
voluto affiancare nove progetti del tutto nuovi, alcuni
presentati quest’anno, altri di prossima produzione,
più altri tre ideati appositamente per la mostra ma
ancora in cerca di un produttore. Ho cercato di
raccontare in maniera onesta e chiara il modo in cui
io lavoro e i ragionamenti che stanno dietro i miei
oggetti. Ho volutamente usato una forma di racconto
un po’ didascalica perché penso che il pubblico abbia
il diritto di essere informato sulle ragioni per cui uno
scolapasta viene esposto in un museo. Per questo ho
usato una formula espositiva a più livelli: al livello
inferiore sta l’oggetto finito, a quello superiore
l’elemento da cui trae ispirazione”.
Con il suo lavoro e la sua mostra, Marco sembra
affermare la necessità e l’importanza di un ‘progettare libero’
che spazia tra le varie discipline. Al contrario, Odoardo
sottolinea l’aspetto sempre più ‘industrious’ del designer, il cui
ruolo è oggi sempre più simile a quello di una factory che
fornisce all’industria soluzioni complete e finite. Si tratta di
due visioni diverse del mestiere del designer, oppure sono
complementari tra loro?
Fioravanti: “Il concetto di industriosità nasce
dalla presa di coscienza di una profonda
trasformazione del ruolo del designer – non esprimo
giudizi in merito ma semplicemente ne prendo atto
– che oggi si occupa in modo sempre più allargato e
completo dello sviluppo del prodotto. Quando ero
studente mi raccontavano che Magistretti era solito
descrivere i progetti per telefono. Oggi non è certo
così: per essere credibili, i giovani designer devono
saper ‘vendere’ i loro progetti alle aziende avendo già
I
er
rr
Fe
ti
an
av
or
Fi
Tapas, contenitore multiuso, adatto anche per ufficio, con struttura in legno laccato
bianco opaco e ante rivestite in feltro. Di Lagranja Design per Emmebi.
Zyla, sedia impilabile, fino a quattro unità, in massello di faggio con schienale
in multistrato di faggio laccati. Di Patrick Jouin per Ligne Roset.
L’Eau, di Archirivolto
Design per Calligaris,
sedia impilabile
con struttura in metallo
cromato e monoscocca
in tecnopolimero San,
a effetto onde
concentriche, in vari
colori trasparenti.
Lavori
in pelle di Cristina Morozzi
RENDERE eccitante
la sostenibilità. OFFRIRE
AL CONSUMATORE NUOVE
ESPERIENZE CON meno spreco
di materia. COINVOLGERLO,
DANDOGLI LA SENSAZIONE
DI ESSERE partecipe
di un processo creativo.
QUESTI GLI OBIETTIVI
DEL LAVORO DI Yves Behar
OGnI cosa
è una scoPerTa
di Cristina Morozzi
Nella pagina accanto: Yves Behar disegna Sopra: Un dettaglio dello schienale a rete.
la trama della rete elastica che, agganciata
ad un arco di acciaio inossidabile, costituisce Sotto, la versione definitiva della seduta
lo schienale della sedia operativa Sayl di Herman con la rete elastica a pressione differenziata
Miller, presentata lo scorso ottobre a Colonia proposta in colore rosso. A sinistra, Yves Behar
in occasione di Orgatec. lavora a uno dei quaranta prototipi realizzati
L
per giungere alla soluzione definitiva della sedia.
Computer di base XO, sviluppato con Nicholas Occhiali ‘See better to learn better’, destinati
Negroponte e destinato ai bambini poveri: ai bambini indigenti messicani con difetti di vista.
è rivestito in morbido poliuretano e costa solo 100 sviluppati assieme ad Augen, azienda messicana
dollari. Con questo progetto Yves Behar ha vinto tra i primi dieci produttori mondiali di lenti, sono
il premio Index nel 2006. provvisti di una montatura bicolore in Gilamid,
una plastica molto flessibile.
design
e nuvole di Laura Traldi
raccontando storie in modo semplice ed immediato: pari di quello ospitato”, continua Garcia. E per
utilizzando cioè il linguaggio universale delle garantire una qualità che non facesse sfigurare
immagini. La presenza dei Gormiti (come del resto Japain davanti all’arte dei manga giapponesi, i
di tanti altri fumetti) alla Triennale può quindi CuldeSac hanno disturbato Paco Roca (National
essere letta come un omaggio da parte della cultura Comic Award 2008) per la realizzazione grafica e
del design all’immediatezza e alla semplicità Alfredo Llorens (già scultore presso Lladrò dal 1997)
espressiva del mondo dei cartoon che già tanti per quella delle bambole in ceramica ad altezza
comunicatori stanno sfruttando egregiamente. È il uomo, ispirate ai personaggi del fumetto, che sono
caso ad esempio di CuldeSac, l’hub creativo di state posizionate sullo stand: perfette per ispirare i
Valencia, invitato dall’Instituto Español de Comercio giapponesi allo scatto-ricordo-cum-gadget. Una
Exterior (ICEX) a sviluppare la strategia di trovata apparentemente semplice, ma
comunicazione per la collettiva di aziende spagnole potenzialmente a grande impatto mediatico, assicura
alla Tokyo Design Week (29 ottobre – 4 novembre). Garcia. “Il fumetto piace al grande pubblico”, dice.
“Volevamo coinvolgere emotivamente il pubblico, “Non ha pretese di intellettualismo, appare per
dar vita a un’esperienza da vivere e poi anche da quello che è, viene letto anche da chi normalmente
ricordare”, dice Pepe Garcia, uno dei fondatori. Per rifiuta la parola scritta. E poi, nella versione cartone
fare ciò ha scelto di creare un cartoon in cui una animato, si è rivelato un’arma vincente su YouTube
nonna narra al suo nipotino la storia per far veicolare la mostra ben oltre i confini fisici La lampada Blub con paralume in carta
dell’affascinante Japain, una sorta di pangea della Tokyo Design Week”. e struttura in legno, autoprodotta dal designer
tedesco Christian Lessing.
primordiale fatta dall’unione di due Paesi Concorda Cristina Morozzi, direttore creativo
geograficamente (e anche culturalmente) di Skitsch. “Il valore delle cose oggi non viene solo
estremamente distanti tra loro, la Spagna e il dalla garanzia di qualità ma anche dalla loro
Giappone. “La scelta del fumetto come mezzo di capacità di saper raccontare”, dice. “La scelta del
comunicazione è stata una conseguenza naturale fumetto permette di trasformare la comunicazione
della nostra volontà di celebrare il Paese ospitante al del prodotto in una narrazione immediatamente
MassImI
sIsTemI
Nella pagina accanto, tavolino Dama in cedro. Sopra, libreria Wall System e, sullo sfondo, sedie
Poliform In cIFre Design del centro Ricerca e Sviluppo Poliform. BB, design Riccardo Blumer e Matteo Borghi.
Fatturato 2009
103 milioni di euro
Superficie stabilimento
100 mila m2
Dipendenti
554 e sedute. Sono distribuiti nel territorio comasco, dei loro figli tengono le fila di tutte le attività del
posizionati a qualche chilometro l’uno dall’altro, tra gruppo. “L’idea”, spiega Anzani, “è che questo
Mercati principali Arosio, Lurago d’Erba e Mirovano. Ma è a Santa nuovo polo possa rappresentare il cuore pulsante di
Italia 51% Maria che Poliform sta ultimando una nuova unità Poliform. Al suo interno concentreremo tutte le
Europa 25% (escluso Italia) aziendale che sarà inaugurata il prossimo dicembre. attività strategiche, tranne la produzione che
USA 5% continuerà ad essere dislocata nelle sedi
Architettura, il nuovo progetto di Carlo Colombo tradizionali”. È, invece, Aldo Spinelli che ha seguito
Ideato da Carlo Colombo, uno degli architetti e direttamente la realizzazione e la progettazione di
designer a cui l’azienda è storicamente legata, il questa nuova architettura. Negli ultimi mesi è
nuovo spazio, rappresenta un luogo nevralgico per sempre stato in cantiere, facendo, passo passo, ogni
il futuro del gruppo. scelta insieme all’architetto Colombo: materiali
V
“Si tratta di un progetto molto complesso, naturali come il legno che copre gran parte della
durato anni”, spiega l’architetto, “che attraverso struttura nuova, l’impianto di pannelli fotovoltaici e
forme, composizioni e giochi di luce unisce un progetto botanico di piantumazione che
simbioticamente aree vecchie e nuove dello stabile”. ricoprirà gran parte della recinzione. Insomma
Il nuovo polo aziendale raggrupperà tutti gli questo building vuole essere il riflesso
arcato il confine tra Milano e uffici e gli showroom di Poliform, un ristorante e dell’immagine forte del marchio Poliform che, nato
Brianza, a Inverigo si trova la prima e più maestosa due grandi sale posa per i servizi fotografici che negli anni Settanta, si è consolidato soprattutto
delle nove insegne dei rispettivi poli produttivi di vengono realizzati tutti internamente per editare gli negli ultimi dieci anni attraverso la determinazione
Poliform, uno dei più dinamici gruppi italiani innumerevoli cataloghi aziendali. “Avevamo dei titolari: Nino Anzani a capo della
dell’arredo. Inoltrandosi in questo polmone verde bisogno di un luogo che rafforzasse ancora di più la comunicazione. Alberto Spinelli dell’area sviluppo e
della Lombardia, si incontrano gli altri stabilimenti nostra identità di marchio e di prodotto” spiega prodotto e Aldo Spinelli, responsabile della
e uffici del gruppo che producono armadiature, Giovanni Anzani, uno dei tre soci di Poliform produzione. Un gruppo compatto, dove ognuno ha
librerie, cucine firmate Varenna, contract, imbottiti insieme ad Alberto e Aldo Spinelli che con alcuni un ruolo preciso, ma dove tutto è condiviso.
LIvInG
Monolitiche E RIGOROSE
O COLORATE E flessibili,
LE NUOVE cucine
KITcHen
ACQUISTANO VALORE
(E vita) ANCHE GRAZIE
AI PERSONAGGI di Andrea Pirruccio
foto di Maurizio Marcato
CHE LE ‘abitano’, SIANO
ESSI designer,
imprenditori O presenze
ESTEMPORANEE
PAOLA NAVONE ‘RISPONDE’ AGLI SCATTI DEL FOTOGRAFO
MAURIZIO MARCATO. A FIANCO, MENU, LA CUCINA
DISEGNATA DALLA STESSA NAVONE PER BONTEMPI
NELLA VERSIONE CON BASI CON ANTA NELLA FINITURA
ICE OAK, PENSILE NELLA FINITURA STAMPA VETRO E TOP
IN ACCIAIO.
sotto: Massimo Iosa Ghini con il suo progetto sviluppato per Snaidero: E-Wood, cucina con anta
realizzata in rovere termico, uno speciale trattamento durante il quale il legno viene
sottoposto a un procedimento di essiccazione a 190° che determina una modifica
della struttura chimica, con conseguenze positive sia in termini di stabilità dimensionale,
sia di colore. In merito alla finitura superficiale, la bellezza del legno è stata ulteriormente
valorizzata da una lavorazione che garantisce l’effetto ‘piallato a mano’.
SOPRA: Prototipo sviluppato da Panasonic Electric Works con la supervisione di Naoto Fukasawa,
il sistema cucina monoblocco rappresenta una riuscita combinazione di design
e funzionalità. La particolare struttura del bancone nasconde il piano cucina, mentre
un sistema di illuminazione indiretto conferisce alla composizione un fascino discreto.
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INtopics splendid baroque facade containing the access staircase. The entrance of the lower level:
the sliding doors hung from a metal trestle divide the single space when needed. Left, a
editorial p. 1 large painting by Salvo, Hercules and the Hydra of Lerna; between the windows, a work by
What should we emphasize about this November issue, full of architecture, design and in- Aldo Mondino. Against the pillar, the console and the postal deposit specially designed for
depth looks at specific themes? The value and leitmotiv of a key term: experimentation, that the house, like the canvas lamps that run along the entire ceiling. The wooden furnishings
in our vision rhymes with ‘not temporary’. We have noticed, in fact, that a good project is the are produced by Fritz Hansen; the carpets from Fez, Morocco, were designed by Prando
one that touches the heart, to ‘inhabit the void’, wagering on communication and dialogue. & Rosso. - Caption pag. 4 The large doors that divide the spaces slide on metal guides. To
There are no rigid boundaries between space, volume, dress, body, discipline and approach, the right, the cylindrical volume of the internal staircase that connects the two levels of
when ‘preferred relationships’ are nurtured by emotion and interaction. This is underlined the house. The bookcase in ebony and mahogany with stainless steel hinged shelves is a
by Kazuyo Sejima, curator of the 12th Architecture Biennial of Venice, with a title chosen to custom piece. Cubolo table in fiberglass designed by Pietro Derossi for the Piper Club in
identify the program of this edition: People meet in architecture. The contents of this issue Turin (1965) and the Drake table designed for the house and later produced by Sawaya &
put the same path back into focus. In the feature Interiors&Architecture, the architects Moroni. Tables by Bruno Mathsson for Fritz Hansen and chairs by Kazuide Takahama
explore a way of designing and living, in Italian style, that coincides with a focus on reuse for Simon International. The garden designed by Paolo Pejrone: the structures in metal
and enhancement of the existing heritage. But there’s more. They also create international screen create paths and backdrops of ivy, framing spectacular views of the center of Turin.
works, from museums to offices, that fully demonstrate their design research, tested during - Caption pag. 6 The bath is open to the bedroom, and only a sliding door separates it
the development of previous temporary installations. The protagonists of the Indesign from the other spaces. The tub-shower cabin in stainless steel, a custom piece, reflects the
section, from Marco Ferreri to Odoardo Fioravanti, though with different intentions and external landscape. The kitchen designed for the house is composed of a long ‘table’ in
results, share a constant experimental drive that brings innovation to the fore: of materials, stainless steel with legs covered with red moulded impact-proof nylon. Under the table,
production technologies, typological, formal and conceptual expressions. This is the added trolleys with different functions are inserted. Beyond the window, the cityscape of Turin,
value of a transversal approach that also widens the social meaning of design. So, last with the Mole Antonelliana, Piazza Castello, the Dome of the Holy Shroud. - Caption pag.
but not least, the event Milano Fashion Week Design, held during fashion week inside 7 On the cabinet-planter in stainless steel and glass, the installation by Giulio Paolini,
the Ottagono of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, was an initial attempt to shed light on the dated 1983, “Le temple de la gloire” (a quotation from Voltaire) that combines a Roman
fertile connections between fashion and the design system, in an open, welcoming city. head with a golden cushion, is accompanied by a silkscreen made for Franco Debenedetti.
Gilda Bojardi
Cà Maloni p. 8
INteriors&architecture project Sonia Calzoni - design team Maurizio Bocola
photos Paolo Rosselli - text Antonella Boisi
Private theater p. 2 At Nibbiano, in Val Tidone, in the rural setting near Piacenza, a rigorous renovation
project Lorenzo Prando and Riccardo Rosso project for a typologically and morphologically specialized architectural complex leads
photos Santi Caleca - text Franco Debenedetti to a residential solution full of nuances and comforts. Farmhouse and rural structures in
Val Tidone, in the Apennines near Piacenza, three separate volumes arranged to form a
The Turin home of Franco Debenedetti, the autobiographical story of a project where the small irregular courtyard. Around them, a meadow that slopes down to a stream, with
time of life coincides with the time of design, while spaces and objects take on communicative a pear tree, a cherry tree and ash trees, already there before the project, and some added
and symbolic value, like words and stories. More than the books you have read, the mulberry trees, poplars, hornbeams along the boundary. Before the project of conversion,
snapshots you have kept, the houses you have lived in tell the story of your life. Even for residential use, of this small agricultural settlement from the early 1900s, which had
more so when the house is neither a family legacy or owned, and its character is not the grown over time, everything languished in a state of abandon here. The lack of uniformity
result of habit or convenience, but of repeated, intentional confirmations. In this case, of the volumes and the simplicity of their layout have been utilized by Sonia Calzoni
repeated for forty years. Just as architecture belongs, first of all, to its client, so the design as points of reference of a project that attempts to respect the original character of the
of a home is for its inhabitant: so the client has the right, reversing the perspective, to make architectural organism, while responding to the needs of a new residence that updates
a portrait of his house from his personal “interior”. Part of this portrait is something the and enhances that character. “The differing typologies of the buildings”, she explains,
photographs of Santi Caleca cannot capture, namely the way the house was before, in “suggested different choices. The hayloft maintains its original structure of brick pillars
the first ten years in which I lived there. Giorgio Ceretti, Pietro Derossi, Riccardo Rosso and roof tiles. I have just closed the spans with large glass and steel partitions, interrupted
had made it hard, like the 1960s were hard, rigorous, just as we thought our ideas were at the floor slab set back on the two levels, with particular care to contain the thickness of
rigorous. A house without the dividing walls of the original plan, to permit views on three the metal sections. I was looking for the effect of a transparent, reflecting glass box that
sides, geometric like a Mondrian, maniacally rigorous in every detail, built by ablation, would make the functions perceptible, as well as the staircase connecting the two levels.
so to speak, with carpets curtains knickknacks armchairs, a few meaningful presences: Outside, to screen the building, I have placed frames of horizontal planks mounted on
the “cubolo” tables of the Piper Club, two red rafts, two green Tornerajs, prototypes sliding panels, while inside Venetian blinds provide a filter with respect to the outside
of Gufram, black brushstrokes of Hans Hartung, a ripped Rotella. The red balloon of world. For the larger building (including an apartment, a hayloft, a stall and a portico), the
Mondino and the garden of Gilardi came later. A house with which I had to struggle, and spatial reorganization called for the creation of two levels: a ground floor for the living area
one I really loved: now I sense it as a presence visible to me alone, the hidden trace of and a first floor for the nighttime zone. The portico in front of it has become an extension
the house illustrated here, the one done in 1982 by Lorenzo Prando and Riccardo Rosso. of the living area: a two-storey space, connected to the surrounding landscape thanks to
“If interior architecture is the theater of living – Adolf Loos writes – then the task of the a system of glazings that open completely. Finally, the small stone storage shed has been
architect is skillful directing of the performance”. The performance had changed. My life restored in a conservative way, and maintains its function as a storeroom and tool shed”.
had changed: I needed another level, connected by the internal staircase inside the yellow Great care has gone into finding a balanced relationship between full and open volumes,
drum. The outside world had changed: the radicalism of the previous decade had been relying on materic choices connected with the local tradition and context. The existing parts
supplanted by a focus on historical continuity, sensed not (only) as a constraint, but as in stucco and stone have been restored, while all the new perimeter enclosures, required to
a storeroom of signs from which it was possible to rediscover a meaning, perhaps even create a larger volume for the new residence, have been covered with natural wood planks,
by reversing the original meaning. Pushing the philological intuition of the first version arranged horizontally. “The planks of variable thickness”, Sonia Calzoni explains, “imitate
to the limit with respect to the metal skeleton of the tower, restoring the building’s open the wooden enclosures often made in farmhouses to store materials in the haylofts, so they
plan vocation, which remained “in pectore” for Melis due to the inability of the Italian conserve the particular character of a “container” that is part of the origins of the place.
architectural culture at the time the tower was built. Having abandoned the divisions of They form continuous surfaces that open only in part, at the windows, for which they
the first version and their undulated illusion of intimacy, now the three large sliding panels form a kind of shutter system. In the part corresponding to the ground floor portico they
arranged like spokes, rather than bordering spaces, simply hint at their definition. The also open, folding upward: another canopy for the outside spaces”. Inside and outside are
annexing of the terrace, populated by geometric solids by Paolo Pejrone, took on a value closely connected, as it was yesterday, as it will be tomorrow. - Caption pag. 9 Front/back
– also in symbolic terms – of openness to the outside. Openness of spaces, begun in the of the main volume, a Spartan composition of full and empty parts in local stone, stucco
first version and fully developed here. Openness to different suggestions of taste: custom and wood. - Caption pag. 10 The two separate restructured volumes establish a visual
furnishings with precious materials and details, generated by fascination with rare woods, dialogue thanks to the large glazings, in a continuous game of indoor-outdoor connections.
but also industrial objects, trolleys, grilles, metal sections, in new graftings, some recovered The skeletons of the original buildings, still featuring brick pillars, have been restored in
from past lives, divans and armchairs in new covers, or carpets inspired by exotic places. a respectful way and revitalized thanks to the insertion of essential new elements in steel,
Over the next almost thirty years apparently nothing important happened, nothing has glass and wood, like the windows. A corner of the living area created in the main building,
changed since the project in 1982. Is that only because the geographic center of gravity of with flooring in cream-colored sandstone. Detail of the flexible closure system of a window,
my life has changed? Actually, and I realize this only now, the project relationship between made with natural wood planks arranged horizontally. - Caption pag. 11 Above, a landing
client and architects has never ceased to exist, it has just shifted from the house to the its on the first floor, which contains the bedroom zone, in visual communication with the
objects, the ones I have commissioned, from 1986 to 2009, from Lorenzo and Riccardo, lower level. The partially glazed box contains a bathroom. Two nighttime spaces that mix
including Christmas presents for my friends. Though barely visible in these images, they spare, well-chosen furnishings inside archetypal structures freed of any superfluous signs.
have become – with more complete description and illustration – Les très belles heures The green bath features back-painted glass in the shower zone and enamel for the walls.
de F.D.( 22 publishing, Milan, 2009, ed). Since they are for friends, and therefore potential
guests, and due to the cultural continuity with Lorenzo and Riccardo that has grown and
been consolidated over the decades, those objects are the continuation of the house, seen Soft Loft p. 12
both as a dwelling and as a project. Metaphorically transfigured as gifts, in a cadence, year
after year, these useful objects become not only the “true clues”, to say it with Loos, of the
project Ottaviano Design Studio
way of living, but also the continuation and evolution of how that way of living is designed photos Alberto Ferrero - text Antonella Boisi
and described. And they make the forty years the client has spent on Via Viotti a singular Conceived as a cottage of the Scandinavian tradition, an inviting space in which to nurture
work in progress. - Caption pag. 3 Facing page: the ‘Torre Littoria’ seen from Piazza the illusion of living outdoors. From agriculture to architecture to design the path can be
Castello, with which Armando Melis completed the new Via Roma designed by Piacentini: short, if there’s authentic passion involved. Even for the self-taught. That’s what happened
one of the first buildings with a metal framework made in Turin. From the balcony one to Ottaviano Ciabatti, with a degree in agrarian studies and a studio in Crema since 2006.
sees Palazzo Madama, built around the Roman gate, on which Juvarra superimposed the The breakthrough came after a trip to India and the discovery of the beauty of the local
decors. He began by working in the homes of friends, proposing his own personal route of Not just temporary p. 20
aesthetic research and visual harmony, with an atypical sensibility that gradually lost its
decorative approach and moved toward architecture. All the way to the latest challenges: the by Matteo Vercelloni
projects for a charity center in Bali and a mini-resort at Phuket, including residences-spa- Operating in the field of temporary installations can lead to other developments. The events
restaurant, both works in progress. “I don’t want to seem presumptuous, but I am inspired produced by INTERNI every year during Design Week in Milan act as incubators, over time,
by Galileo: my style is in thought, aimed at achieving different objectives, case by case”, for experimentation that combines the dimensions of design and architecture, proposing
he explains. In this interior in Crema the needs of a young 50-year-old man, back to being – in the projects of the professionals involved – a series of design statements that can take
single, who often shares his home with his four children, called for a precise concept: that of permanent constructed form. Not just temporary, then, but an exhibition procedure that
a unified space, conducive to socializing, conversation and relationships, where every person becomes an opportunity to test ideas that later become industrialized products or works
can find his own unique, favorite spaces. The potential of the container, a former warehouse, of architecture. - Caption pag. 20 1.2. Cidori, from the installation by Kengo Kuma, in the
a long, deep structure with high ceilings and almost continuous glazings on the longest wall, event DECODE ELEMENTS, Cortile della Rocchetta, Castello Sforzesco, Milan, 2007, to
as a single reservoir of natural light, was the main stimulus. The ordering fulcrum of the the architecture of the recent GC Prostho Museum Research Center in Japan. 3.4. From
design, in fact, became the “kids’ home”, a home within a home, a second box, white outside Democratic Ecology, the windmill prototype designed by Philippe Starck for the event Green
and green inside, marked by a series of irregular internal windows, open to passage on the Energy Design, State University of Milan, 2008, to Revolution Air, the windmill produced
short sides, shaped into four democratically equal bed-islands to permit total autonomy. by Pramac, in the event INTERNI ThinkTank, State University of Milan, 2010. 5.6. From
Otherwise, the narrative moves toward the composition of three distinct, complete domestic the Active Enclosure, a project of Bernard Tschumi, Colonne di San Lorenzo, Milan, in
islands, that relate to each other according to a logic of continuity and fluidity, in an open the event INTERNI in Piazza, 2002, to the Vacheron Constantin of Plan les Ouates, near
visual sequence: from the entrance zone with kitchen, living, dining, billiards and fitness Geneva, using the same forms and materials. 7.8. From Sssth!, the installation in wood by
areas, to the living zone in front of the fireplace with a small swimming pool, all the way to Michele De Lucchi, with Listone Giordano, for the event DECODE ELEMENTS, Cortile
the master bedroom with its own closet. To make the construction of a soft loft more incisive, della Rocchetta, Castello Sforzesco, Milan 2007, to his project in the interiors of the Carisbo
the zone in front of the fireplace has been raised; this permits the seamless insertion in the Foundation archives, in the former church of San Giorgio in Bologna, 2009.
floor of the small pool, covered with glass mosaic tiles, and provides a certain intimacy for
the bed, positioned at a lower level and resting on Spartan skids painted white. “So in the Cidori p. 22
end”, Ciabatti says, “while the volume of the house within the house defines and organizes
the living spaces, evoking the image of a Scandinavian wooden cottage, a vacation home, project Kengo Kuma & Associates - photos Daici Ano
everything around it is a reverse landscape, also made of white painted pine boards, green At Hida Takayama in Gifu prefecture, Japan, the new GC Prostho Museum Research Center
paint, natural light and little else, to convey a sensation of freedom and wellbeing, like has a close relationship with the history of the place, transforming the Cidori, a traditional
outdoor living”. An indoor dimension that feels like being outdoors, especially near the long children’s toy, into an architectural form where a dense pattern of wooden slats is joined like
tree trunks placed in the corner of the dining area. - Caption pag. 13 On the facing page, the a volumetric skin to the building below. The Cidori is an ancient Japanese toy, something
corner of the dining-living area near the entrance. Custom table, chairs by Kartell, divan by like the Meccano construction toys of the West. Fascinated by this old, playful ‘mathematical
B&B Italia, hanging lamp by Fontana Arte. Below: sketch of the functions and the concept. mechanism’, Kengo Kuma has converted the Cidori into architectural terms, shifting it to
Further down, the relaxation area with a billiard table, fitness gear, and two design icons: a the dimension of a spatial structure. Developed in permanent urban architecture in the
red Vanity Fair armchair by Poltrona Frau and the classic Barcelona in steel and leather by city of Hida Takayama, Japan. For a building that combines the functions of a museum
Mies van der Rohe for Knoll International. - Caption pag. 14 View from the bedroom, with and a research center, Kuma, in collaboration with the engineer Jun Sato, has created a
a bookcase from Entrata Libera, of the volume of the ‘kids’ home’, designed like a cottage work of architecture with a concrete structure and the three-dimensional wooden skin
covered on the outside by white painted wooden boards, and marked by a series of small of the Cidori; utilized to construct the full-height space of the entrance, to clad part of the
windows that bring natural light from the windows of the main space. The corridor for rooms, to form the internal staircase and part of the furnishings, and to create the external
access to the kids’ home is finished with glossy green paint, a vivid color field underscored image of the facility. The dense, regular facade composed of interlocking wooden slats is
by the fluorescent lights. Entrance, four rooms and two bathrooms. The kitchen mixes an a reminder of ancient Japanese wooden constructions, but also reveals its modernity in
industrial tone with a note of color provided by the Algue decorative partition system by the the modular shape, that grows from the base, widening at the sides as it rises. Separated
Bouroullec brothers for Vitra. - Caption pag. 15 The relaxation area in front of the fireplace, from the exterior on two sizes by glazing, the entrance has great impact, especially in the
seen from the nighttime zone. The ordering feature that defines the spatial layout between evening, when the light gives the building a gilded look, coloring the base surrounded
the two zones is the small swimming pool clad in Bisazza glass mosaic tile. by a green lawn. Above a stone pavement, the structure of the Cidori gathers objects in
its quadrangular grid that give the entire ground floor space the character of a museum.
Continuing to the two upper levels, with work zones and meeting rooms, the Cidori forms
Monolith of light p. 16 an internal staircase that overlooks the atrium below and penetrates, almost like a plant
project Rita Simone structure of controlled biological growth, into the work spaces. - Caption pag. 23 On the
facing page: overall exterior view of the spatial structure designed by Kengo Kuma, resting
photos Paolo Utimpergher in collaboration with Antonino Savojardo
on a concrete base. In the small image: the link with the installation for the event produced
text Antonella Boisi
by Interni in 2007. The three-dimensional wooden skin forms the internal staircase, the
In Messina, a home on two levels, conceived as an open space inside a single volume paced by full-height space of the entrance, and part of the furnishings of the museum-research center.
fixed furnishings that follow rigorous, classic geometric lines, with the choice of total white
to fully embrace the light and the panorama of the Strait. Messina, in the central Montalto
neighborhood, gardens and post-quake buildings, from the early 20th century. On the upper
An architectural sheet p. 24
level of a building of the “fondo Basicò”, originally for postal employees, with fine views of project Bernard Tschumi Architects - photos Esto Photographics
the Strait, the home of the architect Rita Simone is a place she designed for herself, making Built at Plan-les-Ouates, near Geneva, after an international competition, the headquarters
the interior restructuring an opportunity for design experimentation. “The specificities of and factory of Vacheron Constantin is a modern architectural landmark, the contemporary
the context”, she explains, “have determined the compositional choices and the pursuit of image of one of the oldest watch manufacturers in the world. A project based on a
a 360° view in a space configured as a true chamber of light”. The total demolition of the programmatic idea taken to the scale of a constructed edifice. Tschumi has worked by
internal partitions and the existing roof have produced a “stripping down” of the cruciform imagining a large double-face materic sheet; on one side, the exterior is covered with
structural system and the perimeter walls, generating great spatial fluidity. The enclosure embossed reflecting sheet metal, almost a metal shield, like the cases of the Vacheron
is treated as an open space, virtually divided into four functional areas connected with the Constantin watches; on the other, a layer of wood gives the interiors a high level of
central positioning of a ‘closet-storage volume’ and a slightly raised platform perpendicular comfort and warmth. Using this large double-face sheet as a compositional element, the
to it. The elimination of the suspended ceiling also permits the creation of a loft level – also at project proceeds in a clear, convincing manner. A basic architectural structure marked by
the center of the structural system – with both longitudinal sides overlooking the two-storey continuous glazing conceived as a transparent base of the entire volume, with a pre-set
space around it. In this way the size of the place has been increased, in both the section and architectural membrane as its covering. The membrane has a sculptural shape, starting from
the plan. The fixed furnishings are placed on the perimeter walls, cut by a ribbon of bookcases the ground, in the lower part of the building, and continues upward, bending horizontally
and hidden cabinets, and at the central volume that contains the bathrooms, more closet to become a roof. The first portion of the building, for production, thus erases the idea of
space and the appliances. On the raised platform a peninsula-cabinet is set aside for cooking. the industrial shed, joining with the part that contains the offices, in a seamless solution.
The upper level, connected to the rest by a sculptural staircase, is organized as the nighttime The metal membrane rises to form the main facades of the four above-ground levels, and
area, complete with dressing room, washstand and bathtub. “The latter”, Rita Simone says, the roof. The facade with its mutable appearance, interrupted by three openings for ribbon
“is the only element positioned in a non-axial way, with the task of ‘cutting out space’ in a windows, stops before reaching the ground, turning inward with a conclusive curve to
different way. The geometric system composed of the rigorous central arrangement of the rest on the glass base. The lateral facades continue the transparent treatment of the base,
aerial beams and the new horizontal level that seems to be suspended suddenly bends, in one underlining the completeness of the ‘architectural sheet’, which like a magical flying carpet
part, to generate unexpected complexity”. The radical choice of total white for the enclosure rests on the structure below, instantly creating the form of the building. (Matteo Vercelloni)
(including the concrete floors) accentuates the luminosity of the spaces, that welcome with - Caption pag. 24 Above, the double-face skin of the building: reflecting embossed sheet
aplomb period furnishings that form a contrast with the aluminium surfaces of the central metal on the outside, and a layer of wood on the inside. Below: the link with the installation
kitchen island and the glass mosaic used for the facings in the bath. - Caption pag. 17 The zone created for the event produced by Interni in 2002. Facing page: ribbon windows are inserted
of books has been organized with large full-height shelves built into the wall structure, in a in the facades, following the curves and defining the character of the architectural sheet.
custom design. The spiral staircase in white painted iron leads to the loft with the bedroom
zone. Among the vintage furnishings, an original Fifties chair produced by Poltrona Frau.
Facing page: view from the window of the living area of the port of Messina and the Strait. In
the drawings, from top: the condition before the project, the diagram of the demolition, the Case History
reconstruction, the plan of the loft. - Caption pag. 18 The volume clad in sheets of Abet Print The captain and his ship p. 26
laminate that contains the bath fixtures. Below: the building that contains the apartment,
part of the former Basicò program of housing for postal employees. The kitchen peninsula, project Armando Baietto
looking toward the dining area. View of the loft zone with the bed lit by a skylight; note the photos Alberto Ferrero and BasicNet archive - text Antonella Boisi
cruciform structural system of the construction. - Caption pag. 19 The peninsula of the kitchen Marco Boglione, founder and president of BasicNet – owner of the brands Kappa, Robe
block, all custom made, seen from the dining area. Built-in glass-ceramic range by Siemens. di Kappa, K-Way, Jesus Jeans and Superga – explains how people work at BasicVillage,
a series of chairs, while other materic segments, fragments of lived-in spaces, fill the various
rooms. Russia, in the exhibition Factory Russia curated by Sergei Tchoban and others,
INmostra
approaches the theme of the transformation of industrial zones, seeing them as historical The wicked architect p. 40
landscapes in which to operate with great care. Care for constructed heritage is also the
by Francesco Vertunni - photos courtesy Fondazione Giorgio Cini onlus
focus of the Dutch pavilion curated by Rietveld landscape, with an urban model suspended
in the void and observed from the first level, showing the possibilities of reuse and conversion In Venice, at Fondazione Giorgio Cini, a major exhibition on G.B. Piranesi addresses every
of buildings in the existing city. In Preservation, OMA illustrates its philosophy on aspect of the Venetian master, from architecture to ‘design’ to his artistic prowess as an
conservation, reflected in the local endeavors of Rem Koolhaas (Leone d’oro for the career), engraver and capturer of views. The Wicked Architect is the title of the famous essay by
who during the opening presented, for Benetton, his futuristic project of conversion of the architectural historian Manfredo Tafuri on the complex work of Giovan Battista Piranesi,
Fontego dei Tedeschi, next to the Rialto bridge. Luca Molinari, curator of Ailati (Italia in in which he identifies this 18th-century designer as a forerunner of certain aspects of
the mirror) – in an Italian pavilion that selects “works of resistance against consumption modernism and the avant-garde. Piranesi is also the subject of the exhibition “The Arts of
of the territory and the cementification, a field in which our country is a world leader”– also Piranesi” (until 21 November), bringing his work as a whole back to his native city, not only
announces a future in which reuse and care for existing heritage are obligatory references: with the series of etchings held by the Foundation, but above all with a timely look at his
“we can no longer afford to consume new territory, to add works upon works; this is a output and its impact on the architectural and figurative culture of the 1700s. The show,
fundamental political priority, in which architecture has to make a technical and cultural with exhibit design by Michele De Lucchi, has a dynamic itinerary that adds vibrance to the
contribution. We will no longer need to construct new, “modern” objects to live in our time, etchings with a series of display inventions capable of amplifying their already formidable
we can skillfully reinterpret the heritage we already have, working inside it, modifying, impact. Thus the Campo Marzio (1762) – the amazing collage of ancient typologies combined
altering density, demolishing with clarity, freeing spaces without feeling the need to in the form of a city, which has had such an influence on contemporary architectural culture,
immediately fill them up again”. The interesting selection grouped in terms of themes and as “horror vacui and demand for language” (Tafuri) – is seen shortly after the entrance.
issues of a series of projects in progress or already built by Italian architects, including The series of the Imaginary Prisons is shown not only with the original etchings, but also
some less famous names, is accompanied by the room Italia 2050, in collaboration with with a three-dimensional projection inside a tower designed by De Lucchi, and in a video
the magazine WIRED, featuring ‘creative’ installations that do not offer an equally that uses dissolves and overlaps to reveal the developments from the initial sketches to the
stimulating scenario. The theme of architecture as a meeting place obviously has to include final version. In the section on the objects, fragments extracted from larger compositions, or
the dimension of the home, approached at the rope yards of the Arsenal in the installation objects drawn in a complete way, are transformed – thanks to the workshop of Adam Loewe
“7 houses for 1 house” by Architecten de Vylder Vinck Taillieu; a new typology that groups Factum Art of Madrid – into real articles made with noble materials. Fireplaces and vases
seven independent houses inside the form of one ‘house’. Houses built without architects, in marble, candelabra and tripods in bronze, a magical nickel-plated coffeepot all translate
by fishermen, are seen in the exhibition Reclaim in the section of Bahrain (its first time at or ‘re-create’, as concrete objects, the things imagined by Piranesi on paper. Underlining
the Biennale, winner of the Leone d’Oro for national entries); huts built spontaneously the concept that history is always ‘contemporary’, the room that contains the views of
with recycled, salvaged materials, but also ‘happy places’ where fishermen meet for tea at Rome and Paestum allows the photographic gaze of Gabriele Basilico to interact with the
five, or for games of backgammon. These cabins are close to the single-family homes images of Piranesi; etchings and photographs face off, not only showing the changes that
presented in a sort of volumetric primer by Estonia; those that independently make up have happened over time, but also the liberties taken by Piranesi to represent ‘his’ view,
the urban landscape of Tokyo, in the Japanese pavilion (Tokyo Metabolizing), those of at times with intentional inventions of perspective and proportion. - Caption pag. 41 On
Portugal and of Atelier Bow-Wow, organized in a series of compositional experiments. One the facing page, view of the exhibition with the reproduction on the wall of the view of the
house, dense with memory and concepts, can be seen in the Greek pavilion curated by “Caffè detta degli Inglesi” from “Various Ways of Adorning Fireplaces”, 1769. The setting
Phoebe Giannisi and Zissis Kotionis. A small wooden ark (Old Seeds for New Cultures), by Michele De Lucchi in the exhibition itinerary for the three-dimensional projection of
containing the aromas and spices of the Mediterranean: “the harsh consequences of the series of etchings of the Imaginary Prisons. To the side: the three-dimensional marble
economic problems that afflict cities make us look to the country and the land, which take reproduction, by the workshop Factum Arte of Adam Loewe, of the “Antique marble vase
on the features of a vital resource that has the potential to increase employment, quality found in England at the home of Mr. Dalton” in: “Vases, candelabra, gravestones, sarcophagi,
of life and an alternative organization of production, but also to give rise to communities, tripods” (1778). Below: comparison between the etching “View of the Capitol, Rome” (from
to create networks of contacts and to develop social practices”. A message that seems to Views of Rome) and the photographic interpretation by Gabriele Basilico taken from the
be in tune with the installations on a territorial scale of Studio Andrea Branzi (Towards a same vantage point today.
new Athens Charter), which define and pursue new “weak models of urbanization” with
a certain amount of attention paid to a possible new form of agriculture. On the same plane Dreams in stone p. 42
and scale of Rural Urbanism, we find the settlement models of Aldo Cibic (Rethinking
Happiness: New realities for changing lifestyles), microrealities presented in the seductive photos Alfio Garozzo - text Alessandro Rocca
form of very colorful models. Urban design on a vast scale is also the focus of the Singapore An exhibition at the Acaya Castle juxtaposes the imagination and culture of a North
pavilion, offering a three-dimensional strip of the city-state (in the form of a long linear American architect, Steven Holl, with a 16th-century space and a material steeped in
model) which corresponds to the model of the compact city, in which different architectures history and memory, Salento stone, used for four sculptures invented and digitalized in
and settlement types seamlessly intertwine, joined by a single platform to reflect a multiracial Beijing and New York, then made in Lecce. The exhibition “Su pietra”, at the Acaya Castle,
community. Hong Kong presents an image of the city between the present and the future, a few kilometers from Lecce, until 15 January, includes drawings and models of some of the
of great density, and the recent new competition for the West Kowloon Cultural District, latest projects by Steven Holl, and also the original contribution of four sculptures created
which will change the profile of the Kowloon waterfront on Victoria Harbour, involving by the American architect and made with Cursi stone, the material par excellence of Lecce
the studios of Norman Foster, OMA and Rocco Design Architects. In the reuse-home- baroque. Produced in the Province of Lecce, by the Institute of Mediterranean Cultures
territory complex the dimension of the garden is also very important: the Garden of the of the Province of Lecce and the Osservatorio Urbanistico Teknè, the exhibition follows a
Virgins (honorable mention) by the Dutch landscape designer Piet Oudolf, responsible series of solo shows on Heinz Tesar, Alvaro Siza and Eladio Dieste, and is a fine opportunity
for the landscaping of the High Line in New York; the abstract, artificial garden of the for close contact with the latest ideas and projects of Steven Holl. Now 63 years old, born in
People’s Republic of China, designed by Zhu Pei, beside a metal labyrinth on a small scale; Seattle, educated in New York and Beijing, Holl has gained renown in the United States with
and the garden of nature, the Persian Garden presented by Iran. - Caption pag. 32 The exquisitely made projects of small-medium scale, and then reached international acclaim
installation Balancing Act by Anton Garcia-Abril & Ensamble Studio ushers in the theme, thanks to the competition for the Palazzo del Cinema in Venice, where his project, though
in the Rope Walk of the Arsenal, of interaction with the host space; the gigantic beams, an not the winner, met with the applause of critics, and then with the Kiasma Museum built
actual-size fragment of the Hemeroscopium house at Las Rozas near Madrid (2008), create in Helsinki. The exhibition, as Francesco Moschini writes, “illustrates the design process
a volumetric diagonal with respect to the linear layout of the building (photo Sergio Pirrone). from the initial moment of conception to the construction, documenting the various phases
Facing page, Cloudscape by Transsolar & Tetsuo Kondo Architects occupies an entire of the creation of models, drawings and virtual animation”. Steven Holl is a good example
room, with an ethereal metal walkway that wraps around the brick columns, while a dense to examine for this type of study, because one of his most outstanding characteristics has
artificial cloud blurs the overall figure, reinventing the overall space (photo Matteo always been the making and sharing of a vast quantity of preparatory materials, composed
Vercelloni). - Caption pag. 34 Above: The Boy Hidden in a Fish by Smiljan Radic + Marcela of virtuoso watercolors, working models, sketches and documents of different kinds.
Correa, installation that opens the exhibition itinerary in the Rope Walk. Center: the Decay Writing and publishing also play a major role in Holl’s research. At the start of his career,
of a Dome by the Chinese studio Amateur Architecture. Right: reconstruction of a Work in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the ten issues of his magazine, Pamphlet, presented
Place by the Indian studio Mumbai Architects (photo S.P.). The abstract artificial garden projects and thoughts for architecture, in the moment of its problematic evolution beyond
of the People’s Republic of China, designed by Zhu Pei (photo M.V.). - Caption pag. 35 The the modernist era. The path imagined and followed by Holl, and clearly illustrated in the
installation Reclaim contributed by the country Bahrain (its first time at the Architecture exhibition, stands out for its strong, constructive dialogue between the temporary sensations
Biennial, winner of the Leone d’Oro for the national pavilions) shows the reconstruction of the body in space and the static material nature of architecture. A wager solidly based
of fishermen’s cabins that spring up spontaneously along the coast, made with salvaged on phenomenological thinking and undoubtedly a winning one, thanks to the capacity
materials (photo M.V.). - Caption pag. 36 Vacant NL, where architecture meets ideas, the to convince the public through seduction, working on sensory perceptions and a gentle,
installation contributed by Holland as a reflection on reutilization of the architectural respectful approach to the spectacular, without the aggressive excess found in many of
heritage of the city and the territory (photo M.V.). - Caption pag. 37 Left, Studio Andrea the works of the so-called starchitects. From the addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum
Branzi, toward a new Athens Charter: Agronica, 1995. To the side, an image of “Ailati riflessi of Kansas City to the Knut Hamsun Center in Finland, to the many projects already built
dal futuro”, curated by Luca Molinari at the Italian Pavilion. Below, the Belgian pavilion, or now under construction in China, Holl’s work stands out as a personal, original vision
in the exhibition Usus/Usures organized by Studio ROTOR, uses materials from common that becomes understandable thanks to initiatives like this exhibition. - Caption pag. 43
buildings, “traces of wear”, presented with a technique of ‘conceptual disorientation’, as Watercolors by Steven Holl projected on a wall of the castle in Leccese stone. Model of the
improper art works hanging in the rooms (photo M.V.). Above: image of the New Knut Hamsun Center, Hamaroy, Norway (2009). The solo show on Steven Holl illustrates
Communities, new polarities model in the installation by Aldo Cibic, Rethinking Happiness: the process of his design, from the initial idea to the construction. The exhibition has been
New realities for Changing Lifestyles. - Caption pag. 38 Two images of the contribution produced by Steven Holl Architects: Annette Goderbauer, Janine Biunno, Julia van den
of Singapore, with the exhibition 1000 Singapores – A Model of the Compact City (photos Hout in New York, and Paola Iacucci and Antonella Mari in Lecce. To accompany the
M.V.). Below: a portrait of Kazuyo Sejima, the first woman to direct the International exhibition, an Italian translation has been done of one of the fundamental writings of Steven
Architecture Exhibition of Venice and winner this year, with her partner Ryue Nishizawa, Holl, in “Urbanisms, Lavorare con il Dubbio”, Melfi, 2010. - Caption pag. 44 A room of
of the prestigious Pritzker Prize (photo S.P.). To the side: an image of Hong Kong in a the castle displaying drawings, models and objects of projects by Steven Holl. The virtual
photographic interpretation by Michael Wolf. animation of the projection on the wall in Salento stone focuses attention on the effective
dialogue between history and contemporary themes. Below, exterior view of the castle of perhaps risky idea of comparing two designers that are so different – the ‘mentor’ Marco
Acaya, a few kilometers from Lecce, designed by the engineer Gian Giacomo dell’Acaya, Ferreri and the ‘youth’ Odoardo Fioravanti, who if only for demographic reasons play two
16th century. - Caption pag. 45 Above, masterplan of the Vanke Center (the horizontal very different roles on the Italian design scene – is prompted by the nearly simultaneous
skyscraper), Shenzhen, 2009. Below: the four sculptures created by Steven Holl and made opening of their solo shows at the Milan Triennale. For Ferreri the show is an important
with Cursi stone, the material par excellence of Lecce baroque, by Pimar and De Luca. retrospective (Progettarepensieri, curated by Silvana Annicchiarico, 6 October - 6 January
2011), documenting 35 years of activity of the architect-designer-graphicdesigner-artist
critics have named as a key point of passage between the generation of the Masters and
INarts the Italian Nouvelle Vague. The show on Fioravanti (Industrious Design, 22 September
– 24 October 2010) is smaller, but no less important for the designer, who in just five
Absolutely: McCracken p. 46 years of professional practice has managed to stand out among the new names of Italian
by Germano Celant design. So much so that Silvana Annicchiarico has chosen him to open the second cycle of
exhibitions on young talents, hosted in the CreativeSet. The encounter happens precisely
The Californian artist has simplified his volumetric modules over the course of time,
in this context, where Fioravanti has temporarily moved his daily activity, because his
reducing them to a plank and a block. The idea is that every material form, like is perception,
aim is to present his projects firsthand, directly explaining the meaning and details of
is defined as and in itself. Since 1964 the advent of a primary, reductive research known
his personal research. Still working on his installation, Marco Ferreri arrives with a
as Minimal Art challenges the expressive and figurative, material and optical polarities
collection of drawings, images, proofs, newspaper articles that talk about his varied
that had existed, from Informal Art to the Kinetic and Pop episodes. As opposed to the
universe of images, and his work that is hard to classify in the current categories of design.
subjective impulse and the random assemblage, what emerges is the awareness of operation
On the one hand, Progettarepensieri: a title that alludes to the more conceptual component of design,
as an essential, elementary process, limited and reduced to the specific terms of color and
for an exhibition conceived to amaze and excite visitors. On the other, Industrious Design: an exhibi-
form, space and time. The belief that the acquisition of the real and the everyday promoted
tion whose intentions are to shed light on the more pragmatic, operative aspects of Fioravanti’s work.
by the Nouveau Realisme and the New Dada is the most direct path to understand the
Ferreri: “I believe we have two opposite ways of starting and finishing. Odoardo works
entire context is now challenged by a technique of ascertainment that responds only to
on emotional design, while I work on the emotion the design of the object triggers in me,
the logic of construction. Here the volumes and spatial articulations are determined by
though it may not have the same effect on the end user. Odoardo has an approach that is
the environment and the self-referential truths of three-dimensional groupings are the
absolutely consistent with the best tradition of Italian design, paying attention not only
result of maximum zeroing out of formal components, reaching the point of reduction
to form but also to the ways it is defined. Which means: trying lots of things, trying to
to the elementary figures of the cube and the parallelepiped, which are the architectural
understand how they function, looking for solutions that function both technically and
dominants of the International Style that emerges in America. In this sense, the reductive
aesthetically. But in my view there is a substantial difference between the new generation
erection of volumes, materials, colors and the constructive procedure leads to the cognitive
of Italian designers, to which Odoardo belongs, and that of the designers of the 1950s
formulation of a series of ‘three-dimensional images’ that are aniconic. In fact, the focus of
and 1960s. For the old Masters, whom I have been able to personally get to know, the
interest is not iconic problems, of an individual or social order, but the standard units of
emotion, or more precisely its communication, was never a goal of the research, it was that
the display of the ‘thing’. So what is studied are the relations among floor, walls, ceiling,
magical, unique, ineffable moment that made a technological aspect become poetry. This
and the scale of the object, their variations and combinations. There is a move from
aspect, to which I still feel attached, has been surpassed by the new school of designers,
composites – symbolic and expressive, metaphorical and literary – of earlier research,
whom I would call – I hope they don’t mind – more ‘glamour’ than those of the past”.
to the constructive ingredients and complex results of elementary entities. Following the
Fioravanti: “Marco is basically right. It should be said: today some of my contemporaries
theories of John Dewey and Ludwig Wittgenstein, experiential vision and conceptual
design with the aim of seducing the camera’s lens. Marco, instead, has a characteristic
deciphering intertwine, and are thus put in opposition with the romantic, abstract method
that is all his own, that of being a writer even when he designs. The writer has an inner
that had informed the heroism of Abstract Expressionism, and its narrative through
relationship with what he does, a much longer, intimate, struggle-filled relationship. For
images without form. The analytical tendency of Minimal Art substantially coincides with
Marco the project is an utterly personal pleasure, extraneous to any pursuit of wider
an investigation of facts, of observable things and the relationship between those facts
consensus. It is a sort of relationship of two entities, very beautiful, very intense, which
and things. The intersection between color and light, volume and space is the fulcrum of
seldom admits the presence of third parties, and is not always fully comprehensible
the research of John McCracken, who until 1963 worked on the chromatic and luminous
to others. I’m thinking, for example, of his Soap lamp: a very beautiful but introverted
radiation of a three-dimensional form in the environment. Starting with phenomena of
object, understandable for designers but perhaps not so clear to normal people, full of
simple accumulation – the pyramid and the gate, where cubes or parallelepipeds combine
delicacy and hidden complexities only an expert gaze can grasp”.
to create an image – the artist from Californian continued to simplify his modules, which
What is the concept of the exhibitions?
over time became simply the plank and the block. These are “single things”, which for
Ferreri: “We have outlined a central path, set up with canvases, conceived as a stomach
McCracken “refer to nothing outside, but which at the same time possibly refer, or relate,
of ideas. The path starts with six marble crosses, inclined by 30 degrees, entitled Small
to everything”. The idea is that every material form, like its perception, is defined as if
Crises. The inspiration for this small installation comes from a column in La Repubblica
‘in itself’, not in an absolute manner, but in relation to an environmental and psychic
entitled “Piccole crisi senza importanza”, with which Salvatore Mannironi periodically
condition. Actually, the ‘things’ of McCracken are closed chromatic sets, which increase
chronicled the disasters of the Italian manufacturing industry. The exhibition, then, starts
their intensity in relation to other similar elements but of different color, or in dialogue
with a portrait of the state of things. The inclination of the crosses, though, suggests two
with the host architecture. They are ‘sensors’ of volumetric and optical phenomena, that
different solution: the possibility of returning up, or the possibility of a definitive fall.
increase the intensity of the color and the materic surface when related to one another. But
The second stop is another new project: Moto Tessuto, a sort of scooter I have developed
they also express an absolute, pure vision when they relate to the complexity of different
together with Dainese, whose characteristic is that of having an electric motor in the back
exhibition spaces. Alongside the elementary articulations and physical experience of the
wheel and a fabric body, equipped with pockets to contain the batteries. The cover can be
object introduced by Minimal Art, the Californian artist introduces a meditation on light
removed like a dress and changed according to different needs: one rider, two riders, a
and its reflection on the surface, using synthetic materials like lacquer and fiberglass, so
dog, pizza, etc. Next come other project-thoughts connected with different areas of work.
that his works become a ‘bridge’, almost antimateric, between sculpture and painting, to
For example, the Libroletto I designed together with Munari, to encourage adults to play
the point of including in their presentation both the floor that the light subjects to different
together with kids; but also an inflatable chair that experiments with airbag technology
perceptive mutations, thus making them ‘mutant’ things where the coming and going of
for a furnishing object. To the sides of this path, two other branches feature many objects
color can vary, and the light’s intensity and fluidity. This mutable nature is connected
and products I have created over the course of 35 years of work”.
to the perceptive essence of an experience on light that is typical of artists in California.
Fioravanti: “For me, obviously, the itinerary is much shorter, also because I didn’t discover
Thus McCracken’s work can be seen not only as minimal, but also as phenomenic, in the
that design was something more, something different than the design of automobiles
sense of the impermanence of the perception that is connected with atmospheric and
until I was 24. The opening of my studio dates back to just 2006, so the show is based
environmental variations, as seen in the works of Maria Nordman and Robert Irwin. A
on what I have designed over the last 4-5 years. So instead of ‘retrospective’ I prefer the
conscious attention to what a thing is, in its essence, associated with the void that surrounds
term ‘perspective’: rather than looking back, my show is a snapshot ‘in motion’ of what is
us as well as the nature of the context. Furthermore, color is historically associated with the
happening today and what might happen in the immediate future. It is no coincidence that
fragility of the painting (and excluded from most sculpture), so it is therefore ‘relative’ to
11 objects from the recent past are joined by 9 completely new projects, some presented
the two-dimensional space, while with McCracken it appears as an autonomous, extremely
this year, others about to go into production, and three others made for the exhibition
concrete ‘reality’. Comparable to a weight or a bulk, a form and a volume, something that
and still in search of a producer. I have tried to narrate, honestly, the way I work and
has its own efficacy, without acting inside another territory. For this reason, the artist has
the reasoning behind my objects. I have intentionally used a rather caption-like form of
continued until today to make it emerge as an independent ‘self’, to the point of deploying it
narration, because I think the audience has the right to be informed about the reasons
in all the possible ‘sculptural’ conditions, making it knowable precisely in relation to all its
why a colander is displayed in a museum. This is why I have used a display formula
variants. We see the manifestation of parallelepipeds or pyramids, cubes or boards, whose
on multiple levels: on the lower level you see the finished object, on the upper level the
chromatic interaction guarantees, through the same characteristic, the single autonomous
things that generated its inspiration”.
reality of red, green, yellow, blue, black... The repetition is a form of meaning and the essence
With his work and his exhibition Marco seems to assert the need and importance of ‘free design’,
of a ‘self’ that lasts in time: a meditation on color that is pivotal to artistic research. The
ranging through different disciplines. Instead, Odoardo underlines the increasingly ‘industrious’ side
single planks and blocks therefore bear witness to a chromatic experience that aspires to
of the designer, whose role today is more and more similar to that of a factory that supplies industry
continuously surpass itself, demonstrating its progressive purification and infinite nature.
with complete, finished solutions. Two different visions of the job of the designer, or complementary
points of view?
INpeople Fioravanti: “The concept of industriousness comes from awareness of a profound
transformation of the role of the designer – I’m not making a judgment, just observing
Odoardo Fioravanti vs Marco Ferreri p. 50 something that is happening – who now works in a wider, more complete way on
product development. When I was a student they told me that Magistretti liked to
by Maddalena Padovani describe his projects over the phone. Today that could never happen: to be credible,
One calls himself an industrious designer, the other a designer of thoughts. The first notes young designers have to know how to ‘sell’ their projects to companies, after already
a new way of producing and creating needs, the second still believes in the dreams and making the prototype, identified the right technology for production, outlined an idea
poetry of the work of the Masters. The Triennale Design Museum has held solo shows of of the advertising. In short, companies expect designers not only to offer a project for a
both, a parallel look at the expressions of two different generations of Italian design. The product, but also a way of narrating it. Something similar has happened in the world of
music: companies ‘download’ from the world of ideas, finding projects that are already with calm and wellbeing, combining the serenity of blue and the vital force of green. A
developed and finished, without taking an active part in the creative process. Thus my clear message of optimism. - Caption pag. 64 Pattern, by Arik Levy for Emu Advanced
interest in the industrious figure of the designer, who works more and more today to fill Collection, a chair with a drawn, painted sheet metal structure and a hexagonal decorative
the ‘gaps’ of a productive system that actually ends up handling only on the distribution motif on the seat and back; legs in drawn sheet metal, welded to the chassis. L’Eau, by
and marketing of products”. Archirivolto Design for Calligaris, stackable chair with chromium-plated metal structure
You also say that objects, today, are plagued by an excess of communication… and one-piece chassis in San technopolymer, with a concentric wave effect, in a range
Fioravanti: “I like the idea that a person can put something of his own into the comprehension of transparent colors. - Caption pag. 65 Willy, by Guglielmo Ulrich for Poltrona Frau,
of an object, so I am afraid of products that are too friendly and communicative, because re-issue of a bucket chair designed in 1937. Structure and back with steel armrests, elastic
they induce a sort of laziness of interpretation on the part of consumers. I think a product belting, moulded expanded polyurethane filler. Covered with Frau leather from the Color
should teach people about beauty, stimulating thought and the choice of a personal System, enhanced by diamond stitching. - Caption pag. 66 Layer Panels by Arik Levy for
meaning, which might be different for each of us. An object that ‘displays’ a precise meaning Viccarbe, distributed in Italy by Misuraemme, sound absorbing fabric panels. Achille, by
immediately gets boring, it has nothing left to say after the initial impact”. Jean-Marie Massaud for MDF Italia, chair with structure in metal tubing, covered with
Do you share this vision of contemporary design? polyurethane rubber foam. Removable fabric cover in a range of colors. - Caption pag.
Ferreri: “The problem is that today the best part of design is left up to the marketing men. 67 Andersen Slim, by Rodolfo Dordoni for Minotti, extralarge chair with die-cast metal
This is a problem that particularly bothers me. The marketing divisions study, discuss, pewter-tone feet, extra shiny anti-touch finish, covered in leather or fabric. Also available
search, they torment you, they push you to come up with a product, in the end, that is with hassock. Saari, by Lievore Altherr Molina for Arper, chair with large seat; padded
exactly the same as that of the competition. Fortunately, over teh last two years things wooden structure, covered in fabric, leather or ecoleather; steel legs, painted, chromium-
have changed, and companies are going back to the belief that there has to be thinking, a plated or veneered. - Caption pag. 68 May, by Bartoli Design for Arflex, padded bucket
mission, behind their work. The needs of people are so evident, so many, and so without chair with high or low armrest, covered in fabric, leather or cowhide; metal structure
answers, that it would be crazy not to notice, to remain in a state of atrophy. The idea covered with moulded flexible polyurethane.Mark Table, by Marc Thorpe for Moroso,
is not just to put the common good back at the center of attention, but to also grasp an folding table in sheet metal, painted in a range of colors. - Caption pag. 69 Valdemar
important opportunity both for design and for production”. - Caption pag. 52 Left: Fork Chair by Martin Kechayas and Christian Nørgaard for Normann Copenhagen, chair
lamp with thermoformed shade; the cut permits insertion of an bent aluminium tube for with internal chassis in padded wood, covered with Kvadrat fabric. The turned legs in
hanging (prototype). To the side, from top: electric multisocket with adjustable lever arm beech are also entirely covered with fabric. Ella by Damian Williamson for Zanotta,
to permit hanging from surfaces with different thicknesses (prototype). Armillaria bar chair with polished or painted aluminium alloy legs, chassis in flameproof polyurethane
stool and table in rotomoulded polyethylene, produced by Plust, 2010. Online system of foam with metal insert and steel spiral springs. Removable covering in fabric or leather.
urban furnishings in moulded concrete, wood and steel, using drain channels as tracks,
produced by Pircher, 2010. Below: binoculars for Palomar, with body in injection-moulded
polypropylene (prototype). - Caption pag. 53 Above: Capostipiti, sound sculptures made
with Davide Mosconi, Fiumana d’arte, Castel di Tusa (Me), 1993. Full page: Mezzo Maiale, INproject
tile for combinations on all sides, produced by Bardelli, 2008-2010 (the series also includes Skin works p. 70
Mezza Gallina, Mezzo Coniglio, Mezza Papera, Mezza Mucca, Mezzo Pesce). - Caption
pag. 54 Fog table with etched glass top and body in rotomoulded polyethylene, produced by Cristina Morozzi
by Casamania, 2011. The glass top blurs the colors of the pieces that form the base of the An alchemist of materials, François Azambourg has created, in collaboration with the
table, creating an effect of ‘suspension’ inside. - Caption pag. 55 Below: Airbag chair, French Tanners Association, a collection of furnishings that use cowhide as a structural
experimental application of airbag technology for furniture. Project developed with Dainese material, taking advantage of its elastic and acoustic properties. François Azambourg,
D-Tec, 2010. To the side, from top: Akkappamono, robe made with GoDai fabric, composed a career studded with prizes – including Creator of the Year at the Paris Furniture
of washi paper and silk. The washi paper absorbs dampness, the silk is sensual, and an Show in 2009, and the Grand Prix du Design de Paris in 2004 – is an anomalous figure
ideal surface for decorations borrowed from the Japanese tradition. Produced by GoDai, in the younger generation. More an alchemist than a designer, he studies new materic
2010. Paraluce installation made with Magis and Osram at the basilica of San Lorenzo mixtures, starting with natural substances like linen and leather. He makes paper
Maggiore in Milan, 2005. Moto Tessuto, scooter concept developed with Dainese D-Tec. structural, weaves optical fibers, expands fabrics. But unlike many of his age group,
The electric motor is placed in the rear wheel; the body is made of fabric, and contains the those designer-artisans who like to get their hands dirty to create formal outcroppings
battery. The rest of the frame is empty. Like a dress, the body can be transformed to adapt and organic accumulations, he designs clear and essential, pertinent forms, in the finest
to different urban transport needs: one rider, two riders, dog passenger, pizza delivery, a industrial tradition. His work on materials is not aimed at achieving special effects, at
guitar… Upper right: Piccole Crisi, installation made with Anzilotti Marmi, 2010. emphasizing profiles; the goal is to reduce and lighten. In his hands, materials change
their properties: aluminium, without losing its strength, takes on the embossed look of
chocolate wrappers; fabric, injected with polyurethane, gains structural stiffness; linen
INdesign fiber mixed with resin can be shaped like plastic; cowhide gets inflated like a tire. The
latter material is the theme of his latest project, ‘Interieurs cuir’, done together with
INcenter the French Tanners Association and shown in September 2010 at Lieu du design, a
new space at Faubourg Saint-Antoine in Paris. The project starts with a precise request
Neutral design p. 56 from the tanners: to free cowhide from the so-called luxury market, finding solutions of
high aesthetic quality for second-grade materials. A perfect challenge for Azambourg,
by Nadia Lionello - photos Simone Barberis who went to work, avoiding all the ‘a priori’ factors and trying to reveal new aspects of
Non-color objects convey clear details and forms, a reality without chromatic mediation, a the material. The project began with a gradual familiarization, which led Azambourg
reminder of the photographic language of black and white. New furnishings with neutral to many surprises. He concentrated on the structural side, eliminating the decorative
colors set the stage for a daring combination with a lively tone: turquoise. - Caption aspects, though without overlooking the typical kinds of workmanship used by saddlers.
pag. 56 Pebble table in rotomoulded plastic, two-tone or solid, also ideal for outdoor He combined cowhide and polyurethane, re-creating the relationship between skin and
use. By Matthias Demacker for Bonaldo. - Caption pag. 57 Wallas chair with base in muscles. He did not wrap pre-set forms, but used technology to make cowhide generate
painted metal tubing, seat in moulded flexible polyurethane, with non-removable leather solid profiles capable of standing up on their own. He applied the technique of inflation:
cover. By Jean Marie Massaud for Poliform. - Caption pag. 58 Joko chair with metal his Fauteuil Air Cuir, like a niche, inflates like a soccer ball and becomes structural.
structure and polyurethane filler, covered in fabric, natural or synthetic leather chosen He underlined the acoustic properties in his tin radio, covered with goatskin, with
by the customer (in the photo, Marimekko cotton fabric). Also suitable for contract. loudspeakers made of cowhide parchment. He soaked the cowhide to stretch it like the
By Bartoli Design for Kristalia. Flux chair in painted steel rod. By Jerszy Seymour for skin of a drum sculpted in wood (Table Basse Chévre). He gave the material a wrinkled
Magis. - Caption pag. 59 Suita sofa, system of single or combined divans and armchairs, effect, in a screen with an aluminium structure (Paravent Froissé). For his virtuoso piece,
with metal structure, polyurethane filler, fabric cover. Shelves or raised backs can be the Chaise Capiton, he has sewn a tailor-made garment that fits like a glove, then soaked
attached; the feet are in black or white polished die-cast aluminium. By Antonio Citterio the cowhide to make it elastic, inflated it with air and then let it dry, filling it later with
for Vitra.Super Impossibile, polycarbonate chair in shiny solid colors, composed of two 1 kg of resin for structural strength. From a revolutionary process, a chair is born with
chassis, white on the inside, black on the outside, or vice versa, with laser welding. By a capitonné effect, without a frame, futuristic, but with comforting echoes of the past. -
Philippe Starck for Kartell. - Caption pag. 60 Sancarlo ergonomic chair or small sofa Caption pag. 71 From left: Fauteuil Frisoline, a seat composed of two sheets of cowhide
with variable-density foam filler, on a painted structure of metal tubing, also suitable for glued to a screen. The grid of the screen imprinted on the cowhide becomes a decorative
public spaces. By Achille Castiglioni, produced by Tacchini from the original design dated motif. Luminaire Cannellé, floor lamp with sheepskin shade, reinforced with wooden
1982. - Caption pag. 61 Bolle, tables-storage units composed of circular tops in turned rods that form a motif on the surface, like the grooves in a Greek column. Transat chaise
steel, with base in painted metal tubing. By Nathan Yong for Living. - Caption pag. 62 longue, composed of a steel structure and layers of cowhide glued to a sort polyurethane
Jumper chair with wooden structure and steel legs, padded and covered with knitted surface. Below: Table Haute Promenade, a high table with a structure in sculpted wood,
wool fabric. By Bertjan Pot for Established & Sons. Tapas multipurpose container, also and lambskin parchment under tension.
suitable for offices, with matte white painted wooden structure and doors clad in felt. By
Lagranja Design for Emmebi. - Caption pag. 63 Send Monocolor, stackable chair in the
outdoor version, with structure in die-cast aluminium, lacquered with polypropylene, Everything is a discovery p. 72
seat and back in polypropylene laden with glass fiber. By Claudio Dondoli and Marco by Cristina Morozzi
Pocci for Desalto. Zyla chair, for stacking of up to four units, in solid beech with back in
Making sustainability exciting. Offering consumers new experiences with less wasted
beech plywood and paint finish. By Patrick Jouin for Ligne Roset.
material. Engaging them, giving them the sensation of taking part in the creative process.
These are the goals of the work of Yves Behar. The chair is an aspirational project: every
Turquoise notes p. 64 designer, sooner or later, tries to design one, during the course of his career, in the hope
of passing on a masterpiece for posterity. There are many chairs, perhaps too many.
by Katrin Cosseta - image processing Enrico Suà Ummarino Ettore Sottsass liked to say that “there are more chairs than backsides to sit on them!”.
Amidst the always timely range of neutral tones, between the extremes of black and It’s hard to invent a new one. Yves Behar, born in Lausanne, with studios (Fuseproject)
white, this year a single color is emerging with force: turquoise. A tone synonymous in San Francisco (32 persons) and New York (eight) takes a crack at it with Sayl, the new
operations chair by Herman Miller, presented in October at Orgatec in Cologne. He starts Mendini talks about that “big, infinite world that exists parallel to that of institutional
with the body, investigating the symbiotic relationship between seat and silhouette. “First design, made of an invisible, unorthodox design”, that finds its way into people’s hearts
of all”, he says, “I thought about what could be removed. Vine bridges came to mind, by narrating stories in a simple, immediate way: using the universal language of images.
stretched across a chasm, light and flexible but capable of supporting weight. I eliminated The presence of the Gormiti (and other comics) at the Triennale, then, can be seen as a
the rigid chassis, replacing it with a steel arch to which a stretch screen is attached at the sort of tribute, on the part of design culture, to the immediacy and expressive simplicity
ends. The form is not designed, it is the result of elastic tension”. The specially designed of the comics and cartoons. Many communicators have taken the cue, like CuldeSac,
screen, with differentiated compression, protects and supports, like human skin. The for example, the creative hub in Valencia, invited by the Instituto Español de Comercio
principle is that of the hammock that adapts to the body. It seems like play, but to reach Exterior (ICEX) to develop a communications strategy for the group show of Spanish
the definitive model 40 prototypes were needed. The result is gentle ergonomics, far from companies at Tokyo Design Week (29 October – 4 November). “We wanted to emotionally
the orthopedic look of traditional office chairs. But also a new image of the work chair, engage the public, to create an experience to be lived and remembered”, says Pepe Garcia,
which sheds its formal garb in favor of a colorful track suit. Herman Miller wanted to one of the founders. To do it, he decided to create a cartoon in which a grandmother tells
have a competitive chair, also in terms of price, for the middle of the market. Yves met the her grandchild the story of fascinating Japain, a sort of primordial Pangaea that combines
challenge: reduction is part of his philosophy. “We need to remove everything possible, to two geographically (and culturally) distant countries, Spain and Japan. “The choice of
lighten, to dematerialize, to create new experiences with less: less material, fewer signs... the comic strip as a means of communicating was a natural result of our desire to focus
We need to convince people that less is beautiful. Even sustainability can be exciting!”. on both countries”, Garcia continues. To guarantee a level of quality that would not make
This is the case, for example, of Mission One, the low-consumption motorcycle with a Japain look bad with respect to the fine art of Japanese manga, CuldeSac called on Paco
futuristic profile designed for Mission Motor. Users have to be involved and made into Roca (National Comic Award 2008) for the drawings, and Alfredo Llorens (a sculptor at
participants, creating objects capable of offering concrete advantages. In Behar’s hands Lladrò since 1997) for the life-size ceramic dolls, based on the characters, positioned at the
advanced technology is humanized and seems like a game. It loses its rigidity and stand: perfect to inspire Japanese visitors to take a souvenir photograph. An apparently
approaches human forms. The body is one of the most perfect machines, the skin one of simple idea, but with great media potential, as Garcia points out. “Comics appeal to a
the most high-performance materials. Sayl is the counterform of a seated body, lightened wide audience”, he says. “They don’t seem intellectual, they are more evident, and are
of the weight of its muscles. It is a sort of protective placenta that offers an immediate read even by those who normally don’t like to read. In the animated cartoon version,
sensation of comfort. Ergonomically perfect, it grants the perception of being cuddled in they can be a winning ploy on YouTube, to send word of the exhibition well beyond the
a lap. Behar points out that designers have to have a 360-degree view of the world, that physical confines of Tokyo Design Week”. Cristina Morozzi, creative director of Skitsch,
every corner must be explored, because the mission of design is to produce affordable agrees. “The value of things today does not come only from a guarantee of quality, but
changes for the greatest possible number of persons. “Only if we produce a modification also from their capacity to tell a story”, she says. “The choice of comics makes it possible
not just of form but also of perception and use, can we say it makes sense to design to transform product communication into a narrative that is immediately understandable
something new”. Can a chair change our way of approaching office work? Maybe it can, for most people”. This is why at the latest FuoriSalone Skitsch used an invented character,
if you do not just design a chair, but a way of sitting. Behar has invented one that gives Mr Bello, created by the illustrator Andy Rementer, as the main narrator in a voyage
you the sensation of not resting on a structure, but of being wrapped up in it. The Sayl of approach to the brand, its sales spaces and products. Comics, in short, can provide
operations chair, with its back in elastic screen, like a three-dimensional embroidery, fits that light touch that transforms a message into a memorable story. They can also make
like a glove, offering a sensation of pleasant symbiosis. The approach to work becomes people think and smile at the same time, as in the case of the satirical strips of Jacopo
more natural. To humanize the chair, not giving it grotesque anthropomorphic forms, but Zibardi: his exhilarating Bozii is a cartoon universe entirely focused on the world of
giving it the performance of skin, means establishing a new relationship between people design, seen through the eyes of a character (an aspiring young designer), and certainly
and tools. It means, as Behar hopes, inventing a new typology capable of producing a not as glamorous as it might seem from another perspective! After all, the Pop artists
change. He deserves the name of the inventor, whether the matter at hand is a computer of the 1950s and 1960s made ample use of 2D imagery to create works whose aim was
(XO, the 100 dollar computer developed together with Nicholas Negroponte for poor also to rejuvenate the artistic ideal, the concept of beauty, embracing popular culture.
children, winner of the prestigious Index prize in 2006), a shoebox (Puma, presented at Which did not necessarily mean producing art for the masses… it meant raising mass
the Design Museum of London in June), a condom dispenser (New York City Condom, culture to the level of Art. In the same way, today, after years of serious minimalism and
commissioned by the health department, launched for Valentine’s Day 2010), or eyeglasses ultra-decorative glamour, the immediacy of comics can be an interesting technique in
for poor Mexican kids (See better to learn better). After all, his story as a designer began the process of combining popular culture and the elite world of design. Something that
when he was young, with an improbable invention: a hybrid between a surfboard and a is probably more necessary today than ever before. - Caption pag. 77 Above: the poster
pair of skis (his favorite sports) constructed with the aim of increasing speed. “I studied of ‘Made in Japain’, the exhibition on Spanish design companies organized by ICEX for
design”, he says, “not to be a stylist or a colorist, but to create something that did not exist Tokyo Design Week, presented and narrated by a story, in comics, created by the group
before, or at least something that has values other typologically similar articles do not. CuldeSac. To the side, the illustrator at work. Upper right, the Gormiti: characters and
My objects talk to people because they intervene in their way of living. Advertising is prototypes in wax by Gianfranco Enrietto, produced by Giochi Preziosi. On display
the price companies have to pay if they don’t know how to be original”. - Caption pag. 73 at the Triennale Design Museum, third interpretation, Quali Cose Siamo, curated by
On the facing page: Yves Behar draws the pattern of the elastic screen that is attached to Alessandro Mendini, until 27 February 2010. Photo Fabrizio Marchesi. On the facing
an arch of stainless steel to form the back of the Sayl operations chair by Herman Miller, page, four pages of the illustrated story. - Caption pag. 78 Right: Snakkes by Benito
presented in October at Orgatec in Cologne. Above: detail of the screen back. Below, the Cortázar for Northern Lighting, a backlit LED lamp that also functions as a message
definitive version of the seat with the differentiated-pressure elastic screen, in red. Left, board. Below, a page from the Skitsch catalogue with the protagonist Luca Nichetto,
Yves Behar works on one of the 40 prototypes made to reach the definitive version of illustrated by Andy Rementer. - Caption pag. 79 Above: the MGU021 wall clock by
the chair. - Caption pag. 74 Amplify, series of hanging lamps, designed by Behar for Marti Guixé for Alessi, perfect for doodling. To the side, Mickey’s Ribbon, a Disney-style
Swarovski Crystal Palace, April 2010. Composed of paper lanterns in the form of a reworking of the Ribbon stool by Nendo for Cappellini, in laser-cut sheet metal, bent and
crystal, inside which the light of a single LED is reflected and multiplied with shadows painted with a glossy finish; the ‘Il Falso Kandinsky’ collection by Giuseppe Canevese
by a single large Swarovski crystal. Mission One, a motorcycle with a futuristic form, for EnneZero, dedicated to Valentina by Crepax. The Blub lamp with paper shade and
designed for Mission Motor. High power, low fuel consumption. - Caption pag. 75 XO wooden structure, self-produced by the German designer Christian Lessing. - Caption
basic computer, developed with Nicholas Negroponte for underprivileged kids: covered pag. 80 Left: the Tex laundry system by Giugiaro Design for Colavene: the aluminium
with soft polyurethane, created to cost just 100 dollars. With this project, Yves Behar skeleton contains the various accessories, like the sink or the hamper. The comic-strip
won the Index Award in 2006. ‘See better to learn better’, eyeglasses for poor Mexican decoration is on sturdy waterproof fabric. Below: the San Marco cabinet from the Corto
children, developed with Augen, a Mexican company and one of the top ten worldwide Maltese collection, based on the comics by Hugo Pratt. Project by Manuela Pelizzon
manufacturers of lenses, with two-tone frames in Gilamid, a very flexible plastic. ‘Clever and Silvano Pierdonà for Capo D’Opera. Below: a strip from the book of comics Bozii
little bag’ for Puma, for a 65% reduction of the use of cardboard to package shoes. A red by Jacopo Zibardi; the pouf in hand-painted MDF by OreosDesign. - Caption pag. 81
fabric bag, also useful to pack shoes in a suitcase, and cardboard packing that folds to Zettel’z by Ingo Maurer, hanging lamp with structure in stainless steel and heat-resistant
form the base and sides of the box. Presented in June at the Design Museum of London. satin-finish glass, seen here in the new comics version presented at Spazio Krizia in April.
Vue wristwatch created for Issey Miyake and presented at the Watch Fair in Basel in
June. Equipped with an innovative cylindrical crystal mounted on the steel case, and
a mechanism that highlights the present time, making the past and future hours less
evident. The effect underlines the passing of time.
INfactory
Chief systems p. 82
photos Giacomo Giannini - text Rosa Tessa
INview The latest corporate work of architecture of Poliform is about to be completed at Inverigo
Design and clouds p. 76 Santa Maria, in the province of Como. Designed by Carlo Colombo, it will be opened in
December and represents a nerve center for the future development of the group, together
by Laura Traldi with new creative contaminations. After the boundary between Milan and Brianza, at
There are cult comics, like Valentina, Corto Maltese and Tex. But there are also popular Inverigo you encounter the first and most majestic of the nine signs of the respective
characters, like the Gormiti. The heroes of comics enter the world of design. Their ‘mission’? productive poles of Poliform, one of the most dynamic Italian furniture companies.
To narrate it in an accessible way. At Spazio Krizia, during the last FuoriSalone, the Entering this green zone of Lombardy, you pass other plants and offices of the corporation
lampscreens selected by Ingo Maurer to revise his historic chandelier Zettel’z were full that makes wardrobes, bookcases, Varenna kitchens, contract furnishings, upholstered
of messages and drawings. But no love letters, this time. Instead, a gathering of Broooms, furnishings and seating. The facilities are scattered throughout the Como area, at intervals
Baaangs and Oowwws, surrounded by colorful comic-strip blurbs. And what about of a few kilometers, in places like Arosio, Lurago d’Erba and Mirovano. At Santa Maria,
Cappellini, and its transformation of the very clean Ribbon stool designed by Nendo into Poliform is completing a new corporate unit that will open in December.
a Mickey Mouse? Or Capo D’Opera, which chose Corto Maltese by Hugo Pratt to decorate Architecture, the new project by Carlo Colombo - Created by Carlo Colombo, one of
its cabinets? Cartoon mania seems to be spreading in the world of design. After all, the the architects and designers with which the company has worked for many years, the
Design Museum of the Milan Triennale has also played host to the Gormiti of Gianfranco new space is a nerve center for the future of the group. “This is a very complex project,
Enrietto? Rather than an aesthetic trend, this focus of the design world on comics has to do requiring years of work”, the architect explains, “involving forms, compositions, games
with openness to a new communicative simplicity, to avoid the impression of addressing of light, symbolically uniting old and new areas of the facility”. The new corporate
only a well-heeled elite. Explaining his curatorial idea for the Design Museum, Alessandro pole will gather together all the offices and showrooms of Poliform, a restaurant and
two large photo studios, for the production of the many catalogues created in-house.
“We needed a place that would further reinforce our brand and product identity”, says
INproduction
Giovanni Anzani, one of the three partners of Poliform, together with Alberto and Aldo Living Kitchen p. 90
Spinelli, who with some of their children control all the activities of the group. “The idea”,
by Andrea Pirruccio - photos Maurizio Marcato
Anzani explains, “is that this new pole should represent the beating heart of Poliform.
Inside, we will concentrate all the strategic activities, except the production, which will Monolithic and rigorous, or colorful and flexible, the new kitchens take on value (and
continue to take place in its traditional facilities”. Aldo Spinelli has directly supervised vitality) also thanks to the personalities that ‘inhabit them’: designers, entrepreneurs,
the design and construction of this new work of architecture. Over the last few months temporary presences. - Caption pag. 90 Roberto Gavazzi, CEO of Boffi, with Aprile, the
he has always been on the worksite, making every choice, step by step, together with new kitchen designed for the company by Piero Lissoni. Aprile makes use of materials
Arch. Colombo: natural materials like wood to cover much of the new structure, solar like wood (worked with exclusive treatments), stainless steel and stone. Complements
panels and a planting project for large portions of the enclosure. In short, this building include exhaust hoods and snack counters in solid wood with stainless steel legs. - Caption
will be the reflection of the image of the Poliform trademark, founded in the 1970s, pag. 91 Paola Navone ‘responds’ to the snaps of photographer Maurizio Marcato. To the
which has emerged (especially over the last ten years) thanks to the determination of side, Menu, the kitchen she has designed for Bontempi, in the version with base cabinets
its owners: Nino Anzani, head of communications, Alberto Spinelli head of product and featuring doors in the Ice Oak finish, hanging cabinets in the Stampa Vetro finish, and steel
development, and Aldo Spinelli, in charge of production. A compact group where each tops. - Caption pag. 92 Upper left: a multimedia column is included in the SieMatic S2 AL
member has a precise role, but inside a coordinated team. model, with matte aluminium-tone doors, shiny stainless steel counter and wall panels with
Image and communication - The first person to set foot inside the new Poliform facility glass doors in the gilded bronze shade, opened by pressing.Above: a prototype developed
is Simona Spinelli, Aldo’s daughter, in her early thirties, an architect and a person of lively by Panasonic Electric Works under the supervision of Naoto Fukasawa, the monoblock
intelligence and curiosity. She is in charge of image and styling in the group, a strategic kitchen system represents a successful combination of design and functional quality. The
area that has impact on the 700 stores that sell Poliform furnishings, including 30 direct particular structure of the counter conceals the range, while the indirect lighting system
outlets. The group is a leader in the field of furnishing systems, producing accessorized adds discreet charm. Below: Massimo Iosa Ghini with his project for Snaidero: E-Wood, a
partitions and wardrobes, with extensive technological know-how in the production of kitchen with oak doors, where the wood has been given a special treatment for seasoning
kitchens, with the Varenna brand. Given this product range, the question of image is at 190° to modify its chemical structure, leading to positive results in terms of stability,
very important to differentiate Poliform from similar brands that meet similar qualitative prevention of warping and color changes. For the surface finish, the beauty of the wood is
standards. The company is a rarity due to its constant attention to constructing the further enhanced by a ‘hand-planed’ effect. - Caption pag. 93 Michael Young sips coffee in
brand’s identity. “Communication is a strategic component of our company. It intertwines his Tetrix, the kitchen he has designed for Scavolini, based on rectangular modules of 36x60
with product development and distribution”, Giovanni Anzani explains. “More than cm, combined along horizontal axes: a solution that permits maximum personalization.
selling single products, we propose an idea of the home, that can be more traditional, The doors are made by applying panes of clear or opaque tempered glass on decorative
younger, more bourgeois or more nonchalant. At present, the collection is organized in panels. - Caption pag. 94 Federica and Lorenzo Toncelli (owners of the company of the
nine different habitat typologies, from the most traditional to the most innovative, to the same name) and Stefano Stefanelli — the designer who has created, for Toncelli, Progetto
most affordable for the budget of a young couple”. 50, seen here in an ironic pose with his head in a cage: an image that evokes the latest
“We don’t sell products, we sell lifestyles” - “The challenge for Poliform today is to try advertising campaigns of the brand — pose proudly beside Progetto 50, a collection of
to get away from pre-set schemes, combining vintage products with hypertechnological furnishings for the kitchen that reinterprets the Tuscan crafts tradition through the use
design, wood with moulded plastic. I believe the trend that is emerging most vividly is of advanced production techniques. In the photo, the island made in concrete mousse and
one of absolute contamination”, says Paolo Mojoli, trained as an industrial designer, an the cabinet in grooved wood. - Caption pag. 95 A reading break on Checkers, by Giorgio
expert on communication who has accompanied Poliform for ten years in the definition Armani for Armani/Dada, the kitchen with an operations counter featuring a work top in
of its image and the pursuit of effective ways to interpret new lifestyles. Another front absolute black granite, with built-in sink and range. The doors are in transparent glass with
he indicates for the future growth of Poliform is research on products that go beyond the visible substrate covering in waterproof silver technical fabric, or in etched glass. Doors,
area of furnishing systems. “We keep faith with our mission and identity”, says Alberto base cabinets and columns are also available in santos wood or black oak. Francesco Del
Spinelli, head of product development. “Our base continues to be furnishing systems Tongo (one of the general directors of the company of the same name) personally ‘tests’
for the living and bedroom areas, which together with the kitchens account for most of the quality of Keramos, the model he has designed, that stands out for abundant use of
our business. But it is also true that for several years now we have been diversifying our an unusual material (at least for the kitchen), namely monolithic hyper-stoneware. In the
offerings to include tables, chairs, cupboards and upholstered furniture, with the aim island composition, the stoneware is used for doors, tops, sides, open compartments and
of creating iconic pieces for our catalogue”. even for the large round sink. - Caption pag. 96 Upper left: Argento Vivo, the kitchen
Contaminations - “The way of furnishing the house becomes more and more casual”, with rounded forms designed by Roberto Pezzetta for G&D Cucine, in the new version in
Alberto Spinelli explains, “and people want complements that have a high level of which matte white dominant contrasts with the black of the preparation-cooking zone.
technology, clear personality, with a particular focus on environmental sustainability”. The ‘guest star’ in the photo is GianMaria Dolfo, one of the owners of the company. Above
While the history of the firm includes collaboration with designers of the caliber of Paolo left: a combination made with the bulthaup b3 and bulthaup b2 systems, to develop a
Piva and Carlo Colombo, in recent years the languages have multiplied, contributing to design capable of redefining spaces, for a lively, convivial atmosphere. The composition
expand the typological family of products. There have been many different contributions, develops the idea of an open kitchen that can be organized and completed at will, based on
and the variety continues to increase. “With Jean Marie Massaud we are doing research individual tastes. Above: Daniele Lago (marketing director and designer for Lago) poses
on ecosustainable materials, keeping a close eye on costs. The era of luxury where cost beside some of his creations: the 36e8 kitchen (famous for its particular modular design,
is not a concern is over”, Spinelli comments. “With Riccardo Blumer, on the other hand, based on a 36.8 x 36.8 cm square), and the new N.O.W. pantry, that contains both the oven
we are working on the concept of light furnishings and homes”. and the refrigerator without taking up too much space. To the side: the final touches to the
Creative witnesses - From Marcel Wanders to Paola Navone, Vincent van Duysen to Jean DC 10 system, designed by Vincenzo De Cotiis for Rossana. Made in burnished brass and
Marie Massaud, as well as a new series of international designers, Poliform is working stone, the kitchen comes only in a center-room version. - Caption pag. 97 Above: admired
on a wider and wider range of creative approaches. There are many contributions by as an artwork, New Logica System (design Gabriele Centazzo for Valcucine) stands out for
designers in their thirties, like Rodrigo Torres, born in Colombia but living and working its new accessorized back that can contain all kitchen gear, including the hood. The top is
in Milan: “Poliform is one of the few companies that is able to sell not just products, made of glass treated with nanotechnologies that increase scratchproofing. Upper right: a
but a system of thought”, the designer says. “I have done pieces for them that I like a lot sequence of work areas made with rational criteria for the Spatia project by Antonio Citterio
because they are honest from a communicative and constructive viewpoint”. Another for Arclinea. Spatia combines kitchen and living spaces. The island is in white Carrara
exponent of the same generation is Emmanuel Gallina, who in his projects for Poliform polished marble, the table in Nordic oak. The double pocket system contains cooking
has transferred his approach of rediscovery of traditional materials, interpreted in a very and washing blocks, the dishwasher and an ecological garbage disposer. To the side: the
contemporary way. The nature of the work with a veteran like Paola Navone is completely attention-getting Ecocompatta model, designed by Paolo Rizzatto for Veneta Cucine. A
different. For the group, she creates “soft products that establish a relationship with the compact kitchen module (310x800x200 cm), but complete with all required functions.
accessorized partitions”, as she puts it. A similar approach based on essential forms and Ecocompatta starts with the idea of reduction: of forms, sizes and costs. - Caption pag. 98
lasting materials unites the spirit of the company with the creativity of Vincent Van Upper left: lighting enhances Twelve, the kitchen designed by Carlo Colombo for Varenna.
Duysen: “I care very much about the integrity of the object and the design found in my The name comes from the 12 mm that determine the look, based on the slender size of the
works of architecture, and in the style of Poliform”, the Belgian architect explains. “But horizontal lines. Twelve is based on absolutely essential design (underlined by the lack of
the element in which you can glimpse a new phase of development for the company is handles) and the use of technical materials like steel and glass for the top. Above: Ludovica
the fact that the products, alongside the rigorous forms, now include some poetic notes. and Roberto Palomba finish the last details of Radical, the kitchen developed for Elmar.
This is an important signal of renewal. What sense would it make to have a life and a The model stands out for the central focus on green values, with solutions like the use
home without emotions?”. Poliform in numbers - Sales 2009: 103 million euros; Plant of heat-treated ash and sheet metal made with 100% recyclable aluminium. Among the
size: 100,000 m2; Employees: 554; Main markets: Italy 51% - Europe 25% (excluding central elements of Radical, the island for washing and cooking, and the hood in painted
Italy) - USA 5%. - Caption pag. 82 The Poliform Factory at Arosio, a unit that produces sheet metal. Left: from Cesar, the Kalea kitchen designed by G.V. Plazzogna. The model
wardrobe systems, living room and bedroom complements, and contains a corporate features slim doors (just 12 mm) and a particular sawn oak finish in a cognac shade. The
showroom. This is one of the nine plants of the group scattered throughout the Como open cabinets, positioned under and over the island, are useful to partially screen off the
area. - Caption pag. 85 On the facing page, Dama table, in cedar. Design by the in-house kitchen, establishing a dialogue with the living area. - Caption pag. 99 Designed for Binova
R+D team of Poliform. Above, the Wall System bookcase and, in the background, the by Paolo Nava and Fabio Casiraghi, Prima AV (avant-garde) has new cabinets that hang
BB chairs, designed by Riccardo Blumer and Matteo Borghi. - Caption pag. 87 The from the ceiling on a system of tracks. The counters, in wood or lacquer, are integrated
photo studios of the new building of the group at Inverigo Santa Maria, which will be with the vertical support structure in stainless steel. In the background, an amused Paolo
opened in December. It is a center of 12,000 sq meters that combines all the showrooms, Bolletta, marketing director of Binova. - Caption pag. 100 Carrè, the kitchen designed by
a restaurant, and a photo studio for the production of the company’s communications. Marc Sadler for Ernestomeda and characterized by the curved handle set into the doors,
The head of image and styling of Poliform is Simona Spinelli (seen here as she works deserves special lighting. It can be fully personalized, using 46 varieties of matte lacquer
on a photo shoot). - Caption pag. 88 The polishing line inside a Poliform plant, for the and 46 glossy finishes for the doors and handles. The handles can also be in wood (rosewood
production of the doors for wardrobes and bookcases. - Caption pag. 89 Clockwise or olivewood) or steel. - Caption pag. 101 It also has a ‘niche’ for quiet moments. Mesa is
from top, painting cabin (sprayed by hand); line for drilling holes in the sides of kitchen the kitchen created by Alfredo Häberli for Schiffini, seen in the new black rubber finish,
cabinets; detail of the insertion of parts in shelves. with ocean black worksurface and cantilevered counter in stainless steel.