Siamo sicuri che con l’attività di ricerca sulla cultura del progetto italiano potremo incontrare sempre nuove idee ed esperienze sia in Italia che nei paesi che ci [...]]]>

Un caro augurio a tutti di Buone Feste e con l’occasione vi invitiamo a visitare il nuovo sito di Officina Contemporanea frutto del lavoro degli ultimi tre mesi.

Siamo sicuri che con l’attività di ricerca sulla cultura del progetto italiano potremo incontrare sempre nuove idee ed esperienze sia in Italia che nei paesi che ci stanno a guardare con grande interesse. Auguriamo che le festività di fine anno portino serenità e tanti buoni auspici a tutti voi!

Siamo lieti di ospitare il 30 aprile alle ore 10.30 l’AGAV (Associazione Giovani Architetti Veronesi) che presenta il terzo appuntamento del ciclo di conferenze “Ma/rs 2 – maestri architetti/riflessioni e spunti” che avrà come tema “L’architettura della semplicità: ripensare i modi di abitare”.  Gli ospiti attesi saranno l’arch. Massimo Carmassi e l’arch. [...]]]>

Siamo lieti di ospitare il 30 aprile alle ore 10.30 l’AGAV (Associazione Giovani Architetti Veronesi) che presenta il terzo appuntamento del ciclo di conferenze “Ma/rs 2 – maestri architetti/riflessioni e spunti” che avrà come tema “L’architettura della semplicità: ripensare i modi di abitare”.  Gli ospiti attesi saranno l’arch. Massimo Carmassi e l’arch. Gabriele Lelli, entrambi esponenti di rilevante spicco nel panorama architettonico internazionale. Uniti da una lunga collaborazione didattica come docenti all’ università di architettura di Venezia, trovano nel loro percorso formativo un denominatore comune: la semplicità. Nell’affrontare un tema così complesso come la residenza, intesa come parte del tessuto urbano, emergono principalmente problemi di qualità degli spazi.
Vi aspettiamo presso Officina Contemporanea Via dei Mutilati 8a, Verona

 

 

 

 

The opening of the photo exhibition “Global Award for Sustainable Architecture” will take place at 18:00 on Wednesday May 4th, in the showroom of Officina Contemporanea, in Via Mutilati 8/a, Verona. It is organized by the architecture magazine The Plan, member of GBC Italy, with [...]]]>

The opening of the photo exhibition “Global Award for Sustainable Architecture” will take place at 18:00 on Wednesday May 4th, in the showroom of Officina Contemporanea, in Via Mutilati 8/a, Verona. It is organized by the architecture magazine The Plan, member of GBC Italy, with the collaboration of Officina Contemporanea and Atelieritaliano as well as the patronage of the Ordine degli Architetti di Verona, AGAV and GIARCH. The show is promoted by Cité de l’Architecture & du Patrimoine of Paris.

The exhibit will be open weekdays from 10:00 till 18:00 through Friday May 20th. Entrance is free.

EXPO GA: INTRODUCTION

The environmental and energy crisis strikes everywhere at the same time. Up till now a simultaneous fracturing of this dimension has never been verified.

In the twentieth century, industrial development aligned itself with the ‘myth of progress’, which diffused the same model of life and of city, in relationship to every society and it’s history. Today the myths of ‘sustainable development’ begin at the same time, but no longer use the same energy or follow the same development.

The fulcrum with priority is found in the city and in architecture. In terms of the real cost of expended energy and resources, cities and architecture are the workshops for a sustainable future and for the profound transformation that sustainability requires. From Chile to Finland, From the United States to China, an avant-garde architecture follows a new perspective: constructing our global civilization on a base of new relationships between society and resources.

The west is the seat of numerous creative centers: energy and materials are the focal points of an industrial revolution in which architects are the defenders. A new collective story is birthing: architecture concretizes it, giving it form and meaning. In the southern hemisphere, the crisis is rewriting the equations of development: technology and society, development and progress city and equity…The emerging situation frequently leads to more radical innovations than in the west, foretelling of new relationships between north and south. Architecture is delineating a new scenario at a global level. The exchanges between the protagonists of the architecture scene are intense, directed towards the sharing of ethical objectives and limits. The globalized planning that marks the last years of the twentieth century gives way to the universality of an architecture that reflects the search for a new equilibrium in the most profound characteristics of each territory. Every project becomes a fragment of the world and gives order to the world.

The Global Award for Sustainable Architecture was instituted to promote International debate of architecture. Five architects are awarded each year for sharing the ethic of sustainable development and for having formalized innovative and ecological plans whether in the west or in emerging countries, in the cities of the developed world or in favor of the most vulnerable of the planet’s populations. The scope of the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture is the construction of a community of these greatly talented architects, the publication of their methodologies and the stimulation of experiential exchange between north and south. Since 2007 fifteen architects have been given awards. The intent of this show is to make known this new avant garde.

Stefan Behnisch – Stoccarda, Germany – Prize 2007

Stefan Behnisch is a pioneer of architecture for a sustainable climate and environment. He plans buildings as great protected and seductive ecosystems that propose a new way of living. “Optimize spaces for greater comfort”. 

Balkrishna Doshi – Ahmedabad, India – Prize 2007

Inhabiting: a process, not a product.

Doshi was not yet thirty when he worked alongside Le Corbusier on the new capital at Chandigarh, that became an emblem. The diffusion of the modern movement was received with favor by western critics. The critics identified the paladins of each continent. Doshi was included on this list.

In 1978 he founded the Vastu Shilpa Foundation, dedicated to research the social and developmental aspects of building. With regard to those themes, Doshi has continued his self-interrogation, principally occupying himself with construction for the Indian population rather than construction for ‘India’.  

Françoise-Hélène Jourda – Paris, France – Prize 2007

An ecologic European culture

In 1980 Françoise-Hélène Jourda won the French competition “A habitat with economic energy”.  With this she became the leader of ecologic change in France and interfaced with the Nordic and German thoughts regarding sustainable architecture. “Architects must stop building monuments”.

Hermann Kaufmann – Schwarzach, Vorarlberg, Austria – Prize 2007

Wood, creative materials

The career of Hermann Kaufman is inseparable from the history of Vorarlberg, the region of Austria that for over thirty years has been a laboratory for sustainable architecture. “We are at the very beginning of a great taking of social and political conscience”.

Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu – Amateur Architecture Studio – Hangzhou, China – Prize 2007

History meets creativity

China has initiated the construction of numerous ”eco-cities” and green zones. The methodology, followed so far, has as its point of reference the “tabula rasa”. On the other hand, in the meridian city of Hangzhou, Wang Shu proposes a different perspective. “The modern in China can be refined by means of its culture.”

Fabrizio Caròla – Naples, Italy – Prize 2008

Europe-Africa, a cultural exchange between “equals”

Fabrizio Caròla has dedicated his life to inventing techniques and a specific art of construction, which match up well with African resources. In 1973, while living in Mali as an expert on development projects, he noted that most people sent to Africa to eliminate the technological difference had cultural baggage and limited humanism. The lack of preparation of the personnel led them to bring into Africa, without any editing, the most absurd products of our civilization. The quality of these products, brought into places still unprepared to receive them, makes the situation worse. “The cupola of bricks had never crossed the Sahara.”

Elemental/Alejandro Aravena – Santiago, Chile – Prize 2008

The most important sustainable resource is the city.

Alejandro Aravena planned Elemental in 2000 to replace the favelas that were invading urban areas crucial for sustainable residential building. Elemental proposed to construct with meager financial resources profiting from the use of economic materials (cement and bricks) and with self managed building. “Màs con lo mismo”

Rural Studio/Andrew Freear, director – Auburn University, Alabama, USA – Prize 2008

Renew houses to renew society

Created in 1992 by Samuel Mockbee and D.K. Ruth, Rural Studio, situated in Hale County, has coherently put into practice an ecological vision with southern origins. The agricultural theorist, Wendel Berry, has affirmed that after the economic cyclone of the twentieth century, American society needs to reconstruct itself starting with the fundamentals: community, ethics of responsibility and decentralizing. “Ours is a simple sustainability, born of necessity.”

Philippe Samyn – Brussels, Belgium – Prize 2008

A new economy of resources

The recent works of the architect and engineer Philippe Samyn, gives evidence to the decision to dedicate his credibility as an expert in the debate over sustainable architecture. “The equilibrium of form, function and technique.”

Carin Smuts – Cape Town, South Africa – Prize 2008

Architecture participated in

Carin Smutts (CS Studio Architects) constructs public spaces collaborating with the users in urban and rural contexts in South Africa. “ They don’t have an architectural necessity, but, rather, a creative energy that I desire to liberate: Once the plan is established the project shouldn’t impose a means, but should instead propose an infrastructure which the inhabitants can take possession of.”

“Sustainability regards the persons.”

Construire/Patrick Bouchain and Loïc Julienne – Paris, France – Prize 2009

Culture and participation

Patrick Bouchain relies on minimal intervention to transform abandoned industrial areas into spaces of life and culture.  They respect the most delicate needs of the balance, utilizing standard materials to give places new life. Each intervention revitalizes the living context around it, lending an ear to the needs of people and the community, training the youth of the place.

“Today, what interests me is understanding what is necessary.”

Thomas Herzog – Munich, Germany – Prize 2009

Culture and science

Thomas Herzog is one of the pioneers in the theory and application of solar energy. He has already developed typology of collective habitations that use solar with integrated construction systems and planned units to get the maximum advantage from climactic conditions. “Regarding energy, we need to change our point of view: from houses to the city.”

Bijoy Jain – Mumbai, India – Prize 2009

Creating sensory and physical connections with places

Bijoy Jain studied in the United States and at the same time was in agreement and in conflict with globalization. This double formation, western and Indian, allows criticizing, in India, the type of development that sacrifices the resources and the culture of the place. He is patiently seeking to create a single work system that is at the same time clearly ecological and contemporary: We want to use the Indian landscape as a resource; to create spaces in harmony with local climactic conditions, with available materials and technology. “Living within a culture means studying it every day.”

Diébédo Francis Kéré – Gando, Burkina Faso – Berlin Germany – Prize 2009

An intelligent globalization

With qualifications as a carpenter, Francis Kéré obtained with the help of BMZ, an organization separate from the German government, a grant to attend architecture classes at the Technische Universität of Berlin. He lives part time in Burkina Faso and part time in Germany, where he is now docent. In Berlin, he teaches his students sustainable architecture. In his village, Gando, he constructs and furnishes urban dwellings and schools. All are marked by the same rationality, economy and sobriety of line. They adhere to the use of local methods and resources, considering to African knowledge of construction to be as valid as European.

“Urban furnishings that contribute to development and that adapt to the climate.”

Sami Rintala – Bodo, Norway – Prize 2009

Architect and artist

Sami Rintalala is convinced that an architecture that knows about ecologic responsibility will return to its fundamental roles: furnishing refuge and protection for people, giving form to human relations with nature and history. “The best way for me to exercise an influence in society and to teach.”

The exhibit is produced by Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine / Institut Français d’Architecture and is circulating in Italy thanks to the magazine THE PLAN.

The magnificent building complex, Residenza Caesar situated in the center of Sirmione, on the picturesque peninsula of the southern coast of Lake Garda, has just had all of it’s fixtures completely done by Albertini Serramenti.

The magnificent building complex, Residenza Caesar situated in the center of Sirmione, on the picturesque peninsula of the southern coast of Lake Garda, has just had all of it’s fixtures completely done by Albertini Serramenti.

The complex is located in a panoramic position with a controlled access that underscores its exclusivity. It boasts the highest standards of construction with excellent energy performance and truly luxurious finishings that mark it as a modern residence for living well. One hundred and forty five units have been completed, for a total of about three hundred lift and slide units of two, three or four panels and numerous other window typologies from the line Wis’A in Newpine, finished in white silk.

Residenza Caesar is composed of apartments with different square footage, of two floors, with wide terraces and mansards. Its grounds have large spaces of green with a pool and a play area and provide wonderful views of the peninsula and the lake.  The ample windows, made with security glass that has high thermal and acoustic performance, overlook magnificent curved terraces and are the natural complement to a building whose primary objective is offering peace and exclusivity.

The project of Contec will make part of the exhibition and will be included in the catalogue of the works exhibited.

The exhibition will be held in Ferrara at Palazzo [...]]]>

Contec Ingegneria have participated in the recently held International Competition of the National Museum of Italian Hebraism and Shoà.

The project of Contec will make part of the exhibition and will be included in the catalogue of the works exhibited.

The exhibition will be held in Ferrara at Palazzo Diamanti from the 8^th of May till the 12^th of June 2011.

Hebraism and of the Shoà

Head of Group CONTEC INGEGNERIA

Concise description of the project

The thousand and one culture. The over two thousand years of uninterrupted Jewish presence in Italy, is demonstrated in its strong identity, in its integration with Italian society and culture, and in the tragic extermination of the SHOAH  (1938-1945).

The reception and relationship with the outer environment is underlined in a number of ways. The sculpture placed at the entrance of MEIS is itself the manifestation of the same idea that guides the project.

The modeled work of art resembles an olive tree in which you can read the geometry of a Hanukkah candelabra. The sculpture exemplifies the theme that characterizes the MEIS museum complex, which was designed with the title “TREE OF LIFE” (ALBERO DELLE VITE).

By means of a number of lexical conversions that sprang from the word ITALYAH (island of divine dew), we associated God with the term VITE.

 Italy for the Jews has been the place where different communities took life.

An organizational path springs from it in five sections: 1) Roots, 2) Civilization and Faith, 3) Revival, 4) Shoah and Memory, 5) The Song of Lives.

The new museum has a planimetric concept according to a regular geometry.

It’s principle characteristic is that of being organized according to a radio-centric scheme, a plan that is regularly repeated at different levels. The element at the origin of the architectonic composition is the parallelepiped placed in the heart of the structure; it is designed so as to have the walls oriented north/south and with an angle (point) of the solid oriented towards the window directed towards Jerusalem. From this emerges a path oriented in a cosmic-religious way with references to Ferrara and Jerusalem.

The exhibition spaces are developed on five levels; each floor is dedicated to an exhibition section and structured into four sub-sections, as foreseen in the scientific project.

The course ideally ends when reaching the terrace-garden, where it will be possible to orient the eye north, towards Ferrara and the antique Hebrew Quarter, and east, towards Jerusalem. This place is the space for both geographic and interior speculation by means of an installation that evokes the memories of Italian children deported to the concentration camps.

From the terrace floor the public can use two elevators to arrive at the third floor where, by means of a glass roof, they can have access to the third floor of building C.

On the ground floor you find the checkroom area, the ticket area, the book-shop the stairs going to Building C, and a restaurant and a cafeteria, kept separate according to the Hebrew dietary tradition, regarding choices of “milk” or “meat”, connected to the museum section that deals with the relationship of nature-food-body-sacred offering.

The below ground area of the new museum is set up for hosting temporary shows and has a multifunctional auditorium space.

The entrance to the below ground floor is accessed by a glass welcome area that allows the first filtering of the outdoors to enter: once the entrance is crossed you enter the foyer where you can then proceed for either the auditorium or the exhibition space.

The exhibition space is characterized by the presence of the generative and organizational element of the project: the parallelepiped, whose structural mass crosses the whole building till it reaches and appears on the garden terrace.

NAMING OF THE TEMPORARY GATHERING FOR THE PROJECT DESIGN COMPETITION FOR THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ITALIAN HEBRAISM AND THE SHOA

Group Head

CONTEC INGEGNERIA, Verona, contec@contec-srl.it; www.contecingegneria.it

General project designer and expert in design of multimedia and didactic museums

Architect ANGELO MICHELI

Project designer

Architect ENRICO MARIA FERRARI

Project designer and restauration expert

Prof. Arch. CHRISTIAN CAMPANELLA, Studio Campanella e Tessoni Associati,

Installation project designer

PLANEX, Verona

Security progect designer

CONTEC AQS AMBIENTE QUALITA’ SICUREZZA

Consulting expert on Israeli culture

Mons. Prof. PIER FRANCESCO FUMAGALLI

Nature and beauty don’t like to be confined. At Fuori Salone del Mobile, Menotti Specchia showing together with Paola Lenti will present the new concept MILANOUTDOOR DREAMING: the beauty of nature, even in the city. Thanks to the design, seamlessly combining materials and innovative forms, even a small outdoors space can be [...]]]>

Nature and beauty don’t like to be confined. At Fuori Salone del Mobile, Menotti Specchia showing together with Paola Lenti will present the new concept MILANOUTDOOR DREAMING: the beauty of nature, even in the city. Thanks to the design, seamlessly combining materials and innovative forms, even a small outdoors space can be transformed into a dream space.

The Chiostro dell’Umanitaria with its Renaissance suggestiveness and fascinating context is the ideal setting for the event. An architectural jewel constructed during the second half of the fourteen hundreds, it is today a prestigious modular location for all types of shows. It is made even more precious by its gardens and the columns of its four cloisters – Wisteria, Statues, Memory, Fish – and by the splendid salon of frescos. The masterwork of Umanitaria includes the ex refectory and a room recently restored with outstanding friezes and paintings dating back to the first decades of the sixteenth century.

In addition, for the next three years, this same location, rich with the city’s history, will host presentations of Menotti Specchia proposals for new design direction.

This collaboration comes also from a shared sensitivity to the essential in form and materials without losing vision of the importance of continuous technical and aesthetic experimentation. But the relationship of Menotti Specchia with the Chiostri dell’Umanitaria goes beyond, starting with the requalification of the spaces of the prestigious location by means of putting to work hundreds of square meters of outdoors flooring. There are also many pieces made to order by Menotti Specchia for projects or commissioned designs. This has helped to motivate a business philosophy that embraces challenging projects and has a strong ability to elaborate proposals for solutions. Recovering spaces of such excellence means assuring that the city has unexpected green spaces, giving a breath of air, as well, to art and culture. Giving a breath of air to beauty.

Deckout reveals itself as the ideal base for Paola Lenti’s project Cabanne, because of its suitability for covering outdoor spaces.

The installation (which will be on exhibit in other locations after the FuoriSalone event) is completed by Menotti Specchia with the collection Turtle – decorating accessories for outdoors, designed and realized to be multifunctional, an essential design principle that makes them a good choice for indoors as well.

Rediscovering the beauty of your house, even the outdoors, rendering projects more mobile and versatile, adapting to differing needs or spaces and guaranteeing a vast range of solutions and personalization: these are powerful ideas that Menotti Specchia interprets in their products with innovative technical and aesthetic results.

MilanOutdoor Dreaming: design for the outdoors in the city is a dream that you can touch.

…an aperitif in Milan

Performance in Lighting invites you to their Milan Showroom
Ripa di Porta Ticinese 73,
14th April at 6:30pm

The Architects will present the contents of exhibition: “I Mendini Architetti Tessitori” underway in the city of Valdagno.
During the evening, the exhibition catalog will be avaiable.

A material for conscious architecture, versatile, resistant, drains and is good for the environment.

During Fuori Salone 2011 Stone Italiana is presenting DNA Urbano, a new collection of slabs for exteriors and interiors made from dirt swept from the streets and realized in collaboration with CEM Ambiente Spa, a company [...]]]>

A material for conscious architecture, versatile, resistant, drains and is good for the environment.

During Fuori Salone 2011 Stone Italiana is presenting DNA Urbano, a new collection of slabs for exteriors and interiors made from dirt swept from the streets and realized in collaboration with CEM Ambiente Spa, a company active in forty-nine Lombard communities.

The collection DNA Urbano is inserted in the green philosophy of Stone Italiana, which has always been attentive to the environmental aspects of production and to researching new solutions that provide alternative, ecologic products with low environmental impact.

The principle component of the slabs, DNA Urbano (at 75% for outdoor, 55.7% for indoor), is earth obtained during the sweeping of streets, that grit that gets deposited alongside the sidewalk curb and which opportunely converted allows for the recovery of materials that can then become a new primary material. This permits energy savings, recycling and lowers the costs of elimination. In fact, in Italy, it is estimated that about 4% of the total refuse produced is composed of these sweepings of dirt. Recovering this could mean eliminating the whole cost of their being consigned to the dump. According to one study of an institute for research on the environment (Green Management), if Dna Urbano is used just for the pedestrian paving of Italy, equal to 20,531,580 square meters, it could eliminate the extraction of 821,263 tons of virgin material at a savings of 100 euro per ton for the costs of dumping for a total of 82 million euro.

The rest of the DNA Urbano slab is composed of sand, quartz powder, and polyester resin. This last is present in percentages that go from 4% to a maximum of 6.6%, in line with the requirements of the Ecolabel certification.

With DNA Urbano, Stone Italia continues the experimental course initiated with Arturo and Filippo Montanelli during the last Biennale di Architettura in Venice, when for the covering of the museum-installation Off Leash by Arturo Montanelli and Velasco Vitali, the first prototypes of the product were used outdoor. Then it was composed with a quartz agglomerate.

Today the dirt from the street sweepings of Milan is the protagonist of the slabs and therefore its name DNA Urbano, because “it contains the essence of the history of the city”, because on the inside of the slab you might see a microchip, a piece of colored glass, a thread of iron, a seed, a flake of aluminum.

The DNA of the city.