Catalogue Mendrisio Academy Press
During the last twenty years, the topic of form has become one of the most controversial issues in public and professional discussions about architecture. Hardly anyone reflected on this as intensely as the 2015 Pritzker Prize winner Frei Otto, whose concept of Form-Finding is aimed at preventing any processes of designing or shaping.
This book aims to re-examine the issue by expanding on the exemplary case of Frei Otto. The subject is approached from varyingly wide perspectives, ranging from pathways to form in engineering research and in experimental model-making to the ideological-critical reflections on form by Oswald Mathias Ungers and Rem Koolhaas.
Texts by Elisabeth Bergmann, Daniela Fabricius, Roberta Grignolo, Sonja Hildebrand, Sean Keller, Kurt Möser, Gabriele Neri, Stefan Neuhäuser with Martin Weickgenannt, Christoph Witte, Walter Haase, Oliver Sawodny and Werner Sobek, Lara Schrijver.
Form-Finding, Form-Shaping, Designing Architecture. Experimental, Aesthetical, and Ethical Approaches to Form in Recent and Postwar Architecture
edited by
Sonja Hildebrand, Elisabeth Bergmann
19 x 24,5 cm, 180 pp.
56 ill. col., 51 ill. b/w
paperback
english, italian
Silvana Editoriale
ISBN 9788836632657
€ 32 / frs 35.–
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The theme of the book is the definition of the relations between community and work in the alpine and subalpine environment. The setting of the Alps has resulted in specific forms of organisation of work and ownership, for example by emphasising the role of the collective management of land assets, but, at the same time, the organisation of work has modified and characterised life differently in mountain communities than in lowland communities. Alpine areas provided opportunities not always present elsewhere: exploitation of forests and waters, employment as guides, and transportation of goods by pack animals through the mountain passes and of travellers in transit. These were just some of the possible spheres of work in these areas. The texts that the reader will find in the book are organised into five sections: the first dedicated to collective needs and local resources, the second to the organisation of work, the third to trade and commerce, the fourth to infrastructure and, finally, with a function of comparison and contrast, a fifth section devoted to “other mountains”.
Montagne, comunità e lavoro tra XIV e XVIII secolo
edited by
Roberto Leggero
14.5 x 19 cm, 260 pp.
27 ill. b/w
paperback
italian
ISBN 9788887624724
€ 20 / frs 20.–
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This volume grew out of a series of lectures given by the author in Mendrisio, at the Academy of Architecture of the Università della Svizzera italiana. The lessons are designed to compensate for a tendency to oversimplify the cultural complexity of the so-called Modern Movement, which today appears very diverse in its many manifestations. Many of the architects of the works discussed in this collection, despite adopting a seemingly shared syntax, seem in fact to have approached the task of building on the basis of their own values and models and to have adopted methods that are relatively open, both technologically and socio-culturally. Hence the thesis presented here, namely that though certain works can be included in the category of a generic abstractism, they yet each reveal a subtle variation in response to the context in which it is situated, even if all of them invoke the dogma of the flat roof, accompanied by a structural steel or reinforced concrete system and large glazed surfaces.
The book is organized into eighteen chapters, each devoted to an architect (from Rudolf Schindler to Arne Jacobsen, Richard Neutra, Max Bill, Johannes Duiker, Jaromír Krejcar, passing through Eileen Gray, Willem Marinus Dudok, Louis Herman De Koninck, Pierre Chareau, Sigurd Lewerentz, Evan Owen Williams, Antonin Raymond, Erich Mendelsohn, Berthold Lubetkin, Vilhelm Lauritzen, Max Ernst Haefeli & Werner Moser, and Alejandro de la Sota), giving a brief historical-biographical introduction to each before analysing in particular a relevant work. The text is richly illustrated.
Kenneth Frampton (1930) is one of the leading theorists and critics of architecture. A professor at Columbia University in New York, he has also taught at the major academic institutions, including the Royal College of Art in London, the Polytechnics of Zurich and Lausanne, the Berlage Institute in Amsterdam and the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture. He is the author, among other books, of "Modern Architecture: A Critical History" (Thames & Hudson), a classic of historiography translated worldwide.
Pierre-Alain Croset: «Book after book, Kenneth Frampton continues making distinctive choices in defending and reaffirming the validity of the project of modernity, while supporting the necessity to critically analyse architectural works as a built form that can produce quality of experience and programmatic innovation».
Kenneth Frampton, L'altro Movimento Moderno
edited by
Ludovica Molo
19 x 24,5 cm, 348 pp.
604 ill. b/w
flexicover
italian
Silvana Editoriale
ISBN 9788836630745
€ 42 / frs 45.–
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Compelled to leave Bucharest in 1948, Ionel Schein (1927-2004) found political asylum in Paris, where his biography is entwined with that of some leading figures on the architectural scene of the time, such as Georges-Henri Pingusson, Le Corbusier, Jean Prouvé and Bruno Zevi, with whom he developed enduring relationships ranging from intellectual affiliation to professional collaboration. His projects are notable for a unified design embodying light prefabricated elements and a distribution system capable of evolving over time together with the needs of the inhabitants. This program would include futuristic prototypes, such as the first plastic house, a lightweight knockdown single-family residence, built entirely using synthetic materials in pop colours. This volume offers a reading of Schein’s work drawing directly on the architect’s archive, to date almost entirely unexplored.
Preface by Carlo Olmo. Afterword by Claude Parent.
Silvia Berselli, Ionel Schein. Dall'habitat evolutivo all'architecture populaire
19 x 24,5 cm, 232 pp.
209 ill. b/w
paperback
italiano
Silvana Editoriale
ISBN 9788836631438
€ 29 / frs 29.–
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This third issue of the series “Quaderni” from the BSc course in “Construction Systems and Processes” is devoted to a big residential building, Villa Gerosa, designed by the ticinese architect Tita Carloni and built in Rancate, near Mendrisio (1967-1971). The second year students at the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture, guided by professor Franz Graf, carried out practical work on the project articulated in the collection and analysis of original documentation, the redrafting of the building plans and the production of axonometric projections and constructional models made to scale. A selection of the material collected for the course, with the original drawings and period photographs, together with a historical reading of the building, a structural analysis and a selection of students’ works make up this issue, which is intended not only to demonstrate the presence in Ticino of a notable architectural work, but also to furnish the operators responsible for its conservation with pointers about appropriate ways of carrying out maintenance or restoration work.
Tita Carloni. Villa Gerosa, 1967-1971
edited by
Franz Graf, Britta Buzzi-Huppert
21 x 29.5 cm, 48 pp.
39 ill. b/w.
paperback
english / italian
ISBN 978-8887624670
€ 15 / frs 20.–
Out of stock
The 99 diploma projects proposed in 2014 by the students of the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture in the design studios run by Manuel and Francisco Aires Mateus, Walter Angonese, Michele Arnaboldi, Valentin Bearth, Martin Boesch, Mario Botta, Marianne Burkhalter and Christian Sumi, Marc Collomb, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara,Quintus Miller, Valerio Olgiati, Jonathan Sergison.
Diploma 2014. Ticino City
21 × 21 cm, 240 pp.
600 ill. b/w
paperback
english / italian
ISBN 9788887624687
€ 14 / frs 20.–
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«Many years ago I was struck by a lecture by the German philosopher Hans Robert Jauss, who maintained that in life … it is important to be prepared. I realised that we must always work hard and that even in the absence of any real prospects, what is important is to be prepared. As we know, the idea of a project pre-exists to some degree the opportunities of time and place, and that makes Jauss’ philosophical suggestion even more useful for us as architects, as it reminds us that preparation is a form of project design» (Francesco Venezia).
Forty Eight Pages: Francesco Venezia
14,5 × 19 cm, 52 pp.
22 ill. b/w, 1 ill. col.
paperback
english / italian
Silvana Editoriale
9788836630691
€ 10 / frs 12.–
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30 design studios, 85 courses, 94 lecturers, 110 assistants, 764 students: a year of teaching activity at the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture.
Report on Teaching Activities 2013-2014
21 × 21 cm, 328 pp.
505 ill. b/w
paperback
english / italian
ISBN 9788887624663
€ 14 / frs 20.–
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«Hélène Binet’s photographs pose intriguing questions about the relations of the viewed subject and the artistic intention, entity and detail, space and atmosphere, materiality and illumination. … Buildings turn into landscapes, while landscapes become intimate tactile surfaces as if they were the aged leather of a living creature. Even air tends to take on characteristics of solid matter; the sky is no longer a void, as it projects a sense of gravity and opacity. Her images accentuate materiality, as if they were intended to be experienced through the skin rather than the eyes» (Juhani Pallasmaa).
Forty Eight Pages: Hélène Binet
edited by
Daniela Mondini
4,5 × 19 cm, 68 pp.
22 ill. b/w, 1 ill. col.
paperback
english / italian
Silvana Editoriale
9788836630707
€ 10 / frs 12.–
Out of stock
«L’architecture est le jeu savant, correct et magnifique des volumes assemblés sous la lumière». Alluding to Le Corbusier’s famous statement of 1923, this collection of essays solicits critical reflection on the relationship between light and architecture, on both theoretical and practical levels. Beginning with a discussion of the problem of how to represent light and its effects within architectural space in different media (drawing, photography, film), it then examines the relationship between planning and hygiene-theories, focusing in particular on those which exercised their influence on the choice of orientation and exposure of buildings to the sun. On the technological front, finally, attention is turned to projects making use of the various devices, and then new, for the modulation of natural light, as well as to the many possibilities offered to designers by new technologies of artificial illumination.
Texts by Katrin Albrecht, Charlotte Ashby, Marcel Bächtiger, Daniel A. Barber, Silvia Berselli, Matthias Brunner, Marco Di Nallo, Valeria Farinati, Ruth Hommelen, Margaret Maile Petty, Éric Monin, Dietrich Neumann, Mary Reid Brunstrom, Lutz Robbers, Giuliana Scuderi, Nathalie Simonnot, Daniel Siret, Marie Theres Stauffer, Simona Talenti, Annarita Teodosio.
«Le jeu savant». Luce e oscurità nell'architettura del XX secolo / Light and Darkness in 20th Century Architecture
edited by
Silvia Berselli
Matthias Brunner
Daniela Mondini
19 x 24.5 cm, 280 pp.
130 ill. b/w
paperback
italian, english, french
Silvana Editoriale
ISBN 9788836629817
€ 32 / frs 40.–
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Fourth edition 2014
Winner
José María Sánchez García (Spain)
Candidates
Boyd Cody Architects, Ireland; Arno Brandlhuber, Germany; Tom de Paor, Ireland; Anne Feenstra, Afghanistan, India, Nepal; Toni Gironès, Spain; Hall McKnight, Northern Ireland; Go Hasegawa, Japan; Akihisa Hirata, Japan; Hollmén Reuter Sandman, Finland; Höweler + Yoon Architecture, USA; Kumiko Inui, Japan; johnstonmarklee, USA; Carla Juaçaba, Brazil; Lassila Hirvilammi Architects / OOPEAA, Office for Peripheral Architecture, Finland; LTL Architects, USA; MAP Studio-Magnani Pelzel architetti associate, Italy; onishimaki + hyakudayuki architects, Japan; Sameep Padora, India; Smiljan Radic, Chile; Camilo Restrepo, Colombia; Rintala Eggertsson Architects, Norway; Mauricio Rocha, Mexico; Sergison Bates Architects, England; Studio Weave, England; TYIN tegnestue Architects Trondheim, Norway; Raphael Zuber, Switzerland
BSI Swiss Architectural Award 2014
edited by
Nicola Navone
24 x 24 cm, 180 pp.
287 ill. col., 77 ill. b/w
paperback in box
italian / english
Silvana Editoriale
ISBN 9788836629794
€ 35 / frs 50.–
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Light is the essential medium across which space, forms, and colors become perceivable to the human eye. This collection of studies investigates the use of light – natural and artificial – in Christian architecture and art from late antiquity to the Baroque, revealing its complex symbolism and the modes in which it comes to be enacted. Thus, the following are analyzed: the architectonic dispositions that regulate daylight, the material culture that produces artificial illumination, the understandings of and reflections on the effects of light and shadow observed in literary, theological, and philosophical texts, as well as works of art, be they illuminated manuscripts, mosaics, frescos, or stained glass windows.
Texts by Sergio Bettini, Anna Bülau, Elena Castelli De Angelis, Fabio Fernetti, Francesca Galli, Iuliana Gavril, Vladimir Ivanovici, Brigitte Kurmann-Schwarz, Frank Martin, Mira Mocan, Daniela Mondini, Bettina Preiswerk, Nicolas Reveyron, Barbara Schellewald, Nadine Schibille, Angela Schiffhauer, Sophie Schweinfurth, Xenia Stolzenburg.
Manipolare la luce in epoca premoderna / Manipulating Light in Premodern Times
edited by
Daniela Mondini
Vladimir Ivanovici
19 x 24.5 cm, 332 pp.
100 ill. col., 35 ill. b/w
paperback
italian, english, french, german
Silvana Editoriale
ISBN 9788836627219
€ 49 / frs 59.–
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During the spring semester of 2014, the students of the Miller design studio at the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture worked on the urban plan and architecture of Basel, focusing in particular on the area that extends along the Aeschengraben and the St. Alban-Anlage, where an extensive restructuring is planned. The work resulted in twelve projects, presented on display at the headquarters of the Basilese Assicurazioni and now brought together in this catalog.
Atelier Miller, Aeschengraben St. Alban-Anlage. Sechs grosse Häuser für Basel / Sei grandi edifici per Basilea
19,5 × 26,5 cm, 178 pp.
22 ill. col., 85 ill. b/w
flexicover
german / italian
9788887624649
€ 30 / frs 30.–
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This second issue of the series “Quaderni” from the BSc course in “Construction Systems and Processes” is devoted to the masterpiece of Rino Tami, the Cantonal Library in Lugano (1939-1941). The second year students at the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture, guided by professor Franz Graf, carried out practical work on the project articulated in the collection and analysis of original documentation, the redrafting of the building plans and the production of axonometric projections and constructional models made to scale. A selection of the material collected for the course, with the original drawings and period photographs, together with a historical reading of the building, a structural analysis and a selection of students’ works make up this issue, which is intended not only to demonstrate the presence in Ticino of a notable architectural work, but also to furnish the operators responsible for its conservation with pointers about appropriate ways of carrying out maintenance or restoration work.
Rino Tami. Biblioteca cantonale, 1939-1941
edited by
Franz Graf, Britta Buzzi-Huppert
21 x 29.5 cm, 48 pp.
31 ill. b/w.
paperback
english / italian
ISBN 978-8887624632
€ 15 / frs 20.–
Out of stock
The book contains many previously unpublished essays on the theory and history of twentieth-century art and architecture, written as a tribute to Bruno Reichlin, architect and professor at various universities, well known for having developed an innovative approach to the analysis of the work of architecture, based on the development of critical instruments derived from the criticism of the literary text and art, and for his battles to preserve the architectural heritage of the twentieth century. The collection is structured in five sections devoted to the theory of art and architecture; changes in construction processes resulting from the introduction of new materials, techniques and technologies; analysis of one or more architectural works; methodological issues and practices bound up with the restoration of modern buildings.
Texts by: Joseph Abram, Fritz Achleitner, Paolo Amaldi, Tim Benton, Christian Bischoff, Martin Boesch, Yve-Alain Bois, François Burkhardt, Mario Carpo, Jean-Pierre Cêtre Giorgio Ciucci, Jean-Louis Cohen, Jürg Conzett, Wessel de Jonge, Yvan Delemontey, Catherine Dumont d’Ayot, Kenneth Frampton, Hartmut Frank, Aurelio Galfetti, Roberto Gargiani, Franz Graf, Philippe Grandvoinnet, Giuliano Gresleri, Roberta Grignolo, Alberto Grimoldi, Thomas Hasler, Ulrike Jelhe-Schulte Strathaus, Jacques Lucan, Guillemette Morel Journel, Nicola Navone, Werner Oechslin, Carlo Olmo, Luca Ortelli, Danièle Pauly, Carlo Piccardi, Marko Pogacnik, Sergio Poretti, Arthur Rüegg, Martin Steinmann, Adolph Stiller, Christian Sumi, Letizia Tedeschi, Ana Tostões, Ruggero Tropeano, Ivo Trümpy, France Vanlaethem, Annalisa Viati Navone, Daniele Vitale.
L'opera sovrana. Studi sull'architettura del XX secolo dedicati a Bruno Reichlin
Etudes sur l’architecture du XXe siècle offertes à Bruno Reichlin
Studien über die Architektur des XX. jh. Für Bruno Reichlin
23 x 27.5 cm, 592 pp.
396 ill. b/w, 60 ill. col.
flexicover
italian, english, french, german
Silvana Editoriale
ISBN 9788836627516
€ 50 / frs 60.–
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The book deals with the troubled issue of the relation between legislation and the protection of twentieth-century architecture through a constructive dialogue between the competencies of specialists in various fields: architects, curators, lawyers and security experts. The questions raised by the topic are analysed in theoretical terms but also in their immediate operative relevance, through a discussion of the principles underlying the principles subtending the regulations in force in various sectors.
Texts in Italian, English, French or German by Bernard Bauchet, Martin Boesch, Marco Borghi, Andrea Canziani, Mauro Gandolla, Wolfgang Karl Göhner, Markus Gehri, Daniele Graber, Roberta Grignolo, Pierino Lestuzzi, Walter Maffioletti, Joe A. Manser, Dieter Martin, Gustavo Milani, Tapani Mustonen, Barbara Neubauer, Terjie Nypan, Valeria Pracchi, Régis Prunet, Bruno Reichlin, Oskar Spital-Frenking, Ana Tostões.
Diritto e salvaguardia dell'architettura del XX secolo / Law and the Conservation of 20th Century Architecture
edited by
Roberta Grignolo, Bruno Reichlin
21 x 25 cm, 312 pp.
168 ill. col., 168 ill. b/w
paperback
italian, english, french, german
Silvana Editoriale
ISBN 97888836627226
€ 35 / frs 40.–
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Pier Luigi Nervi (1891-1979), last century’s most famous Italian engineer, devised many of his architectural works by using sophisticated scale models which provided a preview of their stability. The result of elevated scientific knowledge and craft skills, these models accurately reflect Nervi’s ideas, always convinced of the necessary synthesis between engineering and architecture, science and art. The book is the result of lengthy historical archival research, enriched by a very full iconographic apparatus that reveals the exceptional nature of these “miniature masterpieces”.
Gabriele Neri, Capolavori in miniatura. Pier Luigi Nervi e la modellazione strutturale
19 x 24.5 cm, 344 pp.
320 ill. b/w
paperback
italian
Silvana Editoriale
ISBN 9788836627233
€ 32 / frs 40.–
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The 78 diploma projects proposed in 2013 by the students of the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture in the design studios run by Manuel and Francisco Aires Mateus, Walter Angonese, Michele Arnaboldi, Valentin Bearth, Martin Boesch, Mario Botta, Marianne Burkhalter and Christian Sumi, Antonio Citterio, Marc Collomb, Quintus Miller, Valerio Olgiati, Jonathan Sergison.
Diploma 2013. Barcelona
21 × 21 cm, 200 pp.
475 ill. b/w
paperback
english / italian
ISBN 9788887624656
€ 14 / frs 20.–
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Giulio Minoletti (1910-1981) graduated in architecture in 1931, when he was just 21 years old, after experiences that included working as an illustrator and fashion designer during his university studies. At the Politecnico di Milano he completed a training with a traditionalist matrix, but at the same time observed with interest the work of Le Corbusier and Gropius, showing himself a firm supporter of modernity. His long professional career spanned two successful seasons, the thirties and the period of reconstruction, and was characterized by an unusual versatility of interests: he was represented at all the editions of the Milan Triennial 1930-1957, an assistant at the School of Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano 1930-1949 and active in the architectural debate in Milan. Minoletti’s work covered the whole scale, ranging from the design of the city to that of the object, with an ease that was the sign of a “wholly Italian versatility”, as Gio Ponti observed.
Giulio Minoletti’s professional archive, of which this volume presents the analytical inventory, is preserved in the Archivio del Moderno in Mendrisio.
Giulio Minoletti (1910-1981). Inventario analitico dell'archivio
edited by
Elena Triunveri
15 x 21 cm, 384 pp.
144 ill. b/w
paperback
italian
Silvana Editoriale
ISBN 9788836628513
€ 30 / frs 35.–
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Giulio Minoletti (1910-1981), a Milanese architect, was notable for his remarkable versatility, his flair for experimental research into forms, materials, polychromes and hybrids between artistic genres that characterized his work as architect, builder and designer of housing estates, green areas, swimming pools and objects. This publication brings together the work of analysis of Minoletti’s works conducted by the students of the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture during the spring semester of 2013, in collaboration with the Archivio del Moderno in Mendrisio, which preserves Minoletti’s archives. The complexity and variety of his output is firstly placed in its Italian and international setting in a timeline that opens the publication, and then illustrated through a broad collection of projects. An initial essay, a brief biography and a portfolio of recent photographs complete the volume.
Giulio Minoletti architetto, urbanista e designer
edited by
Christian Sumi, Annalisa Viati Navone
23.5 x 16.5 cm, 200 pp.
359 ill. b/w, 91 ill. col.
paperback
italian
Silvana Editoriale
ISBN 9788836628650
€ 20 / frs 25.–
Out of stock
