Catalogue Mendrisio Academy Press

"Microcosmi" documents the didactic activity of Valentin Bearth’s Design Studio at the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture between 2004 and 2012. It describes the methodology and the premises of the course within the context of the school and presents a selection of student projects. The didactic report is completed by the transcription of a lecture by Aurelio Galfetti, where the parallel presentation of two built projects, the Rotalinti House in Bellinzona and his house on the island of Paros, offers a significant contribution on the theme of inhabitation.

The volume presents essays in Italian and French by authoritative scholars and historians of architecture: Margherita Azzi Visentini, Martine Boiteux, Stefano Bosi, Francesco Ceccarelli, Gian Paolo Consoli, Blanche de la Taille, Alain Delaval, Elena Dellapiana, Fabrizio di Marco, Rossella Fabiani, Valeria Farinati, Luigi Gallo, Jean-Philippe Garric, Pascal Griener, Cecilia Hurley, Henry Lavagne, Jean-Michel Leniaud, Isabelle Leveque, Carlo Mambriani, Tommaso Manfredi, Fabio Mangone, Susanne Meyer, Odile Nouvel, Susanna Pasquali, Pierre Pinon, Daniel Rabreau, Pier Paolo Racioppi, Francesco Repishti, Marie Richard, Serenella Rolfi, Marc Saboya, Ilaria Sgarbozza, Letizia Tedeschi, Sergio Villari.

The “Quaderni di Cultura del territorio” bring together all the papers and studies presented by scientists, public administrators and planners at the conferences on "Public Space in the 'Ticino City' of Tomorrow", a project funded by the Swiss National Foundation for Scientific Research under the PNR 65 national research programme on "New Urban Quality", coordinated by Michele Arnaboldi, professor at the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture, Università della Svizzera italiana.

Texts by Riccardo De Gottardi, Gian Paolo Torricelli, Andrea Felicioni, Enrico Sassi.
Projects by Michel Desvigne, OMA, NL Architects, Zaha Hadid, Smarch Architekten, Eduardo Souto de Moura, Francisco and Manuel Aires Mateus.

The 114 Diploma projects proposed in 2011 by the students of the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture in the design studios run by Manuel and Francisco Aires Mateus, Walter Angonese, Michele Arnaboldi, Martin Boesch, Esteban Bonell, Mario Botta, Marianne Burkhalter and Christian Sumi, Marc Collomb, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, Julian Lewis, Quintus Miller, Valerio Olgiati, Jonathan Sergison.

Villa La Saracena, designed and built between 1955 and 1957 on the Tyrrhenian coast of Santa Marinella (near Rome), marked the fulfillment of the professional development of Luigi Moretti (1907-1973). This book covers in detail the design history of this architectural masterpiece and offers an original interpretation based on the critical categories of the “Mediterranean”, the Baroque and the Informal, which fuelled a lively cultural debate in the fifties. It brings out the dominant role of the building’s interior space, which creates both the form and structure and determines the surface variations and modulations of the play of light, distinctive transmutations of matter that constantly stir the viewer’s emotional responses.
With a preface by Bruno Reichlin.

The “Quaderni di Cultura del territorio” bring together all the papers and studies presented by scientists, public administrators and planners at the conferences on "Public Space in the 'Ticino City' of Tomorrow", a project funded by the Swiss National Foundation for Scientific Research under the PNR 65 national research programme on "New Urban Quality", coordinated by Michele Arnaboldi, professor at the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture, Università della Svizzera italiana.

Texts by Mario Botta, Marco Borradori, Michele Arnaboldi, Aurelio Galfetti, Andrea Felicioni, Enrico Sassi.
Projects by: Alvaro Siza and Roberto Collovà, Gioni Signorell, Mario Botta, Cino Zucchi, Eduardo Arroyo, Elias Torres and José Antonio Lapeña, BMV architects.

This volume has grown out of the international conference "Cosa è architetto. Domenico Fontana tra Melide, Roma e Napoli (1543-1607)", held in Mendrisio in autumn 2007. It was an important opportunity to take stock of the state of knowledge about Domenico Fontana, famous above all for the design of obelisks, whose work opened the era of the predominance of Ticinese architects on the Roman scene.

The essays are by Antonio Becchi, Anna Bedon, Federico Bellini, Costanza Caraffa, Maurizia Cicconi, Giovanna Curcio, Sabina de Cavi, Giovanni Di Maio, Francesco Paolo Fiore, Margherita Fratarcangeli, Fulvio Lenzo, Paolo Mascilli Migliorini, Nicola Navone, Maria Raffaella Pessolano, Isabella Salvagni, Grete Stefani, Letizia Tedeschi, Christof Thoenes, Manuel Vaquero Pineiro, Sergio Villari.

A booklet documenting work by Studio Sergison at the Mendrisio Academy in the spring semester of 2011. The publication contains one paper by Jonathan Sergison, originally given as lecture in the course of the semester, a photographic record of the reference buildings analysed and of the projects produced by the students.

The book collects the technical analysis of 28 Ticinese school buildings (1953-1984) drew by the students during the course Construction Systems and Processes held at the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture.

Texts by Aurelio Galfetti, Franz Graf, Paolo Galliciotti, Massimo Cattaneo.

Texts in Italian, English, French or German by Steffen Adam, Francesca Albani, Giulio Barazzetta, Maria Luisa Barelli, Bernard Bauchet, Winfried Brenne, Berthold Burkhardt, Jacques-Louis de Chambrier, Anke Fissabre, Enrico Giacopelli, Franz Graf, Alberto Grimoldi, Ivo Hammer, Giulia Marino, Monika Markgraf, Sander Nelissen, Bernhard Niethammer, Ingrid Paoletti, Bruno Reichlin, John Robertson, Pierre Roquette, Arthur Ruegg, Simona Salvo, Adolf Stiller, Ola Wedebrunn.

The first issue of the “Quaderni dell’Accademia di architettura”, a periodical which presents contributions and testimonies of the school’s many activities (not just its teaching), is devoted to the recovery of the architectural heritage. This theme, of particular relevance to the contemporary design scene, is explored by scholars, who shed light on the relevant theoretical, historical and social factors, and by architect-professors who, through the presentation of a number of their projects, highlight the different strategies of intervention in the built.

Texts by Bruno Reichlin, Franz Graf, Bernhard Furrer, Claude Raffestin, Bruno Pedretti, Roberta Grignolo.

Projects by: Bearth & Deplazes Architekten, Miller & Maranta, Burkhalter Sumi, E. & M. Boesch, Mario Botta.

The Ticinese architect Luigi Canonica was employed by Napoleon in the years running from the Cisalpine Republic to the Kingdom of Italy and was again active at the Restoration. This book combines a monographic approach, aimed at the reconstruction and critical study of all of Canonica’s works, with an organization by major topics, such as his contribution to the process of urban renewal in Milan (he was the author, among other projects, of Foro Bonaparte and the Arena and drafted the first ever master plan for the city), his achievements in the architecture of gardens, villas, theaters and municipal buildings (such as the Villa Reale and Palazzo Reale in Milan and the Villa Reale with its park in Monza), and his role in the organization of offices for the control of architectural projects.

Reflecting this organization, the book presents essays by scholars and historians together with some 200 analytical entries devoted to specific works written by other specialists.

Giulio Minoletti (1910-1981), architect, urban planner and designer, is highly representative of the different phases of the 20th century in Italy. This handy format photographic book presents the interiors of five apartments in Milan. These are projects on which the architect impressed his personal hallmark, with the focus on aspects a that characterized his entire oeuvre: a concern for the relation between interiors and exteriors, the fluidity of space, the flexibility of internal divisions, accurate detailing, technological innovations and a careful choice of materials.

Texts by Alberto Bassi, Maria Cristina Loi, Elena Triunveri.

The 105 Diploma projects proposed in 2010 by the students of the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture in the design studios run by Manuel Aires Mateus, Michele Arnaboldi, Martin Boesch, Esteban Bonell, Mario Botta, Marianne Burkhalter e Christian Sumi, Antonio Citterio, Marc Collomb, Quintus Miller, Valerio Olgiati, Jonathan Sergison.

A booklet documenting work by Studio Sergison at the Mendrisio Academy in the fall semester of 2009. The publication contains one paper by Jonathan Sergison, originally given as lecture in the course of the semester, a photographic record of the reference buildings analysed and of the projects produced by the students.

S4 News Fall2010

Second edition
Winner
Diébédo Francis Kéré (Germany / Burkina Faso)
Candidates
Iñaqui Carnicero, Ignacio Vila, Alejandro Vírseda, Spain; Adam Caruso, Peter St John, Great Britain; Davide Cristofani, Gabriele Lelli, João Pedro Falcão de Campos, Portugal; Dietmar Feichtinger, France and Austria; Arturo Franco Diaz, Spain; Sosuke Fujimoto, Japan; José Fernando Gonçalves, Portugal; Erich Hubmann, Andreas Vass, Austria; Bjarke Ingels, Denmark; Junya Ishigami, Japan; Christian Kerez, Switzerland; Andrea Liverani, Enrico Molteni, Fabio Mariani, João Mendes Ribeiro, Portugal; MGM-Morales Giles Mariscal, Spain; Hiroshi Nakamura, Japan; nARCHITECTS (Eric Bunge, Mimi Hoang), USA; Willem Jan Neutelings, Michiel Riedijk, The Netherlands; Mauricio Pezo, Sofia von Ellrichshausen, Chile; Joshua Prince-Ramus, USA; Bernard Quirot, France; Jurij Sadar, Boštjan Vuga, Slovenia; Markus Scherer, Italy; José Selgas, Lucia Cano, Spain; URBANUS (Liu Xiaodu, Meng Yan, Wang Hui), China; Xu Tiantian, China

A booklet documenting work by Studio Sergison at the Mendrisio Academy in the spring semester of 2009. The publication contains two papers by Jonathan Sergison and Stephen Bates, originally given as lectures in the course of the semester, a photographic record of the reference buildings analysed and of the projects produced by the students.

Like many of their fellow countrymen, the architects Visconti, Ruggia and Staffieri pursued fame and fortune in the Russia of the tsars, following the trail blazed at the dawn of the eighteenth century by Domenico Trezzini, the celebrated protagonist of the foundation of Saint Petersburg. Their vicissitudes appear between the lines of the letters sent to family, relatives and friends, brought together, fully annotated, in this volume to give a clear picture of the interweaving of family and professional relations in the context of Russian architecture and society.

A booklet documenting work by Studio Sergison at the Mendrisio Academy in the autumn semester of 2008. The publication contains two papers by Jonathan Sergison and Stephen Bates, originally given as lectures in the course of the semester, a photographic record of the reference buildings analysed and of the projects produced by the students.