Institute Publications
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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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.
«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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«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.
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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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.
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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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”.
