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FMG and Sustainab.Italy - Energies for Italian Architecture
FMG and Sustainab.Italy - Energies for Italian Architecture
a DVD, an exhibition and lots of events
The challenge of sustainable Italy
at the London Festival of Architecture 2008
20th June – 20th July 2008
41 projects out of 174 selected
Rehabilitation of industrial sites, new industrial areas, schools and kindergartens, community centres, parks and public areas, homes and offices: environmental sustainability in the DNA of a new generation of Italian architects
A small cogeneration plant on the roof becomes a place for socialising, meeting and playing; an old quarry near Siena is transformed into a football stadium, a tree-house is built in the Pollino National Park. These are just three examples of the 41 sustainable projects selected to represent Italy at the London Festival of Architecture 2008, the most innovative, dynamic, multi-faceted architecture event, entitled FRESH!, in London from 20 June to 20 July 2008.
The project has the highly significant title of Sustainab.Italy - Energies for Italian Architecture and has been promoted and coordinated by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities (PARC – General Directorate for Landscape Quality and Protection, Contemporary Art and Architecture, director Carla Di Francesco), in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (General Directorate for Cultural Promotion and Cooperation, director Gherardo La Francesca) and the Italian Cultural Institute in London. It is coordinated by Margherita Guccione (Director of the PARC Contemporary Architecture Service) and Erminia Sciacchitano (head of the PARC Research Area and International Studies and Reports Department) and is curated by Luca Molinari with Alessandro D’Onofrio.
After the call for papers was issued last February the PARC received no less than 174 projects on the topic of sustainability. The curators have selected 41, most submitted by young architects from all over Italy (18 from the North, 15 from the Centre and 7 from the South). No less than 25 of the selected projects have already been constructed, 7 are currently under construction and the others are in the final design stages or are recent competition winners. The works are located along the entire length of Italy (17 projects in the North, 9 in the Centre and 10 in the South), while it is a pleasure to note that some works by young Italian architects are also beginning to be realised abroad (in Portugal and Burkina Faso, in San Paolo, Brazil, in Shanghai and, from New York, a project for Beijing), reflecting that Italian “sustainable creativity” is making a name for itself even beyond the country’s borders.
As Carla Di Francesco explains, “The programme, launched in 2006, is yielding unexpected results. The response to our competition from architects informs us that a focus on the sustainable use of energy, environmental and natural resources is becoming an integral part of the design process in Italy. The large number of projects also proves that the sensitivity and experience of Italy’s architecture sector, which has always placed great emphasis on the recovery of the architectural heritage and environmental compatibility, have created favourable terrain for an Italian path to sustainability, where the cultural, architectural and landscape heritage are viewed as primary resources that must be protected”.
“The call for papers,” explain the curators Luca Molinari and Alessandro D’Onofrio, “asked for projects for young architects, preferably works already constructed. This is both in response to the festival theme, FRESH!, and because for the latest generations of architects, giving due to priority to environmental sustainability is definitely a necessity rather than an optional. We also wanted to highlight projects which had already been constructed, to convey a strong message that in Italy, quality architecture is not only designed: it also gets built!
“Sustainab.Italy also wants to help overcome the damage done by the rubbish mountains and unauthorised landfills to Italy’s international image, combating it with the active force of the architectural project, the undertaking by which the contemporary world, with its culture, society and politics, is constructed”.
THE CHOSEN PROJECTS
The projects submitted to the PARC were very varied, covering a wealth of topics: from the rehabilitation of industrial sites to new industrial areas, schools and kindergartens, community centres, parks and public areas, residential buildings and offices, with both public and private clients.
The selected projects subdivide into three major thematic areas: Human Scale, Active Landscape Fragments, and Energies for the Environment.
Human Scale: works and projects in which social ecology, responsible for the wellbeing of a community and the individual citizen, becomes a theme of leading-edge spatial design. The segment includes kindergartens (like the one created by the C+S firm near Treviso); sports and leisure centres or the small cogeneration plant at Bressanone, designed by the MODUS group.
Active Landscape Fragments: a blend of history, nature and modernity. For example, the recovery of the historic heritage in urban or rural contexts (such as Elastico’s project for the florist’s house near Turin, or the new Siena football stadium in the area adjoining the city, by the Marazzi firm with Iotti and Pavarani, where the rehabilitation of an old quarry becomes an opportunity for general upgrading of the landscape).
Energies for the Environment: the segment includes types of buildings, and functions, that represent a new generation of eco-compatible buildings. Some examples: the Torre verde designed by Boeri Studio in Milan, and the tasteful, discreet restoration of a large industrial site with the creation of new homes and offices in Milan, by the de Amicis firm.
The DVD Sustainab.Italy will be presented on 24 June 2008 at the Italian Cultural Institute in London (39 Belgrave Square, 6.30 pm.). It will be followed by a panel discussion with Italian and British architects.
The installation-exhibition Sustainab.Italy will open from 25th June at the Viabizzuno showroom (122 Great Titchfield Street, Monday to Friday 10 am – 6 pm, until 20th July). Further panel discussions with architects and professionals will take place during the following days.
The London Festival of Architecture 2008 will be the festival’s third edition. The Festival theme is FRESH! – fresh thinking, fresh talent, fresh approach, fresh air and fresh food. Over four weeks, there will be hundreds of events (exhibitions, performances, installations, meetings, discussions, workshops, guided walks, concerts, lectures, parties, etc., the majority of them outdoors), staged around five hubs at the strategic points in the city, linked together by a Thames riverboat and cycle routes.
The Sustainab.Italy installation-exhibition is organised in collaboration with the Viabizzuno showroom;
Technology partner Euphon Communication – Mediacontech Group.
The panel discussion on 24th June and the subsequent Sustainab.Italy events are organised with sponsorship from FMG, Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti (www.irisfmg.com).
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