My OperaLa Biennale di Venezia [2006] > 10th International Architecture Exhibition > Cities Of Stone
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 3:49:03 PM
Cities of Stone - curated by Claudio D’Amato Guerrieri
A collateral section of the Sensi Contemporanei project
Venice , Artiglierie dell’Arsenale - 10th September to 19th November 2006
Cities of Stone a collateral section of the 10th International Architecture Exhibition curated by Claudio D’Amato Guerrieri , and organized within the framework of the Sensi Contemporanei project , is dedicated to the cities whose principal characteristic was having been conceived and organically built in stone until the decline of the structural conceptions based on load-bearing masonry decreed the end of the critical and constructional success of this material. “An exhibition – explains Claudio D’Amato Guerrieri – that arises from the conviction that there are Mediterranean architectural ideals that exist and continue to be vital today, but they risk being swept away; and that there is a need for a strong critical conscience to contrast the threat arising from the processes of cultural homologation at work on a planetary scale.” Mediterranean cities are cities of stone, directly generated by the Greek and Roman civilization, by its particular form of rationality, whose esthetic values over time have become ideals shared by Western culture. The exhibition project raises a series of questions about the dominating models that govern the urban and landscape transformations in progress, and about alternative hypotheses to those founded on the myth of a deconstructed modernist architecture, devoid of memory, uprooted from its tradition.
Cities of Stone intends to raise the question of the critical recognition, in a thematic area that is rarely explored in research, of the potential relevance of the culture of masonry, understood not only as continuity with traditional building techniques, but also as a process of radically updating them.
The section will be held in the Artiglierie dell’Arsenale , and entry will be greeted by a 15-meter tall obelisk and a barrel vault 6 meters in diameter. Two prototypes of the art of modern stone-cutting (stereotomy) which will concretely demonstrate new possibilities in the structural use of this ancient yet highly modern material. The first of the three exhibition areas into which the section is divided, entitled The Other Modernity, presents spectacular two and three dimensional reconstructions illustrating the golden age of 1930’s masonry architecture: giant black and white photographic prints and models made with rapid prototyping will illustrate the principal issues that brought fame to the cities of the southern Mediterranean, from Algiers to Thessaloniki, from Rhodes and the Dodecanese to the foundation cities in Italy and Libya, from Alexandria to Tirana. An in-depth analysis is made of the construction method and the architectural language which reinterpreted the tradition of great inventions such as the seafront walkways, all the way back to the ancient origins represented by the Greek cities, which revolutionized their era. The first modern city in history, Alexander the Great’s Alexandria , designed by Dinocrates, is the object of special attention, through the reconstruction of the lighthouse, one of the symbols of this exhibition.
Stereotomic Architecture borrows the themes proposed by the actual size of the obelisk and vault at the entrance: it is dedicated to illustrating the principles of renewed stereotomic art: on exhibit are two models of stone bridges dedicated to the city of Venice .
Project South (Progetto Sud ) is the true heart of the exhibition and will present the results of an international competition for ideas focusing on four sites in southern Italy : Punta Perotti in Bari ; the port of Crotone ; the Latomie dei Cappuccini in Siracusa; the tourist port in Pantelleria. A debate surrounding ideas dedicated to the themes of landscape restoration in southern Italy , beginning with the demolition of the speculative buildings that have obfuscated its beauty in recent decades. Project South harks back to Progetto Venezia, promoted the first time by Aldo Rossi in 1985, which launched the idea of an architectural exhibition as a free platform for ideas, and intends to be a tribute to the figure and the work of a master.
The design proposals will be evaluated by an international jury presided by Claudio D’Amato Guerrieri.
The website www.labiennale.archinauti.it, created for this occasion, will accompany professionals and potential visitors through the date of inauguration, describing the progress and the stages of adv ancement of the project.
An international congress dedicated to the subjects treated in this section will take place in Venice in November.
The catalogue, published by Marsilio , will be articulated in two volumes: a thematic monograph and a volume on Project South .
Claudio D’Amato Guerrieri (Bari , 1944) is a professor of Architectural Design at the Faculty of Architecture at the Politecnico di Bari and has been Dean of the same Faculty. Internationally, he has promoted, coordinated and developed many projects concerning the Balkan areas and in general the Mediterranean and the Middle-East.
from www.labiennale.org
A collateral section of the Sensi Contemporanei project
Venice , Artiglierie dell’Arsenale - 10th September to 19th November 2006
Cities of Stone a collateral section of the 10th International Architecture Exhibition curated by Claudio D’Amato Guerrieri , and organized within the framework of the Sensi Contemporanei project , is dedicated to the cities whose principal characteristic was having been conceived and organically built in stone until the decline of the structural conceptions based on load-bearing masonry decreed the end of the critical and constructional success of this material. “An exhibition – explains Claudio D’Amato Guerrieri – that arises from the conviction that there are Mediterranean architectural ideals that exist and continue to be vital today, but they risk being swept away; and that there is a need for a strong critical conscience to contrast the threat arising from the processes of cultural homologation at work on a planetary scale.” Mediterranean cities are cities of stone, directly generated by the Greek and Roman civilization, by its particular form of rationality, whose esthetic values over time have become ideals shared by Western culture. The exhibition project raises a series of questions about the dominating models that govern the urban and landscape transformations in progress, and about alternative hypotheses to those founded on the myth of a deconstructed modernist architecture, devoid of memory, uprooted from its tradition.
Cities of Stone intends to raise the question of the critical recognition, in a thematic area that is rarely explored in research, of the potential relevance of the culture of masonry, understood not only as continuity with traditional building techniques, but also as a process of radically updating them.
The section will be held in the Artiglierie dell’Arsenale , and entry will be greeted by a 15-meter tall obelisk and a barrel vault 6 meters in diameter. Two prototypes of the art of modern stone-cutting (stereotomy) which will concretely demonstrate new possibilities in the structural use of this ancient yet highly modern material. The first of the three exhibition areas into which the section is divided, entitled The Other Modernity, presents spectacular two and three dimensional reconstructions illustrating the golden age of 1930’s masonry architecture: giant black and white photographic prints and models made with rapid prototyping will illustrate the principal issues that brought fame to the cities of the southern Mediterranean, from Algiers to Thessaloniki, from Rhodes and the Dodecanese to the foundation cities in Italy and Libya, from Alexandria to Tirana. An in-depth analysis is made of the construction method and the architectural language which reinterpreted the tradition of great inventions such as the seafront walkways, all the way back to the ancient origins represented by the Greek cities, which revolutionized their era. The first modern city in history, Alexander the Great’s Alexandria , designed by Dinocrates, is the object of special attention, through the reconstruction of the lighthouse, one of the symbols of this exhibition.
Stereotomic Architecture borrows the themes proposed by the actual size of the obelisk and vault at the entrance: it is dedicated to illustrating the principles of renewed stereotomic art: on exhibit are two models of stone bridges dedicated to the city of Venice .
Project South (Progetto Sud ) is the true heart of the exhibition and will present the results of an international competition for ideas focusing on four sites in southern Italy : Punta Perotti in Bari ; the port of Crotone ; the Latomie dei Cappuccini in Siracusa; the tourist port in Pantelleria. A debate surrounding ideas dedicated to the themes of landscape restoration in southern Italy , beginning with the demolition of the speculative buildings that have obfuscated its beauty in recent decades. Project South harks back to Progetto Venezia, promoted the first time by Aldo Rossi in 1985, which launched the idea of an architectural exhibition as a free platform for ideas, and intends to be a tribute to the figure and the work of a master.
The design proposals will be evaluated by an international jury presided by Claudio D’Amato Guerrieri.
The website www.labiennale.archinauti.it, created for this occasion, will accompany professionals and potential visitors through the date of inauguration, describing the progress and the stages of adv ancement of the project.
An international congress dedicated to the subjects treated in this section will take place in Venice in November.
The catalogue, published by Marsilio , will be articulated in two volumes: a thematic monograph and a volume on Project South .
Claudio D’Amato Guerrieri (Bari , 1944) is a professor of Architectural Design at the Faculty of Architecture at the Politecnico di Bari and has been Dean of the same Faculty. Internationally, he has promoted, coordinated and developed many projects concerning the Balkan areas and in general the Mediterranean and the Middle-East.
from www.labiennale.org
