Magazine: A CONCRETE WORLD - by Claudia Martinelli

TAKE A BREATH. I’LL SHOW YOU THE LIGHTNESS OF CONCRETE.

Eduction and the finding of the

constituent materials, as well as to

UNDER

ALWAYS RIGHT the good mechanical performan-

ce that it guarantees, is today the

most used building material in the

world. The presence of cement in its mixture, and in particular of the

clinker, however, makes this material anything but eco-friendly. In

fact, the production of concrete

requires a significant amount of

energy that contributes heavily to

the increase in environmental pollution. The use of quarry aggrega-

tes is another problematic aspect in this context.

OUR FEET

A CONCRETE BEEHIVE

The raw materials for cement are substances containing calcium carbonate (limestone or gypsum) and aluminum silicates (clay). Pulverized

and cooked in an oven at 1300-1500 degrees, the two substances blend without melting, forming the so-called clinker. This is still ground and

combined with some gypsum, which regulates the setting time. With the addition of water to the powder there is a chemical reaction: the grains

of dust are covered with a film that becomes more and more dense and binds the grains to one another.

THE DESIRE TO

TOUCH THE SKY

1931

LE CORBSIER

Villa Savoye

Born in Switzerland, Chles-Édouard Jeanneret

(1887 -1965), known as Le Corbsier, was part of the

Parisian avant-garde. He was a founding member of the International Congress on Modern Architecture

(or CIAM), launched in 1928.

Villa Savoye is generally considered the clearest expression of what Le

Corbusier called the five points of a

new architecture (les cinq points d’une nouvelle architecture), namely:

1 the use of thin columns (i pilotis) to raise the ‘building from the ground

and thus create greater spatial continuity at ground level

2 the free and functionally flexible

plant (Plan libre) that is allowed by a

skeleton structure to replace the use

of the load-bearing masonry

3 the structure with beams and

columns also frees the façades from the structural function, leaving the

architect free to design them accor-

Customers like the Savoye are probably this that every architect dreams:

they left Le Corbusier basically free to design the house like he wanted,

writing only a precise list of functional spaces and, in the course of planning, asking for some changes aimed at reducing construction costs. The

lotchosen for the house was a beautiful tree-lined land, about 30 kilome-

ters north-west of the center of Paris. It is not a still today are six Savoye,

who lived in Roue de Courcelles in Paris, they simply wanted a house of holidays or thought to move to the villa instable plant. Le Corbusier once

wrote that “They wanted to live in the country; connected to Paris from 30

kilometers by car “; other documents, above all Letters of Eugénie Savoye

to the architect, could to suggest that the house had been thought of as

ding to functional and aesthetic criteria (Façade libre)

4 the addition of a flat roof terrace

(Toit terrasse) that can be used as a

garden, solarium and as an “outdoor living” during the summer

5 the use of horizontal ribbon win-

dows (Fenêtre en longueur) to provide

a greater amount of natural lighting to the rooms.

a “Buen retiro” for the weekends more than a permanent home. The Savoye family was originally of Lille, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, and he had no particular emotional ties to capital, he is therefore it is

possible that, given the reduced distance between Poissy and the city, where Pierre worked, they actually

wanted to live in the new house or at least move permanently once they retired. Certainly, in a letter to Le

Corbusier, Eugénie asks that the house be expandable (I would like the house to be enlarged in a few years, without ruining it), suggesting in some way that, sooner or later, it would become their main residence.

CARLO SCARPA

Brion Cemetery

1969-1977

Carlo Scarpa (1906-1978) began designing the addition to an existing municipal cemetery in 1968. Although he continued to consider changes to the project, it was completed before his accidental death in 1978. The enclosure is a

private burial ground for the Brion family, commissioned

by Onorina Tomasi Brion, widow of the founder of the

Brionvega company. Scarpa is buried adjacent to the

Brion sanctuary. Several discrete elements comprise

the Brion family burial site: a sloped concrete enclo-

sing wall, two distinct entrances, a small chapel, two

covered burial areas (the arcosolium for Giuseppe and

Onorina Brion, and one for other family members), a dense grove of cypresses, a prato (lawn), and a private meditation/viewing pavilion, separated from the main

prato by a separate and locked entrance, and a heavily

vegetated reflecting pool. The "viewing device" of the

pavilion of meditation suggests a vesica piscis, a repe-

ated leitmotif in Scarpa's architecture.

LOUIS KAHN

Salk Institute

1965

Jonas Salk commissioned the Salk Insitute in 1959, in Kahn; as often happens

for the great masterpieces of architecture, the synthesis achieved between the designer and the client,

not without contrasts, leads to the genesis of a project not chained in programmatic restrictions, which transcends the intended use, to become men.

The Salk Institute is a particularly complex challenge, which

commits the study of Kahn for many years and is revealed as

a synthesis of many unrealized

projects, which end in its con-

struction.

The workshops are the only part

of a larger project that also inclu-

ded staff accommodation, the

administration building and common activities. The complex is

located within the University of

San Diego campus, a place of

extraordinary beauty overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

1926 -1934

Concrete sculpture

HENRY MOORE

‘‘

Every material has its own individual qualities. It is only when the material, that the material can take its part in the shaping of an idea

‘‘

sculptor works direct, when there is an active relationship with his

2017

DAVID UMEMOTO

Stairway to Nowhere

They refer to the archaic and the ephemeral, despite the solidity and the modernity of the medium.

David Umemoto is a sculptor and architect from Montreal, Canada. In his Artistic

Approach, he states that his miniature

concrete works stand as studies about

volume. Each piece evokes temporary

buildings or monuments based on far-

away lands, thus conveying numerous

images in the mind. The production pro-

cess is slow and silent: just like the natural transformation of the land, erosion, re-creation. His works shift and change,

as nature does in the perpetual struggle

between time and weather conditions.

Luckily for us, we have had the honor of

chatting with him.

2017

ART & HUE

South Bank Pop art

From the Royal Festival Hall, constructed for the Festival of Britain in 1951, to the brutalist concrete architecture of the 1960s, the South Bank complex of arts & music venues is the cultural heart of London.

Not only does the South Bank provide the capital with must-see performances & exhibitions but also with a distinctive modernist skyline & sociable

riverside hangout. The concrete brutalist buil-

dings were designed in the 1960s, with the

Queen Elizabeth Hall opening in 1967 and the

Hayward Gallery in 1968. Designed by British

architect Denys Lasdun, construction started on the cubist National Theatre in 1969 and

was opened in 1976. Available in three sizes

& 18 colour options, discover the South Bank pop art prints above or below. Stylish pop art

group of six prints of the South Bank by Art & Hue. From the Royal Festival Hall, constructed

for the Festival of Britain in 1951, to the brutalist concrete architecture of the 1960s, the

South Bank complex of arts & music venues is the cultural heart of London. Not only does

the South Bank provide the capital with must-

see performances & exhibitions but also with a

distinctive modernist skyline & sociable river-

THE CONCRETE BRUTALIST BUILDINGS WERE DESIGNED IN THE 60S, WITH QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL OPENING IN 1967 AND THE HAYWARD GALLERY IN 1968.

side hangout.

SOVIET

BUS STOP

LITHUANIA

On a cycling trip across Europe, photographer Christopher Herwig stumbled upon a curious phenomenon that would become his obsession for years: bus stops.

olė

Rokiškis

p Marijam

zin d a i m h c E Yerevan Curiously for a regime usually associated - both architecturally and otherwise - with uniformity and with same-

remarkable diversity and creativity.

ARMENIA

ness, the bus stops built by the Soviet Republic display

Pitsunda It restricts itself to one building type, the

bus stop or shelter, which tends in Western

ABKHAZIA

Europe to be meanly utilitarian.

ŞĹmkent

KAZAKHSTAN

The norm is wild going on savage. Just as follies were, in the

18th century, often try-outs for new architectural styles, so may some of these wayward roadside punctuation marks have been

structural or aesthetic experiments; they certainly don’t lack

Taraz

ra y t A

u

grandeur and audacity.

UZBEKISTAN

The shelters provide an adhoc social service. Further they have granted aspirant sculptors, builders and architects opportunities to flex their creative muscles.

Tursu n

TAJIKISTAN

zoda

Termez

KYRGYZSTAN

Karakol

Balykchy

Coloured concrete reliefs rule in the Ukraine, as do mosaics in Moldova, while in the forests of Estonia many bus stops are simple triangular pitched-roof structures, made of the timber that was to hand.

Chair_ONE is constructed just like a football: a number of flat planes assembled at angles to each other, creating the three-dimensional form. Konstantin Grcic approach was a mixture of naivety and bluntness. Given the chance to work

with aluminium casting he thoughts that he should take it all the way. The need to

create a seat with strong three-dimensional geometry; this was at the end

of the 90s the motivation that led the

company Magis S.p.A. to approach the

German designer Konstantin Grcic during

the Milan Furniture Fair in 1999. A seat of black, white, red,

grey anthracite and yellow suitable for outdoor use with concrete base.

“sturdy and comfortable�

2003-2004

KONSTANTIN GRCIC

with CONCRETE BASE

Chair_ONE

UMEMOTO

2016

DAVID

Brutalist Concrete Vases He designed a brutalism-inspired concrete

vase collection for France-based hat brand

Larose Paris. The design of cylindrical concrete

vases in the series stands between architectural

perspective and sculptural art. All the vases are

crafted by combining fifteen geometric sections into various configu-

The beautiful Brutalist-style concrete vases are

rations with unique

You can clearly see a variety

modern architectural

tiny holes, adding materiali-

textures making it a

of unparalleled patterns and

art piece for homes.

stic touch to the vases. The

available in varied sizes, and customers can also request for custom heights at designer’s

own website. A Smaller version of vases can

also be purchased for $475 USD at Larose Paris.

concrete vessels have different

rugged textures and flat surfaces to give the illusion of different

structural appearances in front of your eyes. Just put in some The Canadian architect/sculptor David Umemoto

might be best known for his cubic, concrete, buil-

ding-like sculptures, but until now they’ve remained simply as abstract assemblages and ornaments to

behold. Umemoto has recently applied his flair for brutalist aesthetics to a functional design created

in collaboration with Parisian hat brand Larose: a

monumental concrete vase, decorated with a mix

of architectural etchings in various levels of relief.

‘I’m trying to find the sweet spot between sculpture and architecture,’ Umemoto tells.

flowers inside the concrete vase

and place it on a table or shelf, and

it will be an attractive architectu-

ral piece that looks unique and fills

natural beauty inside your home.

‘Look close or far, you

can see an order,’

he explains. Although he’s explored primitive

arts with strong spiritual tones, Umemoto

finds meaning solely in the practice of repeating and transforming design components.

Combined with the unyielding, yet organic

nature of the concrete, his vase is one cen-

trepiece that will certainly provoke conversation with each outing.

STEFAN ZWICKY

Remake armchair LC2

1928

Concrete chair

1980

The LC chair from 1928 is probably one of the best-known furniture pieces of the prestigious architect Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeannere). The reinterpretation of this piece has been recurrent, with different materials and color structure but highli-

ghts the reinterpretation of Stefan Zwicky with an armchair in concrete and corrugated steel bars.

The shapes of the LC 2 armchair do not inspire

classic in furniture design since 1928 was desi-

No doubt this armchair is a

gned by Le Corbusier. Piece that is present in

the most minimalist interior designs and that from now we can find in outdoor environments.

comfort, perhaps from here the name put by the

architect and designer Stefan Zwicky in the reinterpretation that he made in 1980 of this piece

"Grand Comfort, Comfort Sans, Dommage Ă Corbu".

This armchair is an artistic product that does not seek comfort or ergonomics. The materials used

for its construction are concrete and corrugated

steel bars. A very solid construction even almost more appropriate than the original design in black leather and polished metal tube.

A CLASSIC DESIGN THAT NEVER DIES.

This monolith of a ton of weight was sold for about 28,000 dollars in an auction in 2009, which also says something

about the value of the original chair.

Original replicas of the chair have

also been made with straw, cardboard or with books.

WORLD’S LONGEST ROAD The Pan-American Highway is a network of

roads stretching across the American conti-

nents and measuring about 30,000 kilometres

(19,000 mi) in total length. Except for a rainforest break of approximately 160 km (100 mi),

called the Darién Gap, the roads link almost all

of the Pacific coastal countries of the Americas

in a connected highway system. According to

Guinness World Records, the Pan-American Highway is the world's longest "motorable

road". However, because of the Darién Gap, it

Central America.

ABOUT 30,000 KILOMETRES

is not possible to cross between South and

1950

AMERICA

Pan-American Highway

It is built on several small islands and skerries,

which are connected by several causeways, viaducts and eight bridges the most prominent being Storseisundet Bridge. The route was originally proposed as a railway line in the early 20th century, but this was abandoned. Serious planning of the road started in the 1970s, and construction started on 1 August 1983. During construction the area was hit by 12 European windstorms. The road was opened on 7 July 1989, having cost 122 million Norwegian krone (NOK), of which 25 percent was financed with tolls and the rest from public grants. Collection of tolls was scheduled to run for 15 years, but by June 1999 the road was paid off and the toll removed. The road is preserved as a cultural heritage site and is classified as a National Tourist Route. It is a popular site to film automotive commercials, has been declared the world's best road trip, and been awarded the title as "Norwegian Construction of the Century". In 2009, the Atlantic Ocean Tunnel opened from Averøy to Kristiansund; together they form a second fixed link between Kristiansund and Molde.

NORWAY

Atlantic Ocean Road

1989

WORLD’S MOST BEAUTIFUL & DANGEROUS ROAD

2004

Highway 110

CHINA

Traffic on the China National Highway 110 had grown 40 percent every year in the previous several years, making the highway chronically congested.The traffic volume at the time of the incident was 60% more than the design capacity.

The cause of the traffic jam was reported to be a spike in traffic by heavy trucks heading to Beijing, along with National Highway 110's maintenance work that began five days later. The road construction which reduced the road capacity by 50% contributed heavily to the traffic jam and was not due to be completed until mid-September.

Police reported that minor breakdowns and accidents were compounding the problem.

Greatly increased coal production in Inner Mongolia was transported to Beijing along this route because of the lack of railway capacity, which overloaded the highway. 602 million tons of coal were mined and transported in 2009; production was expected to rise to 730 million tons in 2010. An additional factor is efforts by overloaded trucks which lack proper paperwork for their cargo to avoid a coal quality supervision and inspection station on China National Highway 208. This china jam was of 100+km and then that day there are 5 flyovers above N. H. 110.

Locals near the highway sold various goods like water, instant noodles, and cigarettes at inflated prices to the stranded drivers. A bottle of water normally cost 1 yuan, but on the highway it was sold for 15 yuan. Drivers also complained that the price of instant noodles had more than tripled. Some vendors created mobile stores on bicycles.

Authorities tried to speed up traffic by allowing more trucks to enter Beijing, especially at night. They also asked trucking companies to suspend operations or take alternative routes.

By late August 2010, the traffic jam largely dissipated, reportedly due to the efforts of authorities.Between Beijing and Inner Mongolia, only minor traffic slowdowns were reported near toll booths.

WORLD’S BUSIEST ROAD

CONCRETE WORLD

Claudia Martinelli

GOG 2019

A

CREDITS Free University of Bolzano - Bozen Faculty of Design and Art Bachelor in Design and Art - Major in Design WUP 18/19 | 1st semester foundation course Project Modul: Editorial Design Design by: Claudia Martinelli Magazine | A CONCRETE WORLD Supervision: Project leader Prof. Antonino Benincasa Project assistants Maximilian Boiger, Gian Marco Favretto Photography: Adam Morse, Alexander Londono, Christopher Herwig, Costas Spathis, David Umemoto, Peter Stewart, Rene Deanda, Ryoji Iwata Paper: Recycled grey cardboard 295 gr.

Cyclus Offset 140 gr.

Herma Premium Fonts: Helvetica Neue - Condensed Black, Bold and Regular Printed: Bozen-Bolzano, January 2019 Inside pages – Digital Print | Canon Cover – UV-Serigprahy & Laser Cut