presentazione/introduction
The need of relaxation text by Marco Casamonti

editoriale/editorial
Rest ennobles man text by Paolo Giardiello
Not only objects text by Antonio Gentile

intervista/interview
The importance of pleasure a dialogue with Ernesto Neto

oggetti/objects
Vico Magistretti/Louisiana
Francesco Binfaré/Flap
Nipa Doshi & Jonathan Levien/Principessa
Bauke Knottnerus/Phat Kits
Patricia Urquiola/Bend-sofa
Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec/Ploum
Karim Rashid/Koop
Catherine Le Téo & Thierry Blet/LBT lounge
Mirko Tattarini Monti/Chaise longue
Stephan Urlich/Funktionide
Fabio Lenci/Sorgente
ZAAFDesign/Brezza
Ron Gilad/Wallpiercing
Alessandro Mendini/Moka Alessi
Stefano Giovanoni/Tab
Artefactgroup/Modwells
Luca Schieppati/Ciclotte
Centro Stile Gruppo Piaggio/Vespa PX

esiti concorsi/competitions

recensioni mostre e libri/exhibition and book reviews

new media


Daeyang Gallery and House

area 115 | concrete

The private gallery and house is sited in the hills of the Kangbuk section of Seoul, Korea. The project was designed as an experiment parallel to a research studio on…

the need for relaxation

area 115+ | relax

In a period as feverish and complex as ever before, where everything seems to happen at once due to the speed of communication, when we are interconnected in every moment…

Rest ennobles Man

area 115+ | relax

Relax – the spaces dedicated to it and the objects ideated for that activity – is the theme on which this special issue of AREA centres. It may be useful,…

The importance of pleasure a dialogue with Ernesto Neto

area 115+ | relax

“Circleprototemple….!“. Plywood, polyamide tulle, foam, cotton corduroy, elastic cord, samba drum, drumstick, 285 x 310ø Installation view at The Edges of the World Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, 19 June-5 September…

L’ozio è il principio di tutti i vizi e il coronamento di tutte le virtù.

area 115+ | relax

18 designers for relax Vico Magistretti Francesco Binfaré Nipa Doshi & Jonathan Levien Bauke Knottnerus Patricia Urquiola Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec Karim Rashid Catherine Le Téo & Thierry Blet Mirko…

louisiana

area 115+ | relax

Soft and sinuous lines characterize Lousiana, the armchair with pouf designed by Vico Magistretti, built around a steel structure padded by expanded polyurethane foam. Versatility and a wide range of…

flap gold edition

area 115+ | relax

Edra celebrates two very special anniversaries in 2010. The first brings us back to 10 years ago, to the year 2000 which saw the launch of ‘Flap‘, a sofa designed…

principessa

area 115+ | relax

After having presented the famous Charpoy collection, a contemporary version of the Indian day bed, Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien continue their collaboration with Moroso by presenting “Principessa” in 2008….

Phat Knits

area 115+ | relax

Rotterdam based designer Bauke Knottnerus approaches design on a macro level using large threads to create large scale knitted objects. With these gigantic yarns, you can create/knit long objects that…

bend-sofa

area 115+ | relax

Patricia Urquiola’s has designed a surprising series of seats that transforms the tradition concept of the sofa. She has entitled the product bend-sofa due to its curvaceous albeit monolithic form….

ploum

area 115+ | relax

“We attempted to make a very comfortable contemporary settee.  Ploum is a vast shape offering a soft, welcoming surface on which the whole body can rest. Its seat is relatively…

koop

area 115+ | relax

The Koop chair is the new armchair designed by Karim Rashid in collaboration with the old and prestigious Finnish design brand Martela. The ovoid shape of the outer structure forms…

LTB lounge

area 115+ | relax

Designed by the French duo Le Téo & Blet, LTB is specifically ideated to meet the requirements of relax. It is much more than a line of lounge seats: it…

chaise longue

area 115+ | relax

Aston Martin opens the doors to the world of interior design with a completely new furniture collection, aimed at inspiring design addicts with designs that interpret the very values on…

funktionide

area 115+ | relax

Funktionide is an amorph object whose intention is to provide the owner with an atmosphere of presence thus counteracting the feeling of loneliness. In the visions future people are lonely…

Sorgente

area 115+ | relax

A source is where a great river is born, where earth restores what the sky has given it, to distribute it across the land, nurturing every kind of living organism….

ZAAFDesign

area 115+ | relax

The Brezza Bathtub becomes a social object for the Bathroom Furniture. With this project, the bathroom changes into a relaxing and wellness space through the transformation of an individual object…

wallpiercing

area 115+ | relax

Flos is presenting one of its most ambitious and avant-garde products: the Soft Architecture collection. Created using an innovative composite material (Under-Cover technology) which unites light weight and high strength,…

moka alessi

area 115+ | relax

“This project is a tribute to my maternal grandfather Alfonso Bialetti who, in the ’30s of the 20th century, was the inventor, designer and first manufacturer of the Moka Express,…

tab

area 115+ | relax

“AlessiTab“ is the new interactive multimedia tablet developed by the partnership between Alessi and Promelit and exclusively designed by Stefano Giovannoni. The ”AlessiTab” which stands for ”tablet”, literally ”slab” or…

modwells

area 115+ | relax

The modwells system is a new consumer-focused healthcare experience that is integrated into our daily lives and improves our physical and emotional health toward a better quality of life. The…

ciclotte

area 115+ | relax

Ciclotte is an innovative exercise bike, designed and Made in Italy combining idea, form and technology in rethinking the traditional aesthetic and functional values of an exercise bike. Ciclotte has…

vespa PX 150

area 115+ | relax

After playing a leading role in the history of our country’s costumes and mobility for 65 years, Vespa celebrates the 150 years since the unification of Italy: Vespa PX, 150th…

area 115 – concrete

area 115 | concrete

          presentazione/introduction The beauty of concrete text by Marco Casamonti editoriale/editorial The miracle of cast stone text by Sergio Poretti Stressed structure text by Antón García…

The beauty of concrete

area 115 | concrete

Paulo Mendes da Rocha, MUBE museum, São Paulo. Photo by Leonardo Finotti The word “concrete” which should simply indicate the most widely used building material really evokes, in a great…

The miracles of cast stone

area 115 | concrete

On the occasion of the exhibition on Pier Luigi Nervi presented at the MAXXI, Zaha Hadid has written that the Italian engineer “has always wielded a profound influence” on her…

Stressed structures

area 115 | concrete

To build with the earth is to build time. In other words, it means to build by preserving the memory of nature, of the raw material. If we consider carefully,…

Teshima art museum

area 115 | concrete

Teshima Art Museum is located on Teshima Island in the Seto Inland Sea. It faces the ocean from a magnificent hillside covered by rice terraces. It was important to us…

Hanuman Temple

area 115 | concrete

These notes may be helpful to you one day, if what happened to me five years ago should happen to you. On an evening at the Mumbai airport a gentleman…

Léon de Greiff Library Park

area 115 | concrete

The aim is to establish a project that enables the biggest amount of urban connections and the development of public spaces. To achieve this, there are several proposals such as…

Food Park

area 115 | concrete

The project focuses on an area in the middle of the former area of the Carlo Erba plant, which is currently being developed and upgraded. The project area is central…

Plantahof Auditorium

area 115 | concrete

The placement of the new auditorium creates a new central square in the urban settlement of the agriculture school Plantahof. The high façade holds together the new piazza. The inner…

Parliament’s entrance Canton Grisons

area 115 | concrete

The design of the new entrance gives to the Parliament of Grisons and its building an appropriate identity and a splendid refined character. The idea is to allow all visitors…

FOVÁM TÉR metro station

area 115 | concrete

The new metro line planned in Budapest is to connect South-Buda with the city center.10 stations will be constructed in the first step. St. Gellért tér and Fovám tér stations…

Silk wall

area 115 | concrete

When we face the old complex with three warehouses and try to change its use to be an office for innovative working, it is the frugal building aesthetic and a…

House for elderly people

area 115 | concrete

The project is based on a attentive reading of the life of a very specific kind of community, a sort of a micro-society with its own rules. It is a…

Niquia Residencial Complex

area 115 | concrete

The project comprised the building of a small community with 13 dwellings, capable of preserving, protecting, integrating and enhancing the environmental heritage of the hills around Bogotá. The area is…

Metchosin House

area 115 | concrete

The question of site is fundamental and constitutes more than examining the context that surrounds a project. Site should be understood as being constantly in flux, evolving with a design…

Atelier Katharina Grosse

area 115 | concrete

The studio is located not far from Berlin’s central train station, in a part of the city that has been characterized since the mid-nineteenth century by large complexes of urban…

The constructive sense of Nervi’s icons on show in Rome

area 115 | concrete

Two clear and evident aspects represent the common denominator of the 14 works by Pier Luigi Nervi presented at the MAXXI in Rome, in the exhibition curated by Carlo Olmo,…

Riverside Museum

area 115 | concrete

The historical development of the Clyde and the city is a unique legacy; with the site situated where the Kelvin flows into the Clyde the building can flow from the…

Private house

area 115 | concrete

The interest for contemporary art is growing in the present-day society. The emerging tendency seems to be to replace products with experiences: less shopping, and more stimuli for the eyes,…

Pixie

area 115 | concrete

a double interview to 5.5 designers and Anne-Claude Truchement Nespresso project manager 5.5 designers Laura Andreini: How did your collaboration with Nespresso proceed? Have you enjoyed ample freedom in the…

contemporary itinerary: Napoli

area 115 | concrete