1.
Modern architecture
–
Modern architecture or modernist architecture is a term applied to a group of styles of architecture which emerged in the first half of the 20th century and became dominant after World War II. The revolution in materials came first, with the use of cast iron, plate glass, the cast plate glass process was invented in 1848, allowing the manufacture of very large windows. The Crystal Palace by Joseph Paxton at the Great Exhibition of 1851 was an example of iron and plate glass construction, followed in 1864 by the first glass. These developments together led to the first steel-framed skyscraper, the ten-story Home Insurance Building in Chicago, the iron frame construction of the Eiffel Tower, then the tallest structure in the world, captured the imagination of millions of visitors to the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition. French industrialist François Coignet was the first to use iron-reinforced concrete, in 1853 Coignet built the first iron reinforced concrete structure, a four story house in the suburbs of Paris. Another important technology for the new architecture was electric light, which reduced the inherent danger of fires caused by gas in the 19th century. This break with the past was particularly urged by the architectural theorist, for each function its material, for each material its form and its ornament. This book influenced a generation of architects, including Louis Sullivan, Victor Horta, Hector Guimard, at the end of the 19th century, a few architects began to challenge the traditional Beaux Arts and Neoclassical styles that dominated architecture in Europe and the United States. The Glasgow School of Art 1896-99) designed by Charles Rennie MacIntosh, had a facade dominated by large bays of windows. The Art Nouveau style was launched in the 1890s by Victor Horta in Belgium and Hector Guimard in France, it introduced new styles of decoration, based on vegetal and floral forms. In 1903-1904 in Paris Auguste Perret and Henri Sauvage began to use reinforced concrete, previously used for industrial structures. Between 1910 and 1913, Auguste Perret built the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, because of the concrete construction, no columns blocked the spectators view of the stage. Otto Wagner, in Vienna, was another pioneer of the new style, in his book Moderne Arkchtekture he had called for a more rationalist style of architecture, based on modern life. Wagner declared his intention to express the function of the building in its exterior, the reinforced concrete exterior was covered with plaques of marble attached with bolts of polished aluminum. The interior was purely functional and spare, an open space of steel, glass. The Viennese architect Adolf Loos also began removing any ornament from his buildings and his Steiner House, in Vienna, was an example of what he called rationalist architecture, it had a simple stucco rectangual facade with square windows and no ornament. The fame of the new movement, which known as the Vienna Secession spread beyond Austria. Josef Hoffmann, a student of Wagner, constructed a landmark of early modernist architecture and this residence, built of brick covered with Norwegian marble, was composed of geometric blocks, wings and a tower
2.
Italy
–
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
3.
Lombardy
–
Lombardy is one of the twenty administrative regions of Italy, in the northwest of the country, with an area of 23,844 square kilometres. Milan, Lombardys capital, is the second-largest city and the largest metropolitan area in Italy, the word Lombardy comes from Lombard, which in turn is derived from Late Latin Longobardus, Langobardus, derived from the Proto-Germanic elements *langaz + *bardaz, equivalent to long beard. Some sources derive the second element instead from Proto-Germanic *bardǭ, *barduz, Lombardy referred during the early Middle Ages to the entire territory of Italy ruled by the Lombards, a Germanic tribe who conquered much of the Italian peninsula beginning in the 6th century. During the late Middle Ages, the term shifted meaning and was used to identify the whole of Northern Italy, with a surface of 23,861 km2, Lombardy is the 4th largest region of Italy. It is bordered by Switzerland and by the Italian regions of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, three distinct natural zones can be fairly easily distinguished in the Lombardy region, mountains, hills and plains – the latter being divided in Alta and Bassa. Inconsistent with the three distinctions above made is the subregion of Oltrepò Pavese, formed by the Apennine foothills beyond the Po River. The mighty Po river marks the border of the region for a length of about 210 km. In its progress it receives the waters of the Ticino River, the other streams which contribute to the great river are, the Olona, the Lambro, the Adda, the Oglio and the Mincio. The numerous lakes of Lombardy, all of glacial origin, lie in the northern highlands, from west to east these are Lake Maggiore, Lake Lugano, Lake Como, Lake Iseo, Lake Idro, then Lake Garda, the largest in Italy. A minor mountainous area, the Oltrepò Pavese, lies south of the Po, in the plains, intensively cultivated for centuries, little of the original environment remains. The most commons trees are elm, alder, sycamore, poplar, willow, in the area of the foothills lakes, however, grow olive trees, cypresses and larches, as well as varieties of subtropical flora such as magnolias, azaleas, acacias. Numerous species of flora in the Prealpine area include some kinds of saxifrage, the Lombard garlic, groundsels bellflowers. The highlands are characterized by the vegetation of the whole range of the Italian Alps. At a lower levels oak woods or broadleafed trees grow, on the slopes beech trees grow at the lowest limits. Shrubs such as rhododendron, dwarf pine and juniper are native to the summital zone, Lombardy has a wide array of climates, due to local variances in elevation, proximity to inland water basins, and large metropolitan areas. In addition, there is a seasonal temperature variation. A peculiarity of the climate is the thick fog that covers the plains between October and February. In the Alpine foothills, characterised by an Oceanic climate, numerous lakes exercise a mitigating influence, in the hills and mountains, the climate is humid continental
4.
Gio Ponti
–
Giovanni Gio Ponti was an Italian architect, industrial designer, furniture designer, artist, and publisher. Pontis parents were Enrico Ponti and Giovanna Rigone and he did military service during World War I in the Pontonier Corps with the rank of captain, from 1916 to 1918, receiving the Bronze Medal and the Italian Military Cross. Ponti graduated with a degree in Architecture in 1921 from the Politecnico di Milano University, also in 1921, he married Giulia Vimercati, they eventually would have four children and eight grandchildren. Ponti began his career in partnership with Mino Fiocchi and Emilio Lancia from 1923 through 1927. In these years he was influenced by and associated with the Milanese neo-classical Novecento Italiano movement, around 1933, Ponti ended his relationship with Lancia and teamed with two engineers, Antonio Fornaroli and Eugenio Soncini, to form Studio Ponti-Fornaroli-Soncini which would last until 1945. Ponti in 1950 won the commission to design the 32-story Pirelli Tower in collaboration with Pier Luigi Nervi and this was the second skyscraper built in Milan, and likely the climax of Pontis entire career. In 1951, Ponti designed the plan, and two individual block contributions, for the IINA lIstituto Nazionale per le Assicurazione) Casa quarter housing project in Milan. In 1952 he went into partnership with the architect Alberto Rosselli, from 1953 to 1957, he built the Hotel della Città et de la Ville and the Centro Studi Fondazione Livio e Maria Garzanti, in Forlì, by the assignment of Aldo Garzanti, a famous Italian publisher. Between 1960 and 1962 Ponti designed and realize the first Italian Hotel Design, from 1923 to 1930 Ponti worked at the Manifattura Ceramica Richard Ginori, in Milan and Sesto Fiorentino, changing the companys whole output. Also very famous is the Due Foglie sofa. glass bottles, he designed stylish, among the latter, one of the most famous is the Billia lamp, which looks modern today but it was designed for Fontana Arte in 1931. Design by Ponti photographed by Paolo Monti In 1928 he founded Domus magazine, in 1941 he resigned as editor of Domus and set up Stile magazine, which he edited until 1947. In 1948 he returned to Domus, where he remained as editor until his death, from 1936 to 1961 he worked as a professor on the permanent staff of the Faculty of Architecture at Politecnico di Milano University. In 1934 he was given the title of Commander of the Royal Order of Vasa in Stockholm and he also obtained the Accademia dItalia Art Prize for his artistic merits, as well as a gold medal from the Paris Académie dArchitecture. Finally, he obtained an honorary Doctorate from the London Royal College of Art, Ponti, Gio, In Praise of Architecture, NY, F. W. Dodge Corporation,1960. Sherer, Daniel, “Gio Ponti in New York, Design, Architecture, catalogue essay for the Ponti Exhibition at the Triennale di Milano,6 May –24 July 2011, 35–45
5.
Pier Luigi Nervi
–
Pier Luigi Nervi was an Italian engineer. He studied at the University of Bologna and qualified in 1913, dr. Nervi taught as a professor of engineering at Rome University from 1946-61. He is widely known as a engineer and an architect. Pier Luigi Nervi was born in Sondrio and attended the Civil Engineering School of Bologna, after graduation, Nervi joined the Society for Concrete Construction. Nervi spent several years in the Italian army during World War I from 1915–1918 and his formal education was quite similar to that experienced by todays civil engineering student in Italy. From 1961-1962 Nervi was the Norton professor at Harvard University, Nervi began practicing civil engineering after 1923, and built several airplane hangars amongst his contracts. Nervi also stressed that intuition should be used as much as mathematics in design and he borrowed from both Roman and Renaissance architecture while applying ribbing and vaulting to improve strength and eliminate columns. He combined simple geometry and prefabrication to innovate design solutions, Pier Luigi Nervi was educated and practised as a ingegnere edile – in Italy, at the time, a building engineer might also be considered an architect. After 1932, his aesthetically pleasing designs were used for major projects and this was due to the booming number of construction projects at the time which used concrete and steel in Europe and the architecture aspect took a step back to the potential of engineering. Nervi successfully made reinforced concrete the main material of the day. Nervi expounded his ideas on building in four books and many learned papers, archeological excavations suggested that he may have some responsibilities for the Flaminio stadium foundations passing through ancient Roman tombs. Most of his structures are in his native Italy. Nervis first project in the United States was the George Washington Bridge Bus Station and he designed the roof which consists of triangle pieces which were cast in place. This building is used today by over 700 buses and their passengers. Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence Ugolino Golf House, Impruneta, Italy Torino Esposizioni, Turin, Norfolk Scope, Norfolk, VA Pier Luigi Nervi was awarded Gold Medals by the Institution of Structural Engineers, the American Institute of Architects, and the RIBA. He was also awarded the Frank P. Brown Medal of The Franklin Institute in 1957, in 1957, he was awarded the Wilhelm Exner Medal
6.
Skyscraper
–
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building having multiple floors. When the term was used in the 1880s it described a building of 10 to 20 floors. Mostly designed for office, commercial and residential uses, a skyscraper can also be called a high-rise, for buildings above a height of 300 m, the term supertall can be used, while skyscrapers reaching beyond 600 m are classified as megatall. One common feature of skyscrapers is having a steel framework that supports curtain walls and these curtain walls either bear on the framework below or are suspended from the framework above, rather than resting on load-bearing walls of conventional construction. Some early skyscrapers have a frame that enables the construction of load-bearing walls taller than of those made of reinforced concrete. Modern skyscrapers walls are not load-bearing, and most skyscrapers are characterized by surface areas of windows made possible by steel frames. However, skyscrapers can have curtain walls that mimic conventional walls with a surface area of windows. Modern skyscrapers often have a structure, and are designed to act like a hollow cylinder to resist wind, seismic. To appear more slender, allow less wind exposure, and transmit more daylight to the ground, many skyscrapers have a design with setbacks, a relatively big building may be considered a skyscraper if it protrudes well above its built environment and changes the overall skyline. The maximum height of structures has progressed historically with building methods and technologies, the Burj Khalifa is currently the tallest building in the world. High-rise buildings are considered shorter than skyscrapers, the first steel-frame skyscraper was the Home Insurance Building in Chicago, Illinois in 1885. Even the scholars making the argument find it to be purely academic and this definition was based on the steel skeleton—as opposed to constructions of load-bearing masonry, which passed their practical limit in 1891 with Chicagos Monadnock Building. What is the characteristic of the tall office building. The force and power of altitude must be in it, the glory and it must be every inch a proud and soaring thing, rising in sheer exaltation that from bottom to top it is a unit without a single dissenting line. Some structural engineers define a highrise as any vertical construction for which wind is a significant load factor than earthquake or weight. Note that this criterion fits not only high-rises but some other tall structures, the word skyscraper often carries a connotation of pride and achievement. A loose convention of some in the United States and Europe draws the limit of a skyscraper at 150 m or 490 ft. The tallest building in ancient times was the 146 m Great Pyramid of Giza in ancient Egypt and it was not surpassed in height for thousands of years, the 14th century AD Lincoln Cathedral being conjectured by many to have exceeded it
_-_BEIC_6338547.jpg)
