The June issue focuses on the importance of geometry as an immutable principle and testimony of our civilization. Domus 1058 opens with three essays: in The Power of Geometry guest editor Tadao Ando explores the different approaches to architectural forms; Ajay Manthripragada recounts the famous spiral staircase that Franco Albini and Franca Helg designed for La Rinascente in Rome; Cameron Wu recalls that geometry can never be fooled.
In the Euclidean Geometries section, we discover three projects that start from geometric principles: a hotel in Japan created from a series of squares simulates a labyrinthine journey through different levels and multiple overlaps. Also in New York, a house by Young Projects uses the rearrangement of square geometries, typical of local barns, to create an elegant contemporary home.
In Obscured Geometries, we discover an interactive space for children and adults formed by six intertwined hollow cylinders, a playground to “to engage, to participate and ultimately become part of the creative work”. Shade-Water-Breeze Fold by S-MAO Sancho-Madridejos Architecture Office, on the other hand, is a residential project inspired by the art of folding, that is created by a building body folded from a single surface to form openings and geometries necessary to climate the environment.
In Structural Geometries, the redevelopment of an old train station devastated by Hurricane Stan brought culture, sports and community back to a neighborhood in Tapachula, Mexico.
The Art section presents the world of Liam Gillick and parallels with the art of Josef Albers, among “forms and materials that draw on construction and manufacturing systems”, in a dialogue about visual and sensory perception.
The column Around the Project opens with the story of the Padiglione Fiera del Mare in Genoa, the project of Italian architect Angelo Mangiarotti to display (and observe) the great ships that passed through the sea. In Japan, the Yashima Mountaintop park was created to revitalize the summit area of the mountain of the same name through a 3D modeling process based on the topography and organic geometry of the place, and on the need to respect the shape of the natural environment.
In Studio Visit we meet the Dutch studio Anne Holtrop for whom “at the base of the work there is an in-depth research on materials and their applications”, as told visually by their projects scattered all over the world.
In this month's Diary: at the Round Table with Ubaldo Occhinegro, Paola Viganò, Lina Ghotmeh and Nicolas Swetchine the starting question is: “How can we design infrastructures that are more sustainable?” the result is an interesting conversation on the need to revise the dialogue between architecture and design for the cities of the future.
In House like Me Carlos d’Ercole enters the house of Miquel Barceló, Spanish painter living in Paris, with an immersion in his world made of paintings, photographs and sketches.
These are followed by pages dedicated to the voices of design, including exhibitions, displays, jewelry, objects and public spaces for children. The designer Paolo Metaldi recounts his work among inspirations from the 1950s and Enzo Mari. We discover the sketches for a bedside table by the Milanese designer Nanda Vigo and in Switzerland, a careful restoration allows us to rediscover the history and the potential of a building that was a pioneer of prefabrication in the residential sector. The Diary concludes with an interview by Domus editor Walter Mariotti with Giuseppe Cornetto Bourlot, president of Lunedes (which in 2019 acquired Luxy, maker of Francesco Favaretto’s famous Italia chairs) about the tradition of Italian design and the opportunities that the post-pandemic future holds.
Together with issue 1058 we attached the special EcoWorld, an insert dedicated to sustainable materials and processes. The Diary column of this insert opens with a conversation between designers: Monica Förster, Raffaello Galiotto, Francesco Bettoni and Tom Dixon talk about their ecological approach to different materials used in the production process. These are followed by pages dedicated to the processing and use of ethical and avant-garde materials in the world of fashion, furnishings, crafts and architecture. Walter Mariotti takes the works of multidisciplinary artist Aoi Huber Kono to talk about “regenerative design”, followed by a conversation with her about graphic design, art and the importance of colors in life. We conclude in the Architecture and Design sections with new projects and reconversions under the banner of upcycling and the ethical use of materials.