The May issue focuses on the role of landscape architecture in the world of the future, the new challenges dictated by changing natural environments and the need to develop new methods in step with the times. Domus 1057 opens with three essays: guest editor Tadao Ando stresses “the importance of the coexistence of nature and the urban environment”; Jordi Bellmunt Chiva draws up a list of the challenges of the “new landscape architecture”; Tomoki Kato takes us on a journey through Japanese gardens and their relationship with the cities to which they belong.
Domus 1057 is on newsstands. An issue dedicated to the landscape
Guest editor Tadao Ando talks about his vision of the landscapes of the future, Jordi Bellmunt Chiva analyzes the challenges of landscape design, Tomoki Kato takes us on a tour of Japan's new gardens. Browse the gallery and discover the contents of the magazine.
The stepwell of Bundi. Photo Mitch Cullin
Text Tadao Ando. Photo Frédéric Soltan / Corbis via Getty Images
Text Jordi Bellmunt Chiva. Photo Studio Bürgi Camorino
Text Tomoki Kato. Photo Ueyakato Landscape
Text from the architect's project description. Photo Azulik
Text from the architect's project description. Photo Ben Luxmoore
Text from the architect's project description. Photo David Lloyd
Text from the architect's project description. Photo Cristian Fuhrhop
Text from the architect's project description. Photo Fernando Guerra
Text from the architect's project description. Photo Jan Schuenke
Text Caroline Corbetta. Photo Jamie Barron Courtesy of the artist; 303 Gallery, New York; Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich; Victoria Miro Gallery, London; Regen Projects, Los Angeles; and The Trustees of Reservations
Text Anna Lindgren, Sofia Lagerkvist. Photo Andy Liffner
Text Daan Roosegaarde. Photo Willem de Kam, Ossip van Duivenbode, Daan Roosegaarde
Text Alex Beam. Photo © 2021. Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York / Scala, Firenze
Text and image Sanjay Puri Architects
Text Andrea Caputo. Illustration Michele Tranquillini
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- Redazione Domus
- 05 May 2021
The Architecture section presents six projects, divided into three interconnected themes: integrating landscape, intervening in landscape, and generating landscapes. In Qintana-Roo, Mexico, a museum is not born from a predefined idea but is modeled on the fluidity of nature itself, thanks to the collaboration between Roth Architecture and local artisans. On the banks of the Thames, Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Neiheiser Argyros, create an elevated park modeled with respect for native vegetation and devoid of unnecessary structural complexity. A scenic trail in Shenzhen, China, allows visitors to enjoy an elevated viewpoint over the forest, “achieving a balance between environmental sensitivity and iconicity.” In Chile, a memorial created by Alarcón+Fuhrhop+Montalbetti arquitectos, exploits the contrast between fifty concrete slabs and uncontaminated nature to convey the elaboration of mourning without constraints or prejudices. Finally, two landscapes generated by the need to restore the local ecosystem in the United Arab Emirates and Austria show us how landscape architecture uses natural dynamics and climate to create an environment “inextricably linked to the health and vitality of our planet.”
In the Art section, Doug Aitken and Walter De Maria formulate a new paradigm of Land Art, from an anthropocentric approach towards an ecocentric one, sensitive to the change of time. Design by Nature, on the other hand, is a project somewhere between art and design that opens the Design section. It develops objects inspired and modelled on the forms of the natural environment, thanks to the collaboration and creativity of Patrizia Moroso. Furthermore in the Design section we find the project Urban Sun by Studio Roosegaarde, born and accelerated by the pandemic, on how “the power of light can be used to fight viruses and improve our well-being”.
In the Creators section, we asked illustrious names including John Pawson, Paul Smith, Tatiana Bilbao, Jean Nouvel and Thomas Heatherwick how to create the landscape. The answer came in the form of images, sketches and texts, an exceptional expression of creativity between architecture, design and photography.
The column Around the Project opens with the story of the relationship between Mies Van der Rohe and his client Edith Farnsworth, stormy and unusual yet from which the Farnsworth House, a masterpiece of Modernism, was born. Followed by the construction challenge of the Prestige University in India, a building that spans on 8,000 square meters of irregular terraces but only 20 meters in height.
Closing up, a visit to Atelier Masomi of Mariam Kamara, who has developed a dynamic, real-time remote work system to meet the challenges dictated by the pandemic but also by the duality of the studio, which is divided between projects in Africa and the United States.
In this month's Diary: at the Round Table with Francesca Condò, Giovanna Borasi, Federico Palazzari and Roberto Cremascoli we discuss how the pandemic will change the role and spaces of museums. With Carlos D'Ercole, we enter the home of Terry Winters in New York, among pieces of African craftsmanship and iconic designs. Art historian Valentina Petrucci recounts the close link between Dior's fashion and art. Stefano Maffei exposes the “other voices”: emerging designers and their relationship with an industry in continuous evolution.
These are followed by pages dedicated to innovation in stores and children's toys. The talent of Gereon Wahle and his hybrid design emerges. We look at design objects, from Scavolini to Nordic designs, and conclude with an interview by Domus editor Walter Mariotti to Federico Faggin, the inventor of the microprocessor and the touch screen, on the potential of Milan and the future of technology.
Cover page Domus 1057
The circular terraces of the Peruvian site of Moray near Maras in the Valley of the Incas.
Nine multidisciplinary pathways – which are both rigorous and amorphous – reveal the state of the art of a discipline that is rising to new challenges. In the picture: the geological observatory in Cimetta, Cardada, Switzerland, designed by Studio Bürgi, 2000.
Transformed by the passing of time and their altered relationship with the city, they have nonetheless retained their spiritual and cultural value. In the picture: autumn view of the garden of Nanzen-in Temple in Kyoto
The outcome of a spontaneous construction process, the museum is one of a series of projects that share a precise vision: art as a bridge to get closer to nature.
Greenwich Peninsula has been enriched with the first part of a linear park designed to link various cultural and social destinations. The project starts from a single element uniting technology and landscape. In the picture: view of the path where it opens out towards the Thames.
Three iconic overhead structures form key points in the scenic path that winds its way through the nearby mountains from the urban area of Shenzhen, communicating with the natural setting. In the picture: one of the three rings that make up the Floating Bridge. The structure rises up to 30 m from the ground and offers views of the forest at tree-top height.
Immersed in the landscape and unspoilt nature of the nearby Andes, a long concrete stage set delimits and separates a grave from the space for liturgical activities. In the picture: the wall, about 31 m long and composed of 50 concrete slabs inclined by circa 45 degrees, divides the site into two parts. On one side, the place for liturgical activities; on the other, the grave, whose position is marked by a tree.
Situated in a vast desert area previously occupied by a dumping ground, the project has restored the indigenous ecosystem which now hosts a wide variety of bird species. In the picture: aerial view of the structure from the east; in the foreground, the entrance area that intersects the panoramic gallery where visitors can observe the birds.
Various associations of plant species inhabit the 13 courtyards of this project, forming a veritable ecosystem that replaces artificial air conditioning. In the picture: the project set in the Almtal valley.
Two different and diachronic paths, but with striking assonances. An exploration of these two artists’ works reveals a paradigm shift in land art, from anthropocentric to eco-centric. In the picture: Doug Aitken, New Horizon, Massachusetts, July 2019. The hot-air balloon designed as a reflective kinetic light sculpture flew over iconic sites from Martha’s Vineyard, Boston, to Berkshire.
Exploring the forms, structures and surfaces of nature, this furniture project mixes art with design to test the therapeutic effects of contact with uncontaminated settings. In the picture: the sofa camouflaged in the Swedish forest
A far-UVC light projector suspended above urban spaces could help create safer gathering places and counter the social isolation of recent months. In the picture: Daan Roosegaarde attending the inauguration of the Urban Sun pilot project in Rotterdam last March. The far-UVC light source is measured and calibrated by the Dutch National Metrology Institute VSL and it meets the safety standards of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). Urban Sun is the second project in Studio Roosegaarde’s DreamScapes series which combines art and science.
Long scrutinised by historians in the tiniest detail, the relationship between Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Edith Farnsworth was personal and stormy – indeed it ended up in court. Nonetheless, this unusual architect-client rapport had little or no impact at all on the design of the Farnsworth House, a Modern masterpiece. In the pictures: Mies van der Rohe outside the house during its construction. Negative on film.
Process The size and irregular-grid structure of the complex for Prestige University in Indore represented the main construction challenges for this Indian project. In the picture: a rendering of the project, which is scheduled for completion in July 2021. The building’s terraced roof is completely walkable from north to south, with the complex rising gradually to a height of 20 m. The east, west and south sides are enveloped by a ventilated brick facade to mitigate heat gain.
Collaborations with local artisans alongside research and development conducted with engineers in Niamey distinguish the practice of Mariam Kamara, who lives between Niger and the United States.