Domus 1097 is now available

Welcome 2025. Domus greets the year with Bjarke Ingels, the new Guest Editor who inaugurates his scientific direction with “In Praise of Materialism”, that is, with “the search for ways in which human history has been shaped by the materials we have been able to gather and manipulate to shape the world around us”, writes Ingels in his first editorial on Domus. An article that gives a precise direction and invites readers to a true virtuosity, a quantum leap from our cyberspace to material reality, where stone is the cradle of architecture and therefore of society and its relationship with life and the cosmos, from the Greek temple – “a wooden building translated into stone” to Göbekli Tepe, Stonehenge, the great pyramids, the Acropolis, Petra, the Colosseum, Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu up to the Arc de Triomphe and the Washington Monument, all rigorously in stone. The reason is simple, explains Ingels, because “before learning to cut and overlap stones, we lived in caves”.

Designed with inspiration from the Domus of the years between the Sixties and Seventies by the inspiration of Francesco Franchi and Lorenzo Frosi, Domus January 2025 presents itself with a cover “in stone” and a “vertical header” as a tribute to the past revisited by the genius of the Danish architect. And after the opening with a graphic section that recalls the most important stone constructions in history, and the formation of stone on planet Earth, Domus opens the architecture section offering the reader many variations on the theme of stone, starting from the studio visit that Ingels in person makes to Amin Taha of Groupwork, a London studio specializing in the use of stone for contemporary architecture. Following are seven exceptional testimonies on the persistence and value of stone: an interpretation of the Sagrada Familia, a reflection by Atelier Perraudin on mixed buildings in Lyon, an analysis by Elias and Youssef Anastas of the ability of stone to “build politics”, an investigation into the sandstone Columbarium complex by BRD Arckitect. Furthermore, the redevelopment of a square in Ferrara by the INOUT Arquitectura collective, the archaic beauty of the Renava Pavillon at the Contemporary Art Biennale De Renava by the Orma Arquitectura studio and finally the evolutions of Studio Partisan at the Rolex Royal de Versailles Jewelers boutique in Toronto.

After the architecture section, the reader will be struck by a highly original version of the portfolio, which recounts the journey of a block of marble from the Apuan Alps to the Perelman Center in New York. A journey that is like the visual preface to the three reflections that make up the design section: a stone tale by Sabine Marcelis, a dialogue with the places of Surface design and an extraordinary session, Seat 1001, by Anne Pesonen. In the final section of the magazine, dedicated to art, the reader can immerse themselves in two masterpieces: Forma liberata by Najla El Zein and a monument in the heart of the North York Moors National Park by Andy Goldsworthy.

Domus 2025, however, closes with a surprise: the Oxymorons section, which Guest Editor Bjarke Ingels wanted to reserve for himself to explore a theme that - together with materialism - is very dear to him. In the first article, with the help of José Manuel Castor Lopez, the oxymoron is dedicated to “soft stones”, a surprise that is also an intellectual firework display. The last page of the Gues Editor section of Domus January 2025 continues the tradition of recent years and remains dedicated to the cover, which Bjarke Ingels wanted to inaugurate with Marinace Rosso, a stone with a thousand secrets.

Finally, we can only go back to the beginning, that is to the Diary section which this year will be edited by Elena Sommariva with the direction of Walter Mariotti. As always, the Diary section will show the plasticity and pervasiveness of architecture, art and design in contemporary life. In addition to the historic signatures of the editorial staff - Loredana Mascheroni, Elena Sommariva, Simona Bordone - among the protagonists invited to collaborate in the 2025 edition of the Domus Diary are the botanist Stefano Mancuso, the physicist Roberto Battiston, the space engineer Valentina Sumini, the historian of the economy Alberto Mingardi, the attributionist and photographer Valentina Petrucci, the essayist Antonio Armano, the art critic and museum director Marco Pierini, the art director Francesco Franchi, the curator Silvana Annicchiarico, the literary and film critic Daniela Brogi and the journalists Paola Carimati, Massimo Valzgris, Caroline Corbetta.

Enjoy your reading and happy new year with Domus 2025!