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The competition and its course of action registered a significant success. There were over 200 entries for the jury to evaluate. And also the public forum -organized at the end of March with the objective of answering to the questions the architects might have as well as of exposing them to the suggestions coming from teachers, psychologists and pedagogues- saw a very wide participation. The competition jury, presided by Herman Hertzberger , has now announced the winners: Andrea Stipa for the school in the Galcetello area and Mauro Frate for one in the Ponzano area. Second place are Giovanni Vragnaz and Franco Masotti; third place are Luca Lanini and Antonio Manuel Alves Ildefonso. Mention to Filippo Lambertucci.
According to the jury, the winning projects show a sensitive insight into the daily life within a school environment. The works are all capable of being part of the urban context like new cells of such an articulated and complex body as the social fabric of the city of Prato. These designs re-open and renew the debate on the value of public works in Italy, a topic which is at the core of GO CIVIC www.comune.prato.it/gocivic, the multi-annual program organised by the Municipality of Prato: they don't pretend to be icons or new extraordinary urban landmarks; they don't offer bold and spectacular solutions; rather, they are the clean expression of a careful and qualified architecture, one that is doable and sensitive, conceived so as to be built while at the same time capable of suggesting new visions. These new schools are capable of attracting and welcoming parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, who will not be mere chaperons for the youngest, but will be also actors and protagonists of functional and organized spatial systems, which have been conceived to enhance encounters, exchanges, social interaction. These needs are more and more important in cities like Prato, which in recent years have become the protagonists of a strong transformation towards cultural and ethnic heterogeneity. In this context, the concept of public work renovates its original meaning.
iMage supports the organization of the event and is in charge of its international communication.
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[May 25, 2008]. New creatures are settling in the spaces protagonists of SNAKE SPACE. NIO architecten, the exhibition devoted to the unique ability Maurice Nio www.nio.nl has in intervening on the "technical spaces" recognized in the marginal, abandoned, maybe forbidden areas which are usually neglected by the architectural construction of the contemporary city. The new robotic snake that inhabits the exhibition produced by iMage narrated the very personal and relentless research the Dutch architect is carrying out on inhabited spaces.
After a long tour which touched several cities in Italy, SNAKE SPACE is introduced in Prato, where Maurice Nio has been entrusted with the project for the addition to the Luigi Pecci Center for Contemporary Art. Here, as well as in the other ten projects the exhibition looks upon, Maurice Nio works by means of a strategy of re-connotation in order to describe the ferments of a new cultural season.
The exhibition, hosted by the cultural association Grafio in cooperation with the Pecci Center www.centropecci.it and with the support of the Councillorship for Culture of the Municipality of Prato www.comune.prato.it, will open on Thursday May 29 at 4:30 pm (via Fra' Bartolomeo 39) and will remain open until Wednesday June 19. After the opening, Maurice Nio will give a lecture at 6 pm at the "Alessandro Lazzerini" Town Library in via del Ceppo Vecchio 7 in Prato.
The event is part of the program of traveling exhibitions produced and organized by iMage.
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[May 21, 2008]. As part of its European circulation, the S(E)OUL SCAPE. Towards a New Urbanity in Korea exhibition, curated by Francisco Sanin and devoted to the works of six protagonists of contemporary architecture in Korea -Chung Guyon, Joh Sung-yong, Kim Young-joon, Min Hyun-sik, Seung H-sang, Yi Jong-ho- arrived at the Berlage Institute www.berlage-institute.nl in Rotterdam, where it will be open to the public until June 20th.
The commitment of these six architects, who represent together an integrated and solid intergenerational path, manifested itself in the will to attain a cultural fabric which is capable of growing richer through the realization of new schools, libraries and other cultural institutions. A materialization of the energetic development of Korea in the last years.
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For this reason, the notable Dutch institution decided to compare its researches with the topics presented within the exhibition produced by iMage. A round table discussion will be held on May 22nd at 7 pm, in which Pier Vittorio Aureli, Marco Brizzi, Joh Sung Yong, Branimir Medic, Min Hyun Sik, Pai Hyung-min, Francisco Sanin, and Seung H-sang will participate, among other guest speakers. "This round-table discussion will explore the connections between the large-scale city and the individual work of architecture, focusing on the value of research, experimentation, and political engagement in the contemporary Korean urban context" the Berlage Institute announces.
The S(E)OUL SCAPE. Towards a New Urbanity in Korea exhibition, which will continue its tour with a forthcoming venue in Maribor at UGM gallery, September 4 to 30, comes with a catalogue published by episode publishers www.episode-publishers.nl.
The event is part of the program of traveling exhibitions produced and organized by iMage.
[more information >]
[press release >]
[April 24, 2008]. 10 Taiwanese architects and 10 internationally selected architects design a series of houses: NEXT-GENE20 www.next-gene20.com is the projects that collects their visions for the realization of a qualified residential complex that harmonizes with the natural beauty of the Northeast Coast National Scenic Area, 50 minutes from Taipei, Taiwan. The invited architects are notable, mainly young, designers, who all share an interest in experimentation: Yung Ho Chang, Ray Chen, Hsueh-Yi Chien, Jay Wen-Chieh Chiu, Julien De Smedt, GRAFT, Akihisa Hirata, Irving Hung-Hui Huang, Sheng-Yuan Huang, IaN+, Yu-Tung Liu, Kengo Kuma, Shu-Chang Kung, Fernando Menis, Toshiko Mori, MVRDV, Hailim Suh, David Chun-Tei Tseng, Kyle Chia-kai Yang, Kris Yao.
The 20 projects proposed for NEXT-GENE20 outline a multifaceted array of formal solutions. The diversity of the design approaches, of the linguistic choices, of the representational methods define a plurality of residential proposals, each of which shows a precise identity while at the same time connecting to the others thanks to a common denominator: an investigation of nature, of the landscape and of the earth. All 20 projects thus share a common vision, which is the direct outcome of an intense calendar of visits, meeting and presentations during which the designers could all establish a constructive dialogue with the project coordinator, Yu-Tung Liu, and Tai-Nien Lu, the investor who wanted to realize this unique development.
iMage is in charge of the international communication of the event.
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[April 7, 2008]. The exhibition S(E)OUL SCAPE. Towards a New Urbanity in Korea, after its premiere in Florence, will open (April 9 at 8 pm) at Ras www.rasbcn.com in Barcelona, the bookshop and gallery of Actar www.actar.com publishing house. The exhibition will be at Ras from April 10 until May 3, 2008.
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Curated by Francisco Sanin, the S(E)OUL SCAPE exhibition identifies in the work of six among the most well known Korean architects -Chung Guyon, Joh Sung-yong, Kim Young-joon, Min Hyun-sik, Seung H-sang, Yi Jong-ho- a program that persistently reveals itself in the culture, in teaching, in the theoretical research that accompanies the daily architectural practice. For this reason, "the presence of this exhibition at Ras -Francisco Sanin affirms- constitutes an important occasion for a dialogue and an exchange of ideas among the various urban and architectural research agendas in Asia and in Europe today." "A sectional overlook of Korean contemporary architecture can be compared to some research in the Catalan context -Kim Young-joon says-. A discussion should start on the global, brand oriented trends, starting from a mutual understanding of what 'locality' means these days."
Albert Ferre, from Ras, says: "S(E)OUL SCAPE, which inaugurates our relationship with iMage in the context of a European network of architectural galleries, offers the opportunity to reassess the emergence of new forms of urban space in Korea following the presentation in Ras of the Paju Book City exhibition in the end of 2005. Korea's spectacular growth and pace of transformation continues to be a rich source of examples for Actar's ongoing interest in the study of the contemporary urban condition."
The S(E)OUL SCAPE. Towards a New Urbanity in Korea exhibition comes with a catalogue published by episode publishers www.episode-publishers.nl.
The event is part of the program of traveling exhibitions produced and organized by iMage.
[more information >]
[press release >]
[March 29, 2008]. PICNIC AT THE TEMPLE is the annual appointment created by Marco Navarra for the Giardino Arena, the station of the Linear Park between Caltagirone and Piazza Armerina, in Sicily, designed by himself. The event (May 6 to 11, 2008), organized by NOWA in association with Erremix www.erremix.com, is conceived as a one- week meeting moment when 80 students and newly graduated in architecture, agriculture and arts, are stimulated to interact with the landscape, to imagine new scenarios through architecture, writing, graphic design, video, photography. The intersection of various subjects is the privileged horizon of the initiative, which stands as one of the most interesting occasions to project contemporary landscape.
The fourth edition of the workshop, that is for the second time thematized on BUILDING NATURAL, will be led by architects, video makers, landscape artists, communication experts. Among them, Stefano Boeri, Marco Brizzi, Maria Luisa Frisa, Fabrizia Ippolito, Mario Lupano, Peppe Maisto, François Mechain, Stefano Mirti, Matteo Mocchi, Simone Muscolino, Marco Navarra, Luca Poncellini, Gianluigi Ricuperati, Alessandro Rocca, Armin Schubert, Elena Vincenzi, Weis and De Mattia.
iMage contributes to the communication of the event.
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[February 22, 2008]. The Municipality of Prato, Italy, presents GO CIVIC www.comune.prato.it/gocivic, the program -imagined as a multi-annual cycle of initiatives- started in order to set forth a discussion on the theme of public works. The first stage of GO CIVIC deals with the theme of spaces for education, intended as places of interaction and exploration, as well as instruction. For this purpose, the Municipality of Prato is organizing a project competition and a forum to identify and clarify effective scholastic building; and so it has invited anthropologists, educators and architects to join in on and enhance the discussion.
The project competition -as an open, anonymous, single stage procedure- will select two preliminary projects for the realization of 2 new primary schools within the town of Prato. The president of the Jury is Herman Hertzberger. The due date for the project consignment is 24 April 2008. The Conclusion of the Jury: 30 May, 2008.
The forum (Prato, Magnolfi Nuovo, 28-29 March 2008) will explore scholastic buildings in all of their various aspects, examining not only the project surveys and regulatory factors, but also the social, cultural and anthropological elements that are tied to the "civic" value of schools. New schools for the city of cultures, as the title of the forum as well as the competition, alludes to the new social identity of Prato, a city which, over the past years, has had a unique type of demographic growth, due mainly to a consistent phenomenon of immigration. The space of the school emerges as a primary and necessary response to the transformation of the contemporary city.
iMage supports the organization of this event and is in charge of its international communication.
[press release >]
[February 18, 2008]. To highlight the potential of the interaction between the language of art and architecture in public art. This is the objective of the PAALMA award, curated by Giacinto Di Pietrantonio, and promoted by La Marrana Arteambientale www.lamarrana.it which, thanks to Grazia and Gianni Bolongaro, has supported, over the years, an intense program of activities in Montemarcello (Ameglia, La Spezia, Italy) that saw the involvement of several international artists who installed works of environmental art there.
On the occasion of the award ceremony for the first edition of the prize, which has been awarded to the "Peace Cloister" designed by Enzo Cucchi and Ettore Sottsass inside the University in Salerno, the Milan Triennale www.triennale.it will host, on February 28th at 5:30 pm, a congress that will see the participation of Stefano Boeri (architect, director of "Abitare"), Alberto Garutti (artist, professor at the Brera Academy), Franco Farinelli (dean of the Degree Course in Geography and Regional processes at the University of Bologna and director fo the Department of Communication Disciplines at the University of Bologna), Fulvio Irace (professor of History of Contemporary Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture of the Milan Polytechnic). The debate will be coordinated by Giacinto Di Pietrantonio (director of GAMeC - Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Bergamo). During the award ceremony, Salvatore Lacagnina (director of the Civic Gallery in Siracusa), Raimondo Pasquino (Chancellor of the University of Salerno) and Roberto Giustini (curator of the book) will introduce the volume dedicated to the "Peace Cloister." Finally a ceramic and metal sculpture designed by Enzo Cucchi and Ettore Sottsass will be presented to the public. This work of art will be included in the environmental art route of La Marrana in Montemarcello.
iMage contributes to the communication of the event.
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