[Click here for part 1 of the gallery.]

More pics after the jump:

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[Click here for part 2 of the gallery.]

More pics after the jump: Read more »

I really, really hope that, when the art performance will be finally over tomorrow, Rome’s city centre will finally get rid of this, uhm, thing, made of plasterboard, which has been stationing on the banks of river Tiber (on the western end of Tiber Island, to be precise) for way more than a month now:

Let me recap:

1) plasterboard (which is not exactly a water-resistant material);

2) river (which equals water).

Not to mention this thing (called Energy Room…) sports a shape that has absolutely nothing to do with the context it’s been built in, but hey, we’re contemporary artists, who cares about context?

Seriously, I’d like to have a word or two with who had this brilliant idea (<– hint of sarcasm here.).

The Tempietto of San Pietro in Montorio, on the Janiculum hill in Rome, is a small martyrium dedicated to St. Peter  — who was believed to have been crucifixed there — designed by Donato Bramante, commissioned in 1502 by the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.

Bramante was born in Monte Adrualdo, near Urbino, in 1444. Around 1474 he moved to Milan where he designed several churches in the new antique style; in 1476 the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, commissioned him the rebuilding of the choir of Santa Maria presso San Satiro, and, as space was limited, Bramante, who was also a painter and knew well how to create the illusion of space by the use of perspective, designed a very theatrical apse in bassorilievo to trick the eye.

He then moved to Rome in 1499, working under the patronage of Cardinal Della Rovere, who would later become Pope Julius II. There he was commissioned this masterpiece, regarded as one of the finest examples of High Renaissance architecture, surely being one of the most harmonious, following all the rigorous proportions and symmetry of Classical structures despite its small scale.

It is a monopteral building and was built in the courtyard of the church of San Pietro in Montorio (designed by either Baccio Pontelli, as stated by Vasari, or Meo del Caprino). Originally, according to Sebastiano Serlio, Bramante had designed the courtyard to be circular and colonnaded; however, plans were changed and the Tempietto was built in a rectangular space.

The internal diametre is about 4.5 metres; the dome itself is an emisphere (like the Pantheon’s dome), being as tall as its radius, and its drum is of the same exact height. Everything stands on a Doric tablature borrowed from the ancient Theater of Marcellus and a colonnade of sixteen slender Doric columns on a base of 3+3 steps.

The Tempietto is considered a sculpture rather than a building, being so small it can only welcome about fifteen people in its cylindrical cella.

It has clearly inspired both Bramante himself for his later design of San Peter’s cupola (unbuilt, as eventually Michelangelo’s design was chosen) and Christopher Wren for the design of the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

Zaha Hadid’s MAXXI building in Rome will open to the public only in Spring 2010, but next week there will be both a symposium on contemporary museum architecture – Exhibiting Architecture | Il Museo del XXI secolo (Monday 9th and Tuesday 10th November at Auditorium Parco della Musica) — and a preview opening of MAXXI, just for a few hours during the weekend (on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th, from 10 AM to 1 PM — booking required, please contact edumaxxi@darc.beniculturali.it).

Guests of the symposium include: Barry Bergdoll (MoMA, New York), Aaron Betsky (Cincinnati Art Museum), Sarah Ichioka (Architecture Foundation, London), Giuliana Bruno (Department of Visual and Environmental Studies, Harvard University), Ole Bouman (Nederlands Architectuurinstituut, Rotterdam) and architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

[image: Zaha Hadid Architects]

A brand new music conservatory was supposed to be built in L’Aquila, after the old one was destroyed by the earthquake back in April.

Japanese architect Shigeru Ban offered to work for free — and so he did, as he worked on plans and designs for more than five months. The Japanese Embassy had funded 500,000 euros, and 500,000 more were raised by Ban via private funds.

Everything was ready, land permissions included, then… nothing happened.

As journalist Sandra Amurri reported on yesterday paper issue of Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, apparently contractors who were supposed to build the conservatory coulnd’t guarantee environmental and acoustic standards.

Protezione Civile claims that funds never arrived in L’Aquila, whereas Marcello Alessandro Boldrini, one of the architects working in the Paris office of Ban Architects, says money was ready but when architects and technicians travelled to L’Aquila to meet government representatives, nobody ever showed up.

So this is shamefully yet another lost chance — for Italy, above all.

[source: Verso L'Aquila]

Sicilian design team AutonomeForme has developed a plan for a new House of Associations, renewing and reusing Palazzo Sammartino in the Kalsa district of Palermo, close to the city harbour.

The 4,500 square metres project (of which 3,700 internal) includes a piazza, three playgrounds, gardens, laboratories, two auditoriums, a media library: aim of the project is to grant a space for “all cultural associations to develop cultural activities, laboratories, art and documentation initiatives”.

More info and details on the fifth issue of Jumping Forward.

The conceptual masterplan for Milan Expo in 2015 has been unveiled yesterday in Milan by its designers — Stefano Boeri, Richard Burdett, Jacques Herzog, William McDonough and Mark Rylander:

It’s basically a huge botanical garden and farmers market, open to the public, set in the shape of an ancient Roman castra (which Milan actually was), with its own cardus and decumanus, and its forum, too, of course.

Trying to focus and make a statement on existing resources and so called “zero km” food, too, the masterplan also insists on the redevelopment and regeneration of the existing “Cascine”, the municipal farmsteads that can be found everywhere in the countryside surrounding Milan, and the network of canals, seen as a sustainable way to connect them to each other and to the city.

“Feeding the planet, energy for life”
conceptual masterplan by:
Herzog & De Meuron: Jacques Herzog
London School of Economics: Richard Burdett
Stefano Boeri Architetti: Stefano Boeri
William McDonough + Partners: William McDonough

(more images and videos after the jump) Read more »

Talking about buildings consolidation — now — is pretty pointless, so I’ll leave that post for another time.

What we can do now is help by / Cosa possiamo fare:

• giving blood / donare sangue — please contact / contattare Avis or Fidas;
• help out as volunteers / aiutare come volontari — please contact / contattare Protezione Civile c/o Prefettura di Pescara: (+39) 085 2057631;
• giving non-perishable, non out-of-date food / donare generi di prima necessità — please contact / contattare Banco Alimentare.
• donating to Italian Red Cross /fare una donazione alla Croce Rossa Italiana — some 200 of their volunteers are already there to help, others are on their way.

If you have any other suggestion on how to help, please post them in the comments here or on the dedicated FriendFeed room. A wiki page listing useful contacts has also been created in order to help.
Se avete altri suggerimenti su come dare una mano, per favore scriveteli nei commenti qui o nell’apposita room su FriendFeed. E’ anche stata creata una pagina wiki con informazioni e contatti utili.

– via The Architects’ Journal