That’s a Ludwig Mies van der Rohe quote, in case you didn’t know that already.

And that’s also what came to my mind yesterday, as I visited the white box designed by Richard Meier, the one containing Ara Pacis in Rome, that is:

I won’t start blabbering on about how much I like its overall design (as a matter of fact, I don’t.), though I really, really feel the urge to point out a few things that made me go “what the frak?!?” straight away while I was there.

For instance, I observed the quality of materials and craftsmanship in laying aforementioned materials of this four-year-old building:

Then I marveled at the extremely integrated technological systems:

After that I noticed these colourful, playful pieces of contemporary art smartly scattered all over the place:

Last but not least, I found myself staring at this 1.2 metres tall step (as since there’s no rail there to keep people from hopping from upper level to lower level, then it must be a step, n’est pas?), wondering what its hidden conceptual meaning might be (oh, look, there’s another of those red thingies there, too!):

I’m still wondering, actually.

Next year’s conference will be held in Rome, Italy. The Design Conference is a place to explore the meaning and purpose of ‘design’, as well as speaking in grounded ways about the task of design and the use of designed artifacts and processes. The conference is a cross-disciplinary forum that brings together researchers, teachers and practitioners to discuss the nature and future of design. In professional and disciplinary terms, the conference traverses a broad sweep to construct a dialogue which encompasses the perspectives and practices of: anthropology, architecture, art, artificial intelligence, business, cognitive science, communication studies, computer science, cultural studies, design studies, education, e-learning, engineering, ergonomics, fashion, graphic design, history, information systems, industrial design, industrial engineering, instructional design, interior design, interaction design, interface design, journalism, landscape architecture, law, linguistics and semiotics, management, media and entertainment, psychology, sociology, software engineering and telecommunications.

This highly inclusive format provides conference delegates with significant opportunities to connect with people from shared fields and disciplines and with those from vastly different specializations. The resulting conversations provide ample occasions for mutual learning, often weaving between the theoretical and the empirical, research and application, and market pragmatics and social idealism.

As well as an international line-up of plenary speakers, the conference will also include numerous paper, workshop and colloquium presentations by practitioners, teachers and researchers. Presenters may choose to submit written papers for publication in the refereed Design Principles and Practices: An International Journal. If you are unable to attend the conference in person, virtual registrations are also available which allow you to submit a paper for refereeing and possible publication, as well as access to the journal.

Whether you are a virtual or in-person presenter at the Design Conference, we also encourage you to present on the conference YouTube Channel. Please select the online sessions link on the conference website for further details.

The deadline for the next round in the call for papers (a title and short abstract) is 15 April 2010. Future deadlines will be announced on the conference website after this date. Proposals are reviewed within two weeks of submission. Full details of the conference, including an online proposal submission form, may be found on the conference website at www.Design-Conference.com.

We look forward to receiving your proposal and hope you will be able to join us in Rome in February.

Colour and Light in Architecture
International Conference, 11-12 November 2010
University Iuav of Venice, Venice, Italy
Please visit www.iuav.it/colour&light for updated information.

Call for papers deadline: 30 April 2010
Abstracts deadline: 14 June 2010
Full papers deadline (for accepted abstracts): 1 September 2010

Colour and light in architecture is an international two-day scientific conference for those interested in the history, human effects and design of colour and light (natural and artificial) on the built environment. It approaches the themes in their broadest sense, including aesthetics, psychology, history, design, physics, sustainability, emotions, performance and communication. Colour and light in architecture is the first international conference that has a major focus on the contemporary architectural processes related to the culture, design and perception and exposure to both natural and artificial lighting.

The goal is to bring together a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary group of researchers and designers working in this domain so they can meet, share experiences, present research, and exchange ideas.

The conference themes are focused on:

• History, Culture, Aesthetics and Representation of Colour&Light
• Colour&Light Design between Theory and Praxis
• New Technologies for Colour&Light

Colour and/or light at architectural, urban and environmental scale will be examined in depth  by these topics:

1. Historical and/or Contemporary Architecture:

• Historical or Contemporary design
• Restauration, requalification, maintenance, etc…
• Simulation  and Virtualization of Architecture

2. Colour and/or Light Planning and Mapping:

• Urban and Human Environmental Palettes
• Chromatic and/or Lighting Organization in Working Places and Schools
• Signs/Signals (eg. Road signals, Work signals, etc…)

3. Chromatic and/or Lighting Information:

• Archives, Methods and Instruments for Historical and Cultural Memory
• Urban Screens, Environmental Visuals etc.
• New Tools for Information

4. Innovation for Architecture and/or the Environment:

• The actual Production and Application Techniques
• Innovative Technologies and Peak Solutions
• R&D for Sustainable Innovation of Colour&Light

Officine Farneto is a former barrack — designed in 1932 by Enrico Del Debbio — converted into a cultural venue, although this is just the latest of a series of adaptive reuse programmes: in over three quarters of a century it’s in fact been used as a factory, then as offices, and it’s now turned into a conference venue and showroom.

Set within Monte Mario park, the venue preserves its original “industrial archaeology” outlook as a wrapping to the new contemporary design features added by the recent refurbishment programme by Architettare.it.

Facilities include a bar area, a bookshop, artists’ studios, a roof garden area, a fully equipped 130 seats conference room and an overall “event area” which can welcome up to 1600 people.

[photos via Officine Farneto]

Salerno is a city in Southern Italy, facing the Tyrrhenian Sea.

It’s not a big one, yet there’s a lot of history in its architecture, as the city was founded as a castrum by the Romans in 194 BC and much has happened ever since: St. Matthew’s cathedral (il Duomo) dates from 1080, it’s amazingly layered with subsequent architectural styles and is just one of the many beautiful churches there; the castle (Castello di Arechi) was built in the 8th century, when Arechis II transferred the capital of his principate to Salerno; many palaces date from 12th century — like the beautiful Palazzo Fruscione –  onwards, mixing medieval, Baroque, even Liberty style architecture in the city historical centre.

Culture is at home there, as the city is where the first medieval medical school was estabilished, thus gaining the title of Hippocratica Civitas.

In recent years, with Vincenzo De Luca in power as mayor from 1993 to 2001 and then again from 2006 to these days, quite a few new developments have been designed to propel Salerno into third millennium architecture: general town planning by Oriol Bohigas, various buildings by Dominique Perrault, a new Court building by David Chipperfield, a bridge (near the equally new marina) of course by Santiago Calatrava, a maritime terminal in the commercial port by Zaha Hadid…

…some residential redevelopment by Jean Nouvel, then Manuel Ruisánchez redesigning the waterfront promenade, Massimiliano Fuksas designing residential buildings and, last but not least, Ricardo Bofill and his two projects — the vela tower in Piazza della Concordia…

…and the much criticised crescent in Piazza della Libertà, labelled by detractors as a monstruous wall of concrete on the waterfront of the historical town:

It’s undoubted that the man behind all this is Mr. De Luca, who is now running for the governor of Regione Campania post:  so now what will become of his somewhat visionary attempt at scattering an historical city with contemporary (st)architecture?

[vela and crescent images: Comune di Salerno
maritime terminal images: Zaha Hadid Architects]

Hall + reception

Ripahotel, in the heart of the Trastevere district, in Rome, is a design-in-progress hotel: the building was designed in 1973 but the hotel has been continuously redesigned in recent years by King Roselli Architetti, to match both customers’ demand and technology requirements.

From the designers’ website we learn that

…the project has evolved over the years as a series of interiors in an existing residence hotel of the 70s and its gradual conversion to a 4 star all suites hotel. The entrance lobby is developed as a single fluid space connecting the entrance to the reception desk crossing the entrances to the restaurant (to the right) and the conference room to the left.

The hotel has 120 rooms, divided in seven types, plus three conference/meeting rooms, a mini-gym and an in-house bar/restaurant.

Rooms + suites

Read more »

Palazzina Grassi is a 16th century building on the banks of Canal Grande in Venice, right next to Palazzo Grassi, turned into a designer hotel: Emanuele Garosci hired starchitect Philippe Starck to design interiors of his first hotel in Italy.

Result in pictures below:

The hotel maintains its original façade, of course, and quite rightly so. Central colonnade of the building has been restored while further columns are modernised, resulting in a pleasant contrast between contemporary and classical Venetian architecture.

Mr Garosci explains ideas and aims for his hotel in the video below:

There are 16 rooms plus 6 apartments, and no reception desk in the hall; the hotel also encompasses a restaurant with a view on the canal, of course. Most of the hotel furniture is designed to measure by Starck (who also designed the hotel logo) and then handmade by artisans, masterfully mixing together traditional elements and materials of Venetian craftsmanship (including Murano glass and mirrors, and coloured Venetian plaster) with contemporary materials and design.

Palazzina Grassi
San Marco 3247
30124 Venezia
Tel: +39 041 5284644
Fax: +39 041 2410575