Claudio Silvestrin. Liticità contemporanea. La verità ne La cava
Il nuovo volume della collana Lithos in collaborazione con IL CASONE
Last September, as part of Abitare il Tempo, the book, Claudio Silvestrin Contemporary stone. Its truth in La Cava, was presented, which describes and narrates the project to create the stand, La Cava, designed by Claudio Silvestrin for IL CASONE, the winner of the Best Communicator Award, 2008. The volume is part of the Lithos series, edited by Alfonso Acocella and published by Libria.
The book’s author, Alberto Ferraresi, began from the premise that the nature of the exhibition pavilion has, historically, taken on a particular significance in architecture. Some architectural works for such settings have been real examples of the trains of thought of entire generations of designers, and not just in Italy, with a tradition that goes back to the great Universal Exhibitions.
Moreover, the book, starting from the formal, conceptual choices of Claudio Silvestrin that prefigure his use of the exhibition space, offers a critique intended to reveal what is “at the heart of the work in stone” through a progressive, concentric approach-disclosure, exactly in the same way as the exhibition pavilion itself.
Having outlined the significance and more general themes of all Silvestrin’s work, the focus moves to the architectural works preceding the helical pavilion in pietra serena, especially those works in which the presence of the stone has exceptional significance. This acts as the introduction to the specific analysis devoted to the said pavilion, for which interpretations are offered, both from the point of view of it as a meta-project and its technical-construction aspects.
The designer
Claudio Silvestrin
After studying in Milan with A.G. Fronzoni, he pursued his training in London at the Architectural Association. In 1986, he founded his first studio there with John Pawson, and in 1989 launched his current firm, Claudio Silvestrin Architects, a studio that immediately made its mark at the international level. The design work ranges from public architectural projects to the private dwelling sector, from interior design (involving exhibition, residential and retail sites) to designing products for industry. Claudio Silvestrin has collaborated with, amongst others, Giorgio Armani, Kanye West Anish Kapoor, Calvin Klein, illycaffè, Poltrona Frau and the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo for the Arts, for whom he created the museum of Turin. Claudio Silvestrin Architects won the 2009 Chicago Athenaeum International Architectural Award.
The book’s author
Alberto Ferraresi (Cento, Ferrara, 1977)
An architect, he graduated with a thesis on design in historical contexts and the reinterpretation of the Ancient, supervisor Danilo Guerri. His work is in the style of Guido Canali.
His professional activities are dedicated to restoration and new construction, on the various scales of urban architectural projects. He takes part in national and international tenders.
He also works as a critic of contemporary architecture, editing publications for publishing houses in the sector.
The scientific coordinator of the Lithos series
Alfonso Acocella
Professor of Architectural Technology at the Faculty of Architecture of Ferrara, where he is manager of the “External Relations and Communications” Commission, and is currently teaching “The Technological Culture of design” and “Buildings in Stone.” He is Vice Chairman of SitdA (Italian Society of Architectural Technologies). He is Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Marsciano Museum of the dynamics of brick and terracotta, for which he was curator of the “Rossoitaliano” Exhibition in 2006. He is in charge of the Architecture sector of the magazine, “Building in brick” of the ANDIL (National Association of the Brick Industries). In parallel with his articles as a journalist and expert in national and international periodicals, he has published numerous books on the use of stone and brick in architecture. In 2005, he edited the first Internet blog on architectural issues, www.architetturadipietra.it, connected with the lithic style: an innovative, cross-disciplinary project of collective understanding.