Imagination applied to European norms in "humanized" hospitals. More research, less cost

The architect M. Tedeschi worked to an update project for the Department of Medical Oncology at the San Carlo Hospital in Milan (1994). It was part of a larger Humanization Project for that hospital. He compared the concept of humanization to that of Heimlichkeit, that means the comfort feeling, quiet, peace sensations and home warmth that everyone yearns for. In 2001, U. Veronesi - with R. Piano - presented a preliminary Preparatory Metaproject for guidelines definition in hospitals design in the Italian Regions, in which patients and their needs play a major role in the humanization project. This is a theme of topical interests, characterized by a lot of researches and applications. This paper aims to verify the colour role in the hospitals humanization process and will show, with general scientific criteria, an interesting colour restyling experiment conducted (as voluntary work) by the author for the San Lazzaro Hospital in Turin, in collaboration with ANDOS, Sikkens and Politecnico of Turin. Thus, by combining hospital voluntary work, technical and scientific research (public and private) and creativity, an important objective for the care and comfort of patients and hospital has been achieved. It has been conducted a "pilot project", with procedures based on norms, (without costs for the public institution) replicable in other similar situations

Imagination applied to European norms in “humanized” hospitals. More research, less cost.

The architect M. Tedeschi worked to an update project for the Department of Medical Oncology at the San Carlo Hospital in Milan (1994). It was part of a larger Humanization Project for that hospital. He compared the concept of humanization to that of Heimlichkeit, that means the comfort feeling, quiet, peace sensations and home warmth that everyone yearns for. In 2001, U. Veronesi - with R. Piano - presented a preliminary Preparatory Metaproject for guidelines definition in hospitals design in the Italian Regions, in which patients and their needs play a major role in the humanization project. This is a theme of topical interests, characterized by a lot of researches and applications. This paper aims to verify the colour role in the hospitals humanization process and will show, with general scientific criteria, an interesting colour restyling experiment conducted (as voluntary work) by the author for the San Lazzaro Hospital in Turin, in collaboration with ANDOS, Sikkens and Politecnico of Turin. Thus, by combining hospital voluntary work, technical and scientific research (public and private) and creativity, an important objective for the care and comfort of patients and hospital has been achieved. It has been conducted a “pilot project”, with procedures based on norms, (without costs for the public institution) replicable in other similar situations

Visione sostenibile (Sustainable Vision in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage Project)

"Who less sees, thinks nothing" in four words Filippo Juvarra emphasizes the close link between visual culture and architecture theory and practices. In this perspective, what meaning can be attributed (by designers or users), to their "own" architecture and their "own" city? Considering the landscape as a heritage to be safeguarded (according to the Europe Council, the landscape is "perceived territory"), new plants for renewable energy "with environmentally sustainable technology" are sustainable also from the point of view of visual consistency, and therefore of the "sustainable vision"? We are all ecologists and believe in eco-sustainability, but we have to take into account also the "sustainable vision" issue, that is managed by formally coherent and congruent actions in the architecture and landscape between text and context in all scales?. The same inconsistencies can be detected for new integrations (or recovery projects) in the historical structure of the city, which is characterized by specific aspects concerning what we might legitimately define its "visual structure". Similar problems can be finally found when the same visual characters are not analyzed, studied, acknowledged and valued appropriately within restoration and-or conservation projects, both in architectural dimension as well as in the urban one. A careful analysis of these phenomena - disciplinary identified - will avoid that such inconsistencies may exacerbate the increasingly diffused "cultural loss". In support of this thesis will be mentioned, within a large series of case studies being analyzed, national and international examples, both positively and negatively

Art and Colour in the Requalification of Urban Areas and Landscapes

For contemporary research, peripheral realities, urban voids or dismantled areas and structures represent important opportunities for urban regeneration and redevelopment. The Color, through the “Color Design”, becomes an approach that can achieve remarkable and immediate results with low cost. It is capable of transforming the visual impact of a building, a road, an entire neighbourhood; it orientes and creates harmony through the Visual rules and hierarchies, it can recover the identity and image of a place; it can highlights and enhances paths, obstacles, zones, functions, services, or informs through their universally recognizable codes. Even today, Bruno Taut’s idea of improving the quality of life in popular neighborhoods with the creation of polychrome architectures is a reference: the color therefore constitutes the “accessible” decoration even for the most deprived areas. Like Color, Art is a tool for social and urban upbringing. Nowaday, Art no longer needs to be confined in museums or galleries, but can be placed outdoors in an urban or landscape dimension, becoming public art (made of installations and large sculptures). The contribution, through the study of critically selected and analyzed case studies, tends to verify the validity of this thesis, confirming that Art and Color constitute both retraining tools and valuable media to promote the recognition of sites and services, attraction poles, urban presence, constituting a real urban communication strategy, without forgetting the role of social and cultural exchanges. Of course, the great challenge will be to combine, if possible, the above approaches with the “ways of sustainability”

The Chappe telegraph from the French Revolution to Napoleon’s Empire. Communication from war to peace / Il telegrafo Chappe dalla Rivoluzione Francese all’Impero di Napoleone. La comunicazione dalla guerra alla pace

The founding idea of the volume was born from a conference held in Alessandria in 1995. A research shared between Italy and France, but also extended to other European Countries. The initiative was born to deepen the studies on the optical telegraph, invented at the end of the 18th century by the French abbot Claude Chappe: a brilliant and, at the time, innovative technology of distance communication, based on the visual use of the territory, which transmitted messages in code, scientifically encrypted. The work presents the results of bibliographical–documentary surveys (with research in specialist archives), crossed with examples on the European territory, in which the Chappe telegraph machines were installed using transmission network systems. In the scientific project, three of the main objectives indispensable for the quality of research are applied and verified here: internationality, interdisciplinary integration and innovation

La Strada Beretta: 1666-1702. Il contributo della Rappresentazione

Nell’alveo di un percorso di ricerca più che ventennale, il contributo si inserisce nel rinnovato dibattito sulla figura dell’ingegnere militare milanese Gaspare Beretta (1620-1703) e analizza un corpus di disegni conservati presso la Biblioteca Trivulziana di Milano, fondo Belgioioso, riguardanti il progetto e la realizzazione della Strada Beretta. Il progetto, redatto dallo stesso ingegnere su incarico del governatore di Milano nel 1666 in occasione del viaggio dell’infanta di Spagna alla volta della capitale del regno asburgico, fu indirizzato alla riformulazione del collegamento stradale tra la costiera ligure del Finale e lo Stato di Milano, con la sistemazione di sentieri già esistenti e la definizione di nuove porzioni di strada (come ben documentato nella relazione di progetto annessa agli elaborati grafici). Pur rappresentando lo stesso oggetto, i disegni – variamente firmati, ma comunque attribuibili all’enturage di Beretta – riportano informazioni puntuali eterogenee sul percorso della strada e ne formalizzano su carta una porzione compresa tra le odierne città di Finale Ligure e Acqui Terme, ovvero tra la stessa Finale Ligure e Alessandria. Le metodologie privilegiate sono quelle specialistiche dell’area della Rappresentazione volte a saldare saperi e prassi tradizionali con quelli più innovativi e aggiornati. In questa direzione, il confronto tra i disegni conferma molti spunti di riflessione, in primo luogo sulla tipologia di rappresentazione utilizzata e sulle convenzioni grafiche sviluppate dagli autori, oltre a un inquadramento territoriale comprensivo di mappature, periodizzazioni, tematismi, sistematicamente correlati e integrati. Sempre lo studio delle rappresentazioni citate conferma matrici culturali e pratiche (riconoscibili o ipotizzabili) sia nell’operato di Beretta, che in quello dei suoi collaboratori. Si evidenzia, per esempio, la compresenza di diversi codici visivi con tipologie di segni simbolici e iconografici, solo in parte analitico-descrittivi, a supporto delle finalità critiche delle rappresentazioni. Malgrado l’assenza di conferme autografe su grafici o documentazioni annesse, i disegni comprovano come la strada Beretta si inserisse nel sistema di collegamenti tra i territori dello Stato di Milano e dei regni confinanti e mettendo in evidenza la rete di fortezze principali e sussidiarie poste a difesa del confine con il Piemonte Sabaudo