The Modern Movement heritage: proto-bioclimatic solutions and building elements

Before the publication of the book Design with climate: a bioclimatic approach to architectural regionalism (1963), which established its author, V. Olgyay, as an international figure in the bioclimatic design, several works of the Modern Movement (hereafter MoMo) had already revealed a variety of passive thermal solutions/elements. Le Corbusier’s brise-soleil has spread throughout the world the concern of merging arté and teknê in the design of shading elements increasingly adaptable to control changes in light radiation since the 1920s. Natural ventilation building solutions are integral parts of the iconic architectures designed by F.L. Wright, masterfully revealing some paradigms of climatic sustainability into the material heritage of the MoMo. Forward-thinking Italian architects have started testing an impressive combination of new thermo-insulation autarkic materials (e.g., Eraclit, Populit, Faesite) design performative climate-responsive building envelopes suitable for colonial buildings. By considering the ‘anatomy’ of the building, our study focuses on identifying, analyzing, and categorizing proto-bioclimatic building solutions conceived by the architects of the MoMo to achieve both the clime adaptability of building elements and adaptation of the International Style to diverse climatic conditions. Our critical survey goes beyond a single discipline as it results from an integrated process of interpretation of the history of architecture, building design, and construction history. This process has assumed a reductionist paradigm to highlight those systems seeking to reduce the building's negative impact through its passive thermal efficiency. Looking under the lens of thermal sustainability the building solutions of the MoMo legacy, our study aims to foster further progress in improving the resilience to climate change in design practices devoted to both: the conservation of the MoMo architecture and renovation the 20th-century building stock

Women in the history of architecture and design. Sailing to a new history

Architecture and Design History have long ignored the achievements of women professionals in architecture and design fields with the consequences that women have been denied their own place in History. Considering that, since the end of the nineteenth century, specialised magazines have covered works by creative women, it is surprising that their contribution has still not been completely acknowledged by mainstream histories or ‘seminal histories’. It is a fact, that the History of Contemporary Architecture and Design has too frequently favoured men professionals’ works simply omitting to mention works by their women colleagues. Despina Stratigakos’s book entitled "Where Are the Women Architects?" proves yet again that in 2016 this subject is far from being completed and it is still worthy of close attention. This essay considers gender studies in the fields of History of contemporary Architecture and Design critically tracing an international bibliography on the topic

Turin. From industry to culture

This text introduces the section of the book devoted to Turin's architectural itineraries and explains the selection criteria adopted to identify the twenty-one works published in it

Ashtray with Cigarette Holder

This entry aims at enriching contents of the International Travelling Exhibition “MoMoWo - 100 Works in 100 Years. European women in Architecture and Design, 1918-2018”. It disseminates the results of the database of the European project “Women's Creativity since the Modern Movement - MoMoWo” (co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union). The entry presents the work selected for the year 1924 as the first object produced at the Bauhaus’s metal workshop by a woman putting into practice the methodology of simplifying the design process for future mass-production

Toy closet for the House am Horn children’s room

The toy closet for children's room of the experimental "Haus am Horn" in Weimar (1923) is considered the first true demonstration of the Bauhaus’s modernist principles in furniture construction. It epitomises Alma Buscher Siedhoff’s belief in the potential of design-for-children to effect change in society at large. This entry aims at enriching contents of the International Travelling Exhibition “MoMoWo - 100 Works in 100 Years” and it disseminates results of the database of the European project “Women's Creativity since the Modern Movement - MoMoWo” (co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union)

Alma Buscher Siedhoff

This bibliographical entry completes the entry devoted to the description of the toy closet for the "Haus am Horn" children's room, designed by Alma Buscher Siedhoff in 1923. The biography of the woman designer enriches contents of the MoMoWo International Travelling Exhibition and at the same time disseminates the results of the database of the European project “Women's Creativity since the Modern Movement - MoMoWo” (co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union)

Margarete (Grete) Lihotzky Schütte

This bibliographical entry completes the entry devoted to the presentation of the “Frankfurt Kitchen” designed by Margarete Lihotzky Schütte in 1926. The biography of the woman first woman architect in Austria enriches contents of the International Travelling Exhibition “MoMoWo - 100 Works in 100 Years. European women in Architecture and Design, 1918-2018” and at the same time disseminates the results of the database of the European project “Women's Creativity since the Modern Movement - MoMoWo” (co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union)

Ada Bursi (1906-1996). From painting and graphics to interior design and architecture

Ada Bursi was the second woman to graduate in Architecture at the Polytechnic of Turin and the first professional women architect in the city. This bibliographical article enriches the section of the book devoted to Turin architectural itineraries. The contents of this article are the results of academic research that was based on archives and bibliographic sources such as anthologies, almanacks, specialised magazines and technical journals