Conoids and Hyperbolic Paraboloids in Le Corbusier’s Philips Pavilion

The Philips Pavilion at the Brussels World Fair is the first of Le Corbusier’s architectural works to connect the evolution of his mathematical thought on harmonic series and modular coordination with the idea of three-dimensional continuity. This propitious circumstance was the consequence of his collaboration with Iannis Xenakis, whose profound interest in mathematical structures was improved on his becaming acquainted with the Modulor, while at the same time Le Corbusier encountered double ruled quadric surfaces. For the Philips Pavilion—the Poème Électronic—Corbusier entrusted Xenakis with a “mathematical translation” of his sketches, which represented the volume of a rounded bottle with a stomach-shaped plan. The Pavilion was designed as if it were an orchestral work in which lights, loudspeakers, film projections on curved surfaces, spectators’ shadows and their expression of wonder, objects hanging from the ceiling and the containing space itself were all virtual instrument

Petrucci, Concezio

Profilo biografico di Concezio Petrucci (1902-1946), architett

Pediconi, Giulio

Profilo biografico di Giulio Pediconi, architetto romano (1906-1999

Battista Grassi: a zoologist for malaria

Malaria is probably one of the oldest diseases, and it has been the scourge of populations in tropical and temperate-hot areas of the world since antiquity. It is also known by its French term, paludisme although the Italian name, malaria, more accurately describes the disease. The Italian term refers to mala aria, bad air, i.e., the miasmas evaporating from the stagnant waters of marshes, which the ancients believed were the origin of the disease. It was not until the second half of the nineteenth century that scientists started to search for the agent that gave rise to malaria. By then, optical instruments appropriate for this purpose had finally become available, and Robert Koch (1843­1910) and Louis Pasteur (1822­1895) had laid the foundations for scientifically based clinical microbiology

Chiesa a Trezzano sul Naviglio, Milano. Un volume compatto e poroso affacciato sull'acqua

La nuova chiesa parrocchiale a Trezzano sul Naviglio, nella diocesi di Milano, analizzata e commentata nel contesto delle architetture selezionate per il numero della rivista "Cemento. Sperimentazione e nuovi linguaggi" dedicato ad alcune recenti opere che si avvalgono delle potenzialità figurative del cemento

Porcinai Pietro

Profilo biografico di Pietro Porcinai (1910-1986), architetto di giardiniPietro Porcinai (1910-1986), biograph

Piccinato, Luigi

Profilo biografico di Luigi Piccinato (1899-1983), padre della moderna urbanistica in Itali