Revisit: Castelgrande, in Bellinzona, Switzerland by Aurelio Galfetti

Aurelio Galfetti was born in 1936 in the mountainous region of Ticino, Switzerland, living and working in Bellinzona until he passed away last year. The small town hosts several of his works, including the Casa Rotalinti (completed in 1961), the impressive bathhouse (designed in 1967 with Flora Ruchat-Roncati and Ivo Trümpy), and the Biomedical Research Institute realised in 2021. His most famous work, however, is the renovation of the Castelgrande, part of the medieval defence system that still dominates the city. It would turn out to be an endeavour spanning two decades, and is among Galfetti’s greatest achievements

Both of Stuff and Not: A Teaching Experience in the Contemporary Condition

Architecture is a quite elusive discipline, both unleashed and restrained by a perennial calling into question of its own fundamentals. Being and becoming an architect means to cast a doubtful, unsatisfied, interrogative gaze on the world and especially on the world of architecture. Teaching such a (self-) critical discipline is, therefore, an intrinsically impossible task. Of course, syllabuses include specific competencies such as drawing, history, structures, law, economics... but when it comes to integrating them into the architectural project, any fixed framework becomes questionable, and it is precisely this questioning that makes design architectural, offering that necessary potential which can turn mere building into architecture

Both of stuff and not

A brief introduction to the Italian peculiar situation about architecture and its teaching, with the description of a recent experience at the Politecnico di Torino

Autonomy by Drawing: Gianugo Polesello on Route 66

The economic, ecologic, social crisis we are dealing with generated, in the recent academic discussions, a widespread re-emergence of political engagement, felt as a necessary alternative to the neo-liberal pensée unique that dominated the latest decades. The mid-1960s, with their concentration of important theoretical contributes, their ambiguous mixture of populism and formal research, of radicalism and reactions against modernism, are therefore back in the architectural debate. Among the various approaches produced by that agitated moment, the Italian ‘Tendenza’ contributed to redefine the disciplinary field in terms of language and autonomy, shifting its focus from design to composition and from the transformative attitude of the zeitgeist to the continuity with existing typo-morphological contexts. Partner in some early projects of Aldo Rossi – leader of that group – and with him and other young architects member of the Casabella’s ‘think tank’, Gianugo Polesello shared that theoretical operation, conducted, however, through a more explicit and precise medium, to the limits of tautology: architectural design or, more precisely, architectural drawing applied to design. His approach provides an interesting vantage, able to shed some light on a period and a generation that, at a closer look, appear less coherent than their latest reconstructions

Pas de tubes? Corpi moderni e infrastrutture domestiche

Benché i corpi concepiti dal moderno anelino a una condizione idealizzata, quella apollinea della standardizzazione, dell’ergonomia, della salute e della forma fisica, non possono fare a meno di mostrare il loro lato dionisiaco, trasudare erotismo, obbedire alle proprie necessità fisiologiche e negoziare con i comportamenti che regolano nello spazio domestico socialità e privacy. Due elementi della casa svolgono da questo punto di vista un ruolo strategico: il corridoio e il bagno. Presenza, funzione e articolazione di entrambi hanno subito nell’evoluzione tipologica dell’abitazione un’accelerazione relativamente recente, strettamente intrecciata con il parallelo svilupparsi dei rapporti tra individui e nella famiglia

Vivere insieme in tempi interessanti / Living Together in Interesting Times

La prima grande mostra di architettura nel tempo della pandemia presenta un panorama complesso e contraddittorio, fortemente segnato dalla prospettiva dell’antropocene e dalle domande che essa pone. / The first big architecture exhibition in pandemic times shows a complex and contradictory panorama, deeply marked by the Anthropocene perspective and by the questions it asks

Leggere e scrivere

Una riflessione sulle teorie in architettura e sulle pratiche discorsive che sostengono e intersecano l'azione del progetto, con particolare attenzione agli aspetti didattici

Recensione a Pietro Valle, Alpe Adria senza. Paesaggi contemporanei a nord-est, Maqom hazè, 2014

I molteplici paesaggi determinati dalle condizioni tutte particolari dei territori attorno al nostro confine nordorientale, ulteriormente intensificate dalla modernizzazione, sono protagonisti di questa raccolta di scritti prodotti da Pietro Valle in venticinque anni e quasi tutti inediti

Modelling and Parameter Identification of Ex-Situ Biological Biogas Upgrading

In this paper, a model of ex-situ biological biogas upgrading process is first developed. Then, parameter sensitivity analysis is performed, in order to determine the most relevant parameters for subsequent parameter identification, based on a linear fractional transformation (LFT) reformulation of the model. Biogas composition and volumetric production have been well predicted by the calibrated model, allowing its adoption as a designing tool for start-up operation of experimental pilot-scale activity

Application of qualitative risk assessment to prioritize hazards in pork products in Brazil.

SafePork 2017