Poggio a Caiano
Poggio a Caiano is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Prato, Tuscany region Italy. The town, birthplace of Philip Mazzei, lies south of the provincial capital of Prato.
Sister towns
Poggio a Caiano has two sister cities:
* Charlottesvi ...
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
. History of construction, from antiquity to the contemporary era, is the subject of books and essays on a wide range of topics, spanning from the construction of the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
colonnade in reinforced stone, to the libraries of Henri Labrouste, to the question of polychromy and its implications on the concept of truth of materials, to
Gottfried Semper
Gottfried Semper (; 29 November 1803 – 15 May 1879) was a German architect, art critic, and professor of architecture who designed and built the Semper Opera House in Dresden between 1838 and 1841. In 1849 he took part in the May Uprising in ...
’s principle of cladding and its influences on techniques in modern architecture. The outcome of the research on the history of construction led to the publication of edited collections of essays dedicated to the essential elements of architecture - column, floor, platform, etc. In the mid-1990s he also focused his research on techniques, materials and structures of European
Renaissance architecture
Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...
, which resulted in a book on Italian architecture of the 15th century. In the early 2000s his research on contemporary architecture, in particular on
Rem Koolhaas
Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is often cited as a re ...
,
Archizoom Associati
Archizoom Associati was a design studio from Florence, Italy founded in 1966. The group that founded the studio consists of Andrea Branzi
Andrea Branzi (, born November 30, 1938) is a Florence-born Italian architect and designer. He currently li ...
and
Superstudio Superstudio was an architectural firm, founded in 1966 in Florence, Italy by Adolfo Natalini and Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, later joined by Gian Piero Frassinelli, Alessandro and Roberto Magris, Alessandro Poli.
Superstudio was a major part of ...
, resulted in several monographic essays and an exposition. In 2008, he was awarded with the ERC Advanced Grant for a research entitled "The surfaces of cement and reinforced concrete. A history of formwork and processing of the surface, 1870-2008". In his collection Treatise on Concrete, curated by EPFL Press, Roberto Gargiani investigated on the protagonists of 20th century concrete architecture (
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
,
Louis I. Kahn
Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; – March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. Whi ...
and Pier Luigi Nervi), explored crucial historical periods for the development of concrete structures (18th century), and tackled the role of this material in 20th century art.