Domus 1060 is on newsstands. An issue dedicated to evolutionary constructions

In the September issue we explore ever-evolving architecture, the immortal nature of art and timeless design. Browse the gallery to discover the contents.

Evolutionary constructions “Not retaining the seeds of the flowers you obtained at various times in your life is like holding the flower of a branch you have broken off from the tree. But if you do keep the seeds, will the flower not remain as the years and seasons progress? I must repeat: do not forget the mind you had in the beginning.” Zeami, The Spirit of Noh. A New Translation of the Classic Noh Treatise the Fushikaden, translated by William Scott Wilson. Shambhala, Boulder, CO, USA 2013 (quotation translated into Italian by Domus).

Text Tadao Ando. In the photo Nativity facade of the Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain.

Convergent evolution The new museum housing the largest collection of works by Edvard Munch dominates the skyline from a narrow strip of land jutting into the fjord. 

In the photo Munch Museum by Estudio Herreros. Oslo, Norway. Text from the project description. Photos Rasmus Hjortshøj

Convergent evolution The library fuses into the former docklands thanks to the transparency of its ground floor and the large, amorphous canon-lumière articulated within the building. 

In the photo Deichman Bjørvika Public Library by LundHagem and Atelier Oslo. Oslo, Norway. Text from the project description. Photo Einar Aslaksen

Divergent evolution The palaeontological site will be given new cohesion with a museum extension and a path that will connect the artefacts, fossils and existing historical features. 

La Brea Loops and Lenses by Weiss/Manfredi. Los Angeles, USA. Images and text from the project description. 

Divergent evolution With a free sculptural form, the addition to the museum creates highly flexible internal and external spaces with a marked public role. 

David Geffen Galleries, LACMA by Atelier Peter Zumthor & Partner. Los Angeles, USA. Images and text from the project description. 

Divergent evolution By recovering and expanding a historic department store from the 1930s, the project creates a dynamic space for recounting the art of cinema. 

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures by Renzo Piano Buiilding Workshop. Los Angeles, USA. Text from the project description. Photo Josh White

Environmental autobiographies By choosing to work with perishable materials that lack any character of immortality, Fischer and Schwitters reveal the passing of time and remind us that both nature and art are involved in a continual process of construction and deconstruction. 

In the picture Kurt Schwitters, Merzbau in Hannover, 1933. View from the staircase entrance. Installation made from various painted materials: paper, cardboard, plaster, glass, mirror, metal, wood, stone and electrical lighting. Dimensions: 393 x 580 x 460 cm. Text Angela Maderna. Photo Wilhelm Redemann.© 2021. Foto Scala, Firenze/bpk, Bildagentur für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin

Creators/ What is evolution? This segment was established as a way of showcasing the diversity of thought that can emerge around a single idea. Each month an array of artists and designers who shape objects, spaces and buildings is given the freedom to express themselves visually on the theme we explore in each issue. To illustrate a cross-generational, crossdisciplinary view of the design world, each time we host ten creators. It is up to the chosen creators to visualise freely each of these abstract ideas in the form of images, collages, drawings, sketches and texts. Their design processes will begin with disparate influences and inspirations. By capturing these ephemeral ideas before they manifest themselves and solidify, we can better discern the roots of creation. Domus is a magazine that does not just feature architecture but also products, art, furniture and fashion. Our hope is that these diverse collections of images will capture the very spirit of Domus.

Image Francesco Corni, Cordoba Cathedral, view from below. Courtesy of the artist / Ink Line Edizioni. 

Microstories The only museum among Frank Lloyd Wright’s more than 500 completed works, the Guggenheim took over 16 years to build: amid uncertainties, battles and continuous changes, even the colour and shape of its outer shell changed several times. 

In the picture Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Text John Hill

Process The Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza has required ten years of work and a monumental retaining wall to hold up the slope in which the complex is embedded. 

In the photo Great Egyptian Museum. Giza, Egypt. Text Francis Archer – Arup. Photo courtesy of Sika Technology

Round table/ Designing an open school and learning how to live together How can we create a feeling of belonging and integrate with our surroundings by designing a school? Four architects discuss possible current design approaches intended for teaching. Approaches that are drastically different around the world. 

Text Giulia Ricci. Illustrations Francesco Chiacchio

Good reads Gio Ponti. Life and works 1923-1979. Publisher Taschen

Text Elena Sommariva.

House like me / Pedro Cabrita Reis Portuguese artist Pedro Cabrita Reis’s house on the eastern outskirts of Lisbon combines exhibition gallery, atelier and home. His collection of jazz CDs is in the library and the living room has an array of ceramic animals. 

Text Carlos D'Ercole. Photo João Ferrand

3D Print / Strength through geometry Striatus Bridge, designed by Block Research Group at ETH Zurich and Zaha Hadid Architects Computation and Design Group, with incremental3D, made possible by Holcim. 

Text Alessandro Benetti. Photo naaro

Kids / A biotechnological park that cleans the air and is activated while playing Air Bubble operates on solar energy and as kids play. The ETFE membrane controls the interior microclimate; the upside-down conical membrane stimulates natural ventilation. 

Text Elena Sommariva. Photo Maja Wirkus

Talents / Sustainable design, to uproot modernity’s paradoxes Draft, terracotta conductor used to cool the air in a room.

Text Silvana Annicchiarico. Photo Emilia Claesson

Mnemosine/ Carlo Mollino and the console on a single leg Carlino in the Zanotta re-edition. Supported by a single pointy leg, the cabinet has a drawer that slides internally on a wooden guide. 

Text Cristina Moro. Photo Courtesy of Zanotta

Coffee break/ Green Lens, a total artwork projected towards the future with an eye to history Commissioned by Anthony Vaccarello for his latest fashion show, the physical and conceptual installation created by Doug Aitken in Venice becomes a kaleidoscope to discuss the future.

Text Walter Mariotti. Photo courtesy of Saint Laurent

Domus 1060 opens with an editorial by guest editor Tadao Ando, in which he presents the theme of the September issue: evolutionary constructions. Ando includes some examples of architecture in constant evolution, including La Sagrada Familia and the Lousiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark. Works that, like many others, morph through time and space like “animated creatures”.
Ryuji Fujimura’s essay uses concrete examples to elaborate a different, linear design process to “develop a new, more open and accessible creativity”.
The second essay in this issue is written by Virgil Abloh and is entitled “The Percentage of Creativity” - he theorises how 3% is the percentage  that can give life to a project, an idea, a change.

In the Architecture section we explore 7 projects in 2 cities: Oslo and Los Angeles. These projects, although very distant and different from each other, develop with a common denominator: the attention to the space surroundings and its intrinsic history. The Art section analyses the work of artists Urs Fischer and Kurt Schwitters who, working with perishable materials, deconstruct the immortal nature of art, showing the passage of time and the intrinsic connection between art and nature.

In the Design section, Jesper Morrison tells the story of the iconic Iso-Lounge chair he designed for Isokon Plus. A project in continuous evolution, born from the concept of the cantilever chair, widely used in the history of design, from Breuer to Panton.  

The Creators column asks the question  “What is evolution?” to famous artists and designers: Manuel Aires Mateus, Paul Smith, Jean Nouvel, Es Devlin, Frida Escobedo, Virgil Abloh, Sou Fujimoto, Dominique Perrault, Thom Mayne and John Pawson, who elaborate on their ideas through drawings, photographs and words. The Around the Project section explores the history of 2 famous projects: the Guggenheim museum in New York and the Great Egyptian Museum in Giza. Finally a visit to O-Office Architects in China, renowned for their approach to transforming and reinterpreting historic buildings while respecting the tradition and character of the area.  
The issue closes with words from editor Tadao Ando on the dialogue between nature and architecture.

Round Table with Driss Kettani, Yves Moreau, Anna Heringer and Karim Nader. Illustration Francesco Chiacchio

In this month’s Diary: at the Round Table with Driss Kettani (Driss Kettani Architecte), Yves Moreau (Studio Muoto), Anna Heringer (Studio Anna Heringer) and Karim Nader (Karim Nader Studio) we ask the question  “How can we create a sense of belonging to the community and integration with the context by designing a school?” to which the four architects respond through a debate revealing different approaches and attitudes.

In the House Like Me column, we enter the home-atelier of Pedro Cabrita Reis, a Portuguese artist and jazz music enthusiast. This is followed by pages on fashion, public spaces, 3D printing and architecture for children. And also: design, products, companies and new (and old) talents in the world of design. The Diary closes with a text by Domus editor Walter Mariotti on land artist Doug Aitken’s latest installation  “Green Lens”, commissioned by Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent’s SS 2022 fashion show.

Evolutionary constructions Text Tadao Ando. In the photo Nativity facade of the Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain.

“Not retaining the seeds of the flowers you obtained at various times in your life is like holding the flower of a branch you have broken off from the tree. But if you do keep the seeds, will the flower not remain as the years and seasons progress? I must repeat: do not forget the mind you had in the beginning.” Zeami, The Spirit of Noh. A New Translation of the Classic Noh Treatise the Fushikaden, translated by William Scott Wilson. Shambhala, Boulder, CO, USA 2013 (quotation translated into Italian by Domus).

Convergent evolution In the photo Munch Museum by Estudio Herreros. Oslo, Norway. Text from the project description. Photos Rasmus Hjortshøj

The new museum housing the largest collection of works by Edvard Munch dominates the skyline from a narrow strip of land jutting into the fjord. 

Convergent evolution In the photo Deichman Bjørvika Public Library by LundHagem and Atelier Oslo. Oslo, Norway. Text from the project description. Photo Einar Aslaksen

The library fuses into the former docklands thanks to the transparency of its ground floor and the large, amorphous canon-lumière articulated within the building. 

Divergent evolution La Brea Loops and Lenses by Weiss/Manfredi. Los Angeles, USA. Images and text from the project description. 

The palaeontological site will be given new cohesion with a museum extension and a path that will connect the artefacts, fossils and existing historical features. 

Divergent evolution David Geffen Galleries, LACMA by Atelier Peter Zumthor & Partner. Los Angeles, USA. Images and text from the project description. 

With a free sculptural form, the addition to the museum creates highly flexible internal and external spaces with a marked public role. 

Divergent evolution Academy Museum of Motion Pictures by Renzo Piano Buiilding Workshop. Los Angeles, USA. Text from the project description. Photo Josh White

By recovering and expanding a historic department store from the 1930s, the project creates a dynamic space for recounting the art of cinema. 

Environmental autobiographies In the picture Kurt Schwitters, Merzbau in Hannover, 1933. View from the staircase entrance. Installation made from various painted materials: paper, cardboard, plaster, glass, mirror, metal, wood, stone and electrical lighting. Dimensions: 393 x 580 x 460 cm. Text Angela Maderna. Photo Wilhelm Redemann.© 2021. Foto Scala, Firenze/bpk, Bildagentur für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin

By choosing to work with perishable materials that lack any character of immortality, Fischer and Schwitters reveal the passing of time and remind us that both nature and art are involved in a continual process of construction and deconstruction. 

Creators/ What is evolution? Image Francesco Corni, Cordoba Cathedral, view from below. Courtesy of the artist / Ink Line Edizioni. 

This segment was established as a way of showcasing the diversity of thought that can emerge around a single idea. Each month an array of artists and designers who shape objects, spaces and buildings is given the freedom to express themselves visually on the theme we explore in each issue. To illustrate a cross-generational, crossdisciplinary view of the design world, each time we host ten creators. It is up to the chosen creators to visualise freely each of these abstract ideas in the form of images, collages, drawings, sketches and texts. Their design processes will begin with disparate influences and inspirations. By capturing these ephemeral ideas before they manifest themselves and solidify, we can better discern the roots of creation. Domus is a magazine that does not just feature architecture but also products, art, furniture and fashion. Our hope is that these diverse collections of images will capture the very spirit of Domus.

Microstories In the picture Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Text John Hill

The only museum among Frank Lloyd Wright’s more than 500 completed works, the Guggenheim took over 16 years to build: amid uncertainties, battles and continuous changes, even the colour and shape of its outer shell changed several times. 

Process In the photo Great Egyptian Museum. Giza, Egypt. Text Francis Archer – Arup. Photo courtesy of Sika Technology

The Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza has required ten years of work and a monumental retaining wall to hold up the slope in which the complex is embedded. 

Round table/ Designing an open school and learning how to live together Text Giulia Ricci. Illustrations Francesco Chiacchio

How can we create a feeling of belonging and integrate with our surroundings by designing a school? Four architects discuss possible current design approaches intended for teaching. Approaches that are drastically different around the world. 

Good reads Text Elena Sommariva.

Gio Ponti. Life and works 1923-1979. Publisher Taschen

House like me / Pedro Cabrita Reis Text Carlos D'Ercole. Photo João Ferrand

Portuguese artist Pedro Cabrita Reis’s house on the eastern outskirts of Lisbon combines exhibition gallery, atelier and home. His collection of jazz CDs is in the library and the living room has an array of ceramic animals. 

3D Print / Strength through geometry Text Alessandro Benetti. Photo naaro

Striatus Bridge, designed by Block Research Group at ETH Zurich and Zaha Hadid Architects Computation and Design Group, with incremental3D, made possible by Holcim. 

Kids / A biotechnological park that cleans the air and is activated while playing Text Elena Sommariva. Photo Maja Wirkus

Air Bubble operates on solar energy and as kids play. The ETFE membrane controls the interior microclimate; the upside-down conical membrane stimulates natural ventilation. 

Talents / Sustainable design, to uproot modernity’s paradoxes Text Silvana Annicchiarico. Photo Emilia Claesson

Draft, terracotta conductor used to cool the air in a room.

Mnemosine/ Carlo Mollino and the console on a single leg Text Cristina Moro. Photo Courtesy of Zanotta

Carlino in the Zanotta re-edition. Supported by a single pointy leg, the cabinet has a drawer that slides internally on a wooden guide. 

Coffee break/ Green Lens, a total artwork projected towards the future with an eye to history Text Walter Mariotti. Photo courtesy of Saint Laurent

Commissioned by Anthony Vaccarello for his latest fashion show, the physical and conceptual installation created by Doug Aitken in Venice becomes a kaleidoscope to discuss the future.