Wonder Book by IFDM is a publication – print & digital – published four times a year, a retrospective of interior design and architecture projects from around the world. In this new spring issue, we chronicle spaces and buildings from Norway, China, Sweden, Spain, Italy, France, the U.S. (and the list goes on) for 192 pages, chronicling the evolution of creative thinking and taste through images, text and interviews. With a focus on the relationship between art and decoration, supported by three important voices.
Doing together…
by Ruben Modigliani – Editor-in-Chief
The projects of a collective of Mexican architects – each of whom is also an individual practitioner – show a collaborative and open way of working. A successful approach with many lessons to be learned. Among all the projects we publish in this issue, there is one that particularly caught my eye.
It is on one of our ‘Wonder’ pages: we are in San Blas, Mexico, and the project in question is the transformation of an 18th century customs complex, which has been abandoned for years, into a museum and cultural centre. The work that has been done is interesting and courageous, as it puts the ancient and the modern in dialogue with courage and lightness at the same time. But what struck me most is that it is the work of a collective, Colectivo C733. A group of professionals, each with their own studio, who have decided to work together. This is not something to be taken for granted, especially in an era like ours where we think in terms of ‘I’ rather than ‘we’. The acronym they have chosen has a meaning: c733 stands for Cósmica (cosmic) 7ógica (logic) 3conómica (economic) 3ficiente (efficient).
An architecture manifesto in four words. The collective is known for winning last year’s Obel Prize, an international award that promotes architecture at the service of people and the planet. They have essentially signed off on public projects and are extremely efficient in their execution (36 works completed throughout Mexico in three years: one per month). The key lies in their working process, in which the focus shifts from the ego of an individual to a system, to a group whose decisions are negotiated and discussed; an open group that allows, when necessary, the intervention of other voices (teachers, biologists, artisans). With one goal: not to give space to all voices, but to find the one that can best interpret the needs of the project. Winston Churchill famously remarked that “it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time”. It seems to me that a similar discussion could be made for architecture. This could be the beginning of something truly new.
…going beyond
by Alessandra Bergamini – Deputy Editor of .Wonder Book
One of the numerous research projects at the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics, University of Pennsylvania, directed by Anjan Chatterjee, Professor of Neurology, Psychology, and Architecture, is dedicated to wellness in the built environment (Built Environment and Wellness). According to this study, aesthetic reactions seem to stem from three fundamental, interrelated dimensions: the charm generated by the context, organizational and constructive coherence, and a sense of familiarity with the place.
This is the necessary sense of belonging also mentioned by Francesco Conserva, Vice President of the architecture firm Open Project, in the interview we are publishing in this Spring Issue of the Wonder Book, along with those with Martin Goddard and Jo Littlefair of the namesake studio, and Silvia Prandelli, Senior Principal and General Manager of Populous Italia. Beyond the physical space, which certainly meets functional requirements and aesthetic characteristics, “the sense of belonging to a place comes from intrinsic history and beauty,” whether they be architectures of various types or urban spaces of different functions.
As Maurizio Cilli, architect and artist, highlights in the White Box page, “a key to understanding the reciprocity that indissolubly unites a community to a place is the result of a process of proximity.” Equally, “the quality of relationships and exchange is determinant.” This quality becomes essential also as self-gratification and an elixir of longevity. Beyond the physical space, beyond individuality, it is important to create a sense of community, real human relationships, and shared social bonds to improve the quality of places – of living, working, learning – and of one’s life. Beyond the current concept of longevity, designing “places” of beauty, relation, and empathy generates wellness and often fleeting moments of surprise and wonder. These are what we have perceived in the various architecture and interior design projects presented here, signed by (in alphabetical order) Anna Covre and Frederic Tubau de Cristo, Bluegame, Cheng Chung Design, Debonademeo Studio, Flaviano Capriotti Architetti, Isern Serra, Jean-Michel Gathy, Julie Hillman, KURZ architects, LaiBE Architettura, Laura Gonzalez, Lemay, Malfinio, Maria Adele Savioli Architettura, Neri&Hu, Norm Architects, Our Habitas, Peter Pichler Architecture, Philippe and Antonie Bertherat-Kioes, Snøhetta, Sou Fujimoto and Gwenaël Nicolas, The Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection, Yabu Pushelberg.
