Acciaio Arte Architettura | English Version

This is the Chiusa di Rio Pusteria, the scene of bitter and lengthy battles, and now the heart of a masterly recovery product addressed at demolishing a certain entrenched series of architectural convictions.
The efforts to conserve this historic site have mainly focused on the centre of the structure, the so-called “Emperor’s Tower”, built in a horseshoe shape over several storeys. The thousand years’ old tower culminates in an innovative steel and glass roof, which looks like a ribbed leaf that has floated down onto the elevated ruins of the old building, giving it new life.
The roof is concave where it is attached to the central bearing column and has a main frame formed of steel tubular sections, which are housed inside a “C” section that is anchored around the edge to the wall behind. A series of steel tie-rods join the beams in the main frame to each other, to hold the large panes of glass in the roof and to stand up to the very violent weather that often occurs, such as the heavy snowfalls. The project involves a few but very ingenious intuitions, which are possible thanks to the use of steel, which plays a leading role in the entire project giving the structure solid minimalist lines and a lightweight appearance. A deft solution that replaces the first project idea of developing an invasive bulky lattice structure that would have compromised the identity of the location. The choice of steel not only exalts the original fascination of the tower, blending in perfectly with the previous architecture with virtually no impact at all, but it also highlights the quality of the project in functional and performance terms leaving imperceptible signs visible. A flowing itinerary of lights and spaces pursue cultural continuity with the past, conserving the exclusive amenity of the location and all the privacy it confers.
Steel is also the undisputed protagonist in the details, such as the winding staircase which is embraced by an elegant steel parapet, which branches out from the bearing column and underlines the winding vertical connection between the storeys in the tower reinforcing the previous spatiality.
A luminous comeback for a historic building, which is surrounded by a panorama that is as evocative as a poem.

By Erica Gaggiato

Project: Chiusa of Rio Pusteria restoration works
Planner: Arch. J. Rieder, Mühlbach
Location: Mühlbach, Bolzano
Time of construction: 1998-1999
Facade fixtures: Heidenberger & Huber
Steel works: Heidenberger & Huber
Photos: Christian Unterkircher
Reference: N. 4 – 2000

A classic house stands in the area that was built around the 70s on the ruins of the castle – of which only a wall overlooking the valley has been recovered – that gives an amazing balance to the language of the past.
There is the only original relic belonging to the old fort next to the villa: an inaccessible brick tower, which gives a lovely poetic view from the top. The tower creates a single dialogue between past and present and stands out for the innovative AISI 304 stainless steel winding staircase, formed of a frame of three overlapping modules with framed steps welded to the central rod, with shot-blast finish using glass microspheres. To ensure the vertical style of the building is as clear as possible, the stair treads are made from antique finished iron grids, galvanised and painted matt black, in accordance with the modern architectural needs addressed to create increasingly dematerialised atmospheres. The tower is enclosed within a protective fence around its full height, and looks like a complete cylinder, and is made from framed iron plate, which is stretched, painted and fixed to the steps with steel bolts, showing an amazing ability to give a really unusual declination to classical styles. At the top, where the stairway and covering terrace meet, there is a simple handrail formed of black painted iron plates, fixed to the stairway by stainless steel tie rods, which guarantee the bridge is safe that joins the old brick tower and the diaphanous steel construction. A project that was spread over time, addressed to creating functional and volumetric integration with the previous structure, thanks to the powerful dialogue between materials and technology.
The theme of steel continues in the cantilever roof, formed of a simple oxidised iron structure with an asymmetrical glass cover placed over the entrance door to the house. Once again, the indispensable value of details is shown by the fact that the elegance can also be seen in the special care paid to each single one.
The interiors are organised with a simplified layout, where the clear, light continuous colours enhance the innovative minimalist fireplace. Four tuff blocks form the base for an unusual brushed steel brazier, above which there is a seemingly floating hood formed of a steel parallelepiped with shot-blast finish using glass microspheres, which is enclosed between two oxidised iron outer panels.
A simple, essential project that demonstrates yet again how steel manages to give new life to anything it stages, to carry it undamaged through the time barrier.

By Erica Gaggiato

Project: restoration of an ancient tower
Design: Arch. Ezio Riva in collaborazione con Arch. Paolo Ugazio
Construction: Bertolinox Srl
Photographs: Lorenzo Nencioni

The desire to create constant dialogue between inside and outside led the architect to choose materials like steel and glass as the best interpreters of continuity between the house and its surroundings.
Near to the main entrance, the house is built on three floors and fully expresses the wish for two large scenic windows near to the main bathroom and the guest room, while the other two floors which house the lounge and kitchen overlook the garden through large windows.
The precise aim to highlight the specific features of the building (the two main windows could have been rolled) in respect of Venetian traditions, and the desire for the large glazed areas led to the choice of steel as the only material possible for the outside window frames.
In particular, given the weight of the panes of glass, the only possible choice was 2 mm thick tubular steel Inox PT® (AISI 316L) of the best quality, with continuous welding.
Thanks to the exceptional strength of this type of steel, Axer Group has created some very large, bright, and even motorised, openings, with such a narrow frame that it is virtually invisible leaving all the space to the transparent glass, a restoration that fully deserves being defined as “full of light”.
The choice of thick steel profiles has guaranteed maximum anti-break in security to this country residence and is totally maintenance free, which is a decisive factor at a time when we must consider savings given the current situation where specialised labour is so difficult to find and very expensive.
Fixed or opening glazed walls, sliding, lifting and special openings designed by the architect, all with a minimal frame give this house a very modern and refined style where the past, present and future are all clearly visible.

By Alice Acoleo

Project: Arch. Alfonso Vesentini, Studio Vesentini Associati, Motta di Livenza, (TV)
Landscape Designer: Orlando De Prà, “Il Giardino Snc”, Rivarotta di Pasiano
Location: San Vito al Tagliamento, (PN)
Client: Private client
Steel window and doorframes: Axer Group, San Biagio di Callalta, (TV)
Steel profiles: Palladio SpA, Treviso (Italia)
Photographs: Paolo Belvedere

Interview with Stefano Sandonnini

Looking at your photos we find two souls that seem to live perfectly together: that of the photographer and that of the traveller. The traveller’s great curiosity is shown, who looks into each corner and detail of hidden and, often, contradictory and difficult situations and, at the same time, the photographer’s instinct to fix each single moment, the never trivial shot that gives the subjects a new light. See, remember, narrate and interpret. How would you describe your research?
My research is instinctive, when I decide to slip into these abandoned sites and see everything they contain, a fantastic euphoric feeling grows inside me and I try to convert them into fascinating chromatic works, making abandoned things that time has worn down in these ancient steelworks, fading their structures and colours, become abstract pictures. I observe them and compose images that already exist, and then the sensitivity and instinct of my photographer’s eye does what a painter does with his brush and canvas.

Places of hard work, abandoned factories, spaced relegates to our memory: the materials they were made from, the items they contain and their “spiritual nature” which continues to pervade these abandoned and forgotten places, memories linked forever to the traces of those men who worked and lived there. How can this fascinating complexity be translated into a picture?
By feeling the emotions that the place gives off when you are there, the silence that surrounds you gives you unexpected inspirations that help create the frames.

Isn’t there a difference between a “portrait” and a “still life”? or better still, could a broken abandoned keypad and a colourful ravel of cables and broken pipes in an abandoned factory be considered as portraits rather than examples of still life?
Certainly, real portraits where the lines of the face are replaced by the rust and cracks in the materials, giving life to items that so far have only been thought of as work materials and definitely not works of art.

Steel: light and shade, shapes with clear contours and other frayed and unclear parts, scratches, rust and cuts, colour hues that have been patterned by time and man’s work. How can you describe the complexity of photographing this sort of material?
It is not difficult for me to photograph things like this: they are simply waiting to be immortalised, and it depends on the sensitivity of each single artist to be able to see their true nature beyond the banal appearance.

By Marina Cescon

A unique example, with a rounded and symmetrical shape in blown glass on a milk glass base in shades of grey, all strictly made by hand.
A work of art that is part of the historic Venini archives, the result of constant determined design research. There are numerous encounters with craftsmen and specialised engineers in metal, addressed to scientific investigation of simple intuitions. The final outcome is a surprising alchemy: slender, irregular steel haloes, calculated in a geometric shape and made with cutting edge engineering technology, incorporated with a studied casual ease in the layers of glass during the production process.
The idea to use steel was given by the desire to find a material able to maintain the shape that was given when “cold”, even when the glass was being processed, thanks to the thermal dilation steel has which is very similar to that of glass.
A creation that goes beyond traditional canons and bears witness to the amazing ability of steel to adapt to unusual combinations to create synergies that are beyond compare.
Two totally different souls that are blended together where, with delicate shades and soft lines, distinctive marks overlap to produce unusual patterns and to give the composition a fascinating colour effect.
A universe of unrepeatable colours and shapes that decrees Venini’s success once again, a microcosm for lovers of refined elegance and details, where creativity has taken over and technology just keeps up with its pace.

By Erica Gaggiato

Designer: Diego Chilò
Factory: Venini, Murano (VE)
Photos: Giustino Chemello