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Single-currency Europe is taking off, with all the great  expectations and potential pitfalls it entails. The crucial issues; the institutional bolstering of the Union, the need to improve infrastructures, and the role of regional growth policies.

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EDITORIAL – Why arcVision?

Now on the threshold of the New Millennium, the cultural landscape in which the world of construction has put down roots seems to have undergone a profound change. In fact, the new materials and new technologies and have opened frontiers unimaginable only a few years ago, not only in the sector of construction processes but also in our way of thinking about spaces and services. The relationship between interior and exterior has been modified, owing to the different view we have of the environment, in the sense of the urban scene and of nature. New materials have made it possible for us to create structures that are at once bold and functional. These are the premises that have given birth to arcVision a medium dedicated to these themes and to their relationship with the construction material richest in tradition: cement. Utilized in all its diverse and innovative potentialities, cement has demonstrated, both in the past and in our day, that it is the most ductile of materials in interpreting the requirements of planning increasingly aimed at the creation of new forms of contemporary cultural sensibility. To deal effectively with these subjects arcVision has decided to focus on four extensive themes in architectural research: matter, transparency, technology and virtual. Today, in fact, those who have the great responsibility of “building” will have to take up the challenge laid down by the new planning models and those who produce cement will have to demonstrate with facts that this material is still in every way equal to the task of meeting the needs of advanced contemporary technology. The Italcementi Group, also through the review arcVision, wishes to explore in greater depth the themes of economy and industry, in the knowledge that the role of a leading Group should also be that of promoting constant reflection on the themes that both inside and outside the company represent changes in the structure of our economic culture. It is by no mere chance that this new experience is beginning with the Euro and Europe on the threshold of the Third Millennium with the contribution of important innovators and leaders. Also for this reason, arcVision is to be made into a regular magazine designed for planners, clients, scholars (and students), all of whom will find food for thought and, above all, an up-to-date picture of the evolution of industry, economy and world architecture.

Giampiero Pesenti
President of the Executive Committee of the Italcementi Group

 

Over the last decade architectural design has undergone a sort of genetic mutation in its building methods and increasingly advanced technology, now incorporated right from the original design phase. Architectural design, which until a few years ago was rationally confined to buildable structures, can now draw on virtual or three-dimensional representations of project ideas to open up wide new horizons for the creative artistry of architects, whose style is no longer cramped by graphic constraints. But these major changes under way cannot afford to ignore the grounding principles of architecture, such as: matter, virtual, transparency, and technology. These are the underlying values on which arcVision is grounded, as it sets out in each new issue to probe, examine, and represent as effectively as possible the international design scene, whose leading exponents draw on cutting-edge conceptual-structural experimentation of great artistic and scientific value to help build the stylistic-cultural heritage of the age in which we live.

Cesare M. Casati
Editor of l’Arca

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