MINOTTI CUCINE PIETRA
DESIGN BY CLAUDIO SILVESTRIN
Strong, enduring,
immovable. masculine, but at the same time, maternal.
You challenge time:
trends do not touch you.
With humility we ask you
to serve the living and the dead. We pass by, you live on.
With this kitchen,
designed as steps, I wanted to express the part of you that is most hidden:
your lightness.
A movement from low to
high, high to low, a little like the existence of us mortals: a life of
inevitable and beautiful cracks.
Claudio Silvestrin
TECHNICAL FEATURE
The whole kitchen stands
on a firm aluminium base and is built on a shared side modular structure
granting multiple compositions.
pietra is made of white
porphyry with stained lati wood carcass, it consists of four modules of
different heights and functions. the first module, 104 cm in height, is the
snack counter, a convivial space. the second runestone, 96 cm in height, is the
washing area. the large sink includes a washing area, a rinsing area and a
water cooler. The third, 88 cm in height, is the work area; it consists of a
fixed part and a moving part. By lifting the moving part we access an area for
plugging in small appliances. The fourth is a monolith, 80 cm in height; it is
a cooking area made of a unique modular ceramic glass top.
Modules can be arranged
in the space as required.
You may reach to see
another news from my blog Minotti Cucine Terra Kitchen design by Claudio
Silvestrin to click below link.
http://mymagicalattic.blogspot.com/2013/05/minotti-cucine-terra-design-by-claudio.html
Doors have a
bronze profile which frames the thin 5 mm thick
stone sheets.
MINOTTI CUCINE
Minotti cucine has always
been in ponton di Sant’ambrogio di Valpolicella, in the province of Verona. The
church of San Giorgio in a closeby little borough of early christian origin has
been source of inspiration for Minotti Cucine. Its peculiar aspect evokes three
main concepts: A majestic, mono- chrome and –material ethos.
The walls and floors of
this sacred building are made up of large stone slabs coming from this area:
The lessinia white stone. Its pure volumes are emphasized by the natural light
filtering from the few, long and narrow openings. At first the inside is
apparently dark, but once the visitor’s eyes get used to this half-light, it’s
unavoidable to perceive “the visual silence and spiritual peace”.
The majesty of San
Giorgio church, whose main expression is the massive and vertical presence of
the bell tower, has inspired Minotti Cucine to design thick volumes. It also
influenced the architecture of Minotti Cucine seat: the perfect proportions can
be observed in the long and narrow walkway made up of large white lessinia
stone slabs.
Moreover, the surrounding
areas of Minotti Cucine have always been recognized as those where stone is
treated and cut. The local culture traditionally relied on the wisdom and high
quality of crafty masters.
Since the 60s and 70s
Minotti Cucine has designed kitchens with stone worktops and then with stone
sinks following an antique tradition. A further evolution has been designing
stone fronts, thus reaching a horizontal and vertical material uniqueness. The
kitchen that has been exposed for 10 years in the company’s garden is timeless
evidence of this history.
A further valuable aspect
of minotti cucine is its custom-made approach: each project is unique, designed
and manufactured to satisfy every single and exclusive need.
http://www.minotticucine.it/company/context
SILENZIO VISIVO
The surrounding noise and
chaos of contemporary times has led us to a constant research of silence –
visual silence that can release our mind, enhance our spirituality and place
the human being at the centre of the “house project”.
In our vocabulary the void loses its negative connotation: it is not perceived
as absence or lack, but rather it represents a pause, a moment of reflection in
which the prevailing materialism is transcended in favour of inner space.
This philosophy manifests itself in a rigorous work of subtraction that is
applied to the domestic environment. This approach does not entail any
compromise and suggests a primordial concept of the living space without any
unnecessary addition and whatever might distract the eye and ruin the view.
The elemental and pure, almost primitive, shapes of our kitchens result from
this process and prove our integrity and spiritual force.
Every element is reduced to its minimum as to deny any human intervention on
the project. Thus, handles, plinths, taps and all the redundant details of
traditional design disappear, while the use of colours and materials becomes
rigorous and strict.
Monolithic, monochromatic and monomaterial volumes, which are abstract and
sculptural, are nonetheless objects of daily use, but they hide from view all
functional elements, thus contributing to the idea of space purification at the
base of our philosophy.
Our ambition is to create poetry in accordance with the principles of
rationality and functionality – the bases of design and industrial culture.
Stone, wood, metal, water, fire are the depositary of our will to freeze time.
The extreme minimalism combined with the use of natural materials represents a
challenge to the swirling succession of ephemeral fashions and trends. Using
the primordial materials and elements that nature has provided us, as well as
carving time in archaic shapes, minotticucine makes its products timeless.
Differently from artificial materials, which are made by human beings and their
arrogance, natural materials have the ability to “grow old” and absorb the
patina of time, thus increasing their fascination and aesthetic significance.
The use of this “living matter”, so far from the market consumer trends and the
contemporary concept of design, represents a precise choice that doesn’t imply
a limit to, or rejection of innovation. On the contrary, the effort to make
these archaic materials trusted guardians of the most innovative technologies
of living urges us to be always ahead of time anticipating future. This is our
idea of perfection, luxury and exclusivity.
Minotticucine microcosm is free from the excess of furniture and objects, the
redundancy of materials and colours, and unveils the spiritual value of the
void, the endless poetry of light, the power of matter and the strength of
natural elements.
It is not an aseptic and depersonalized space, but a place where the human soul
is amplified, where the objectivity of design is replaced by matter and by the
subjectivity of those who inhabit this place. Design leaves space to life
because the human being has to become the real protagonist of domestic space,
which has been invaded and suffocated by a multitude of useless objects – the
end results of consumer culture.
Our design mission addresses those spirits that try to get a direction for
their quest for inner order. Going back to the incipit, those who chose our
product do not only buy some objects, but embrace, more or less
consciously, a way of living, looking at things and approaching the world. This
is why those who decide to cross the border and choose to follow our philosophy
will find it difficult to go back.
Part of the
worktop is movable: when lifted up,
It displays a functional compartment hosting small appliances.
CLAUDIO SILVESTRIN
PHILOSOPHY
I have been educated to
believe that being an architect is a vocation, just as it is a vocation to be a
priest. I have been educated to believe that architecture is the most complete
form of art, bridging man and nature, earth and sky, god and mortals. I have
believed, and still do, that architecture is composing poetry on earth in
partnership with the earth; that architecture has the role of transmitting the
emotion of matter, space, light and water. . I think the most popular
contemporary construction nowadays is the exaltation of perverse and simplistic
forms, reflecting a union that is neurotic and narcissistic, ignoring five
thousand years or more of history. Modern man feels that he is the centre of
the universe; his arrogance and vanity demand constructions that are in fact
mirrors. The powerful man and the neurotic man subconsciously recognize
themselves in the high-tech style, in sensationalist and deconstructive
architecture. One must be blind or asleep not to notice: We are a materialistic
civilisation of institutionalised, perverse forms. It is a real disaster: The
forms of contemporary construction have separated from the stars. The clearest
paradox, represented by religious buildings, is the most saddening. these
edifices are sensationalistic, self - gratifications in reinforced concrete;
they have ceased to be spaces for god and have become places for man. It is not
a matter of right or wrong but of acknowledging and being aware of this, in
order to make decisions that embody firm principles. The contemporary architect
is fortunate that he or she has the freedom of choice, a responsible choice.
One should ask: Is architecture the expression of a deepening thought or is it
a non-critical conformity? Questioning does not mean going against evolution
and progress; on the contrary, serious questioning can bring a contribution to
awaken the sensitivity of man towards an evolution that is not only
technological and materialistic but a total evolution that is simultaneously
material and spiritual, modern and archaic, anthropological and ecological.
Religious attitude living the profession of contemporary architect in a
religious manner requires a psychological trauma that is almost permanent. To
clarify, i'm not speaking of recognised and institutionalized religion, but of
a religious attitude, serious, profound, rigorous, healthy and full. A rock
against rampant corruption, with unshaken faith in onès mission and in the gift
of talent one wants to offer in order to ensure the survival of sensibility in
the world. Proposing the poetry of space with novelty and individuality leads
to uncertainty and incomprehension, and the interlocutor is caught off guard.
If for materials you propose water rather than plastic, stone rather than
glass, a void rather than unconditional exploitation of space, elegance rather
than sensationalism, the symbol rather than the captivating effect, the magic
of light rather than light as a lux quantity, a primitive sense rather than a
contemporary one. They respond: -architect, enough with poetry, nobody wants it
anymore, people don't understand it anyway! Architect, you're so old fashioned!
Architect, very nice! But the space needs to be exploited, at the price i paid
for it! Architect, you're too sophisticated! Architect, but there isn't enough
light! -architect, what are archetypes? Paradoxically the more you encounter
ignorance, lack of sensibility, arrogance, mediocrity and corruption, the
stronger the desire not to succumb to this poisoning of the spirit. It's true,
if you play the game, you can build big, have multimedia success, fame, money
and power. And there is freedom to choose, which, fortunately, every architect
or designer has today. Sure, the powerful make you pay for it, they don't allow
you to win a competition because you didn't dine with a member of the jury,
they don't give you a building permit because you don't propose what is in
vogue at the moment, they don't choose you because you're not part of their
club. I remember once at a presentation for a residential project competition
in Switzerland, the presiding professor of the jury said that my project had a
palladium flavour. I blushed from the embarrassment, from the surprise and from
the compliment. Thanks! I responded innocently. I was eliminated, because for
that swiss scholar, palladium meant italian and, therefore, not modern. At a
presentation at the landmark of New York, they told me that rather than
presenting a project with an individual and unique configuration, as the one i
proposed, i had to take inspiration from recently constructed buildings
designed by the usual big names. At a competition in which i participated in
Italy, the first seven prizes where given to seven university professors of the
same city, not one architect of national fame of international fame –
absolutely outrageous.
To defend their
territory, the bosses of the various clans (including those of architects) put
obstacles in your way and when you manage to build something, they prevent
communication of your achievements or render them insignificant in the context
of contemporary culture. My fortune is, on one hand, my faith in the meaning of
my work and, on the other, my spontaneity in forgetting about the
disappointments, betrayals and eliminations and looking forward, pushing ahead
like an elephant, with the enthusiasm of doing and creating, albeit with the
knowledge that human ingratitude knows no limits. The supreme ambition great
architects and great architecture are my source of inspiration when it comes to
my ethics and designs. But that is not all: essays, philosophy, poetry, even
reading the newspaper can stimulate my creative thought process and my design
choices. On 20th december 2004 i read an excellent article by Francesco
Alberoni in Corriere Della Sera, entitled ‘a world that moves very fast but
knows not how to dream'. the writer accurately observes the results that
cultural relativism, Its frenzy and superficiality, have had on modern society.
We might ask ourselves what this has to do with the occupation of architect.
Well nothing, if we believe in tidy categorisation and we view the profession
as specialist and compartmentalised. I believe however that being an architect
does not mean being removed from cultural relativism, the kafkaesque machine.
Indeed i believe it expresses the concept just as well as a fashion magazine or
a cd that is used up and quickly forgotten. The majority of critics within the
sector believe that the architect should express the culture of his time. The
dogmatic architect views this media truth as absolute. Luckily for me this
‘fact' is not written in any sacred texts or in plato, and so doubting its authenticity
is legitimate. Indeed i would go even further and suggest that the very task of
the architect is not to express the values of cultural relativism or even his
own contemporary culture. In 1927, the German Pavilion designed by Mies Van der
Rohe in barcelona was a masterpiece that broke completely from the conventions
of the time. A masterpiece that is still visible today, its innovative spirit
certainly didn't reflect the predominant culture of its day. Alberoni talks
about decadence in his article but at the same time also of hope, dreams and
spirituality. The spirituality of the layman is pointless, a waste, redundant.
Alberoni's conclusion should perhaps be food for thought for the designer who
says ‘not me!' or for the planner who refuses to construct ‘self-expressing'
perverse forms of today's sensationalism. The article concludes thus: ‘[because
there is] a place where every now and then we can take shelter, purify
ourselves, find some peace and come out again stronger. Without this we would
slide into an intolerable abyss.' the more superficial reader may think of an
exotic holiday destination, but when Alberoni talks of purification he is not
talking of our bodies in terms of tired flesh and bones, or a nervous system
fraught with stress, but rather the purification of the mind. Is this the
supreme ambition of architecture? And why supreme? Because a purified mind puts
the driving force of our inner animal desire to sleep and awakens our
consciousness of the divine that exists in nature. The man-animal makes room
for the man-spiritual.
http://www.minotticucine.it/philosophy/Claudio%20Silvestrin
CLAUDIO SILVESTRIN
Born in 1954, Claudio
Silvestrin studied under A. G. Fronzoni in Milan and at the Architectural
Association in London. His integrity, clarity of mind, inventiveness and
concern for details is reflected in his architecture: austere but not extreme,
contemporary yet timeless, calming but not ascetic, strong but not
intimidating, elegant but not ostentatious, simple but not soulless.
PRACTICE PROFILE
Claudio Silvestrin
Architects was established in 1989 with offices in London, and since 2006 Milan
also. The work of the practice encompasses real estate developments, newly
built houses and resort for private residence, art galleries and museums, domestic
and retail interiors and furniture design. Clients include Giorgio Armani, Illy
Caffe, Anish Kapoor, Calvin Klein, Poltrona Frau, Victorio Miro, the Fondazione
Sandretto Re Rebaudengo for whom he has designed the museum in Turin and the
internationally acclaimed hip hop artist and producer Kanye West.
Claudio Silvestrin
Architects have completed the Victoria Miro Private Collection Space in London
and a 5.000 m2 wellness centre in South Korea. They are currently building a
new 40.000 m2 construction resort in Ceara, Brazil, including a hotel, spa and
villas. They are also building two new 20.000 m2 developments of 31 villas in
Singapore as well as 25.000 m2 fashion mall in Turin, Italy. The practice is
currently working on apartments and villas in USA and Europe.
AWARDS
2011 South East
Asia property Awards, Best Architectural design Sandy Island Housing Development, Sentosa, Singapore
2011 South East
Asia property Awards, Best Housing Development Sandy Island Housing
Development, Sentosa, Singapore
2009 Chicago Athenaeum ınternational Architectural Award Victoria Miro Private Collection Space, Londra
2009 CNBC Asia – Pacific Property Awards, Best Development Sandy Island Housing Development, Sentosa, Singapore
2008 Archip –
Domus, Russia
2008 Archip –
Domus, Russia Magazine award
P Penthouse, Montecarlo
2008 Best
Communicator Award
La Cava, a stone installation for II Casone at Marmomacc, verona
2005
Wallpaper Magazine Design Awards
Terra Kitchen for Minotti Cucine
2005 Travel +
Leisure Magazine Design Awards
Princi Bakery XXV Aprile, Milan
2005
International Award Architecture in Stone
Giorgio armani Worldwide
Image
2003 Gold
Medal Award for Italian Architecture at the Triennale in Milan
Fondazione Sandretto Re
Rebaudengo, Turin
2003 Contract
World Award and Atrib Award
Giorgio Armani Worldwide Image
www.claudiosilvestrin.com
