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 1) What is ARCHITECTOUR.NET? |
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| 2) Why a database on modern and contemporary architecture? |
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| 3) Why does a site like ARCHITECTOUR.NET use the Internet? |
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| 4) What is the meaning of travelling in the contemporary epoch? |
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| 5) How is ARCHITECTOUR.NET structured and how does it work? |
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| 6) How is ARCHITECTOUR.NET consulted? |
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| 7) When to use ARCHITECTOUR.NET? |
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| 8) Who are the users of ARCHITECTOUR.NET? Who does it address? |
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 1) What is ARCHITECTOUR.NET? |
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AR is a portal on International Architecture of the 20th and 21st centuries that documents works that have been built and are still existent.
In short, it can be defined as an in-depth, informative and interactive investigation into modern and contemporary building, structured in a complex filing of significant works, with particular attention on the aspects of technical, linguistic, structural and social innovation.
In illustrating excellent applications of contemporary architectural innovation, AR manifests their technical and expressive potentials. AR indeed intends to be a place of encounter and verification of the fruit of study, the demands of the profession, and the offers of firms.
The “Europe Workshop” and the works of these past twenty years are the privileged fields of investigation. |
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| 2) Why a database on modern and contemporary architecture? |
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AR is born of the necessity to gain one’s bearings in the dense but fragmentary panorama of information in the field of architecture, especially contemporary architecture.
The AR working programme does not pursue, nor could it, a historical intent, as it lacks the fundamental distance which history requires.
AR instead intends to be an orientational tool in the mare magnum of specialised information on architecture, both on paper and not, whereby users of architecture can pass from “sight navigation” to the use of an optimised “navigational instrument”, capable of orienting them through the sea of knowledge and documents up to the hands-on experience with the work itself.
Seeing becomes knowing with the mind’s eye, seeing in the sense of visiting, embarking on a journey to the work itself.
AR is therefore a new, effective way to get to know and promulgate the great works of modern and contemporary architecture in order to discover or personally experience the beauty, dignity and innovative strength of the architecture of the recent 20th century and of the nascent 21st century, which carries and develops the former’s heritage, on its way towards the architecture of the Third Millennium.
Witness today the birth of the monuments of the future: see/know the monuments of tomorrow, today. |
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| 3) Why does a site like ARCHITECTOUR.NET use the Internet? |
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The Internet is the most important contemporary medium, and AR, being a database, uses its great potentials to propagate its contents.
Thanks to the immediacy and ease of searching, AR effortlessly offers its databases to users interested in architecture: designers and researchers can receive updates capable of giving their activities an extra edge; students will find a valid support to their education; moreover, the agile and effective structure of query paths also addresses a much wider, interdisciplinary public made up of lovers of contemporary architecture, travellers, people mindful of the evolution of the constructed heritage and, in general, in the development of territories and cities. |
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| 4) What is the meaning of travelling in the contemporary epoch? |
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The question could also be: isn’t it strange, in a certain sense, to use a tool of the virtual world to prompt the rediscovery of the concrete and tactile dimension of architecture?
To pass from the tactility of the computer to the tactility of the accomplished work is what AR makes possible by means of the information it offers and, especially, by means of its locator.
Travel as a “hands-on experience” in the real condition of the work of architecture is a powerful filter of critical selection, which makes it possible to stay clear of a narration by images in order to rediscover the corporeal and sensorial implications of the architectural experience.
In the age of virtual reality and photorealistic representation, the relationship with the physicality and contemporaneousness of the constructed work appears all the more urgent and inalienable. |
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| 5) How is ARCHITECTOUR.NET structured and how does it work? |
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AR consists of a database (horizontal navigation bar above) and a series of thematic contents (column on the left on the homepage).
The constantly updated database is the heart of the portal.
It presently contains more that 12.000 records, retrievable by means of multiple and differentiated search keys.
The main ones are: Architect | Location | Typology.
The search by architect first links to the architect’s biographical file with a list his works, and then to the desired building.
The search by location is organised along a precise geographical criterion: the locator is a powerful tool that makes it possible to search for a work by continent, country, region, province, city, district (the list obviously refers to Italy), in short, according to all the political subdivisions of all the nations in the world. The locator contains all of the cities where at least one work has been documented.
The search by typology draws on a very rich and articulated classification, and also enables multiple selections.
The advanced search combines and multiplies the search possibilities, also introducing other keys.
The work’s file contains a good deal of information which, for clarity of consultation, is organised into sections: these automatically swing into action when data is inserted. Their configuration is therefore variable, and follows the dynamics of constantly updated contents.
Beyond the database will group the thematic contents that represent the AR documentary corpus. In addition to gathering and organising information, AR therefore will have its own additional contents.
Thematic contents will be structured in various sections: Features | Files | Tour | Focus | Hi-Tech | Column | Joints | Seismographs | Initiatives
The various sections will contain and organise the specialised thematic contributions; will see their specific pages for descriptions.
AR will edit a series of in-depth thematic treatments and promotes initiatives: both draw on the database contents, primary source of information, revealing its multiplicity and flexibility of use. The two parts that make up AR indeed will form a cooperative and osmotic relationship, expressed in the links that refer to the various sections of the files and of the additional contents: it will be therefore possible to pass from specific information on the work to general treatments on theme areas to which the work belongs. The AR modus operandi essentially seeks to enrich your every search, making them easier by means of agile paths and continuous targeted connections. |
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| 6) How is ARCHITECTOUR.NET consulted? |
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All data contained in the work and architect files in the database can be freely consulted.
Dynamic searches, that is search by location and search by typology, as well as the advanced search that combines several parametres, on the contrary, can be consulted only after registering at AR.
In the additional contents sections, the various articles, essays, reportages, etc. will be preceded by an abstract, visible to everyone, that can orient the reader as to content. Here too, registering at AR enables one to read the entire piece. |
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| 7) When to use ARCHITECTOUR.NET? |
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When you want to become acquainted with modern and contemporary architecture and you want to make a search. When you are about to take a trip and would like to know what has been built in that city, or even what you will find along the road to reach your destination. When you want to know the architect who built the work you have seen or are seeing. When you would like to use that certain material for your forthcoming project and you wonder in how many other ways it could be used or has already been used. When you want to know the work where a certain film was shot, the one you’ve always wondered whether it was a set or if it really exists. When … |
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| 8) Who are the users of ARCHITECTOUR.NET? Who does it address? |
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AR intends to be a tool of reference and study for various professional categories, from scholars to professionals, from students to specialised companies. It can also be, however, a tool of knowledge and a guide for people, travellers or enthusiasts who are interested in the innovation of the constructed heritage and the evolution of the contemporary city. |
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