sustainable architecture:magazine

I cite in this post a part of the dialogues between domus publisher and Stefano Boeri because I found it very interesting and in a way explains how domus works and whats the philosophy behind it.

LPP: Dear Stefano….but publishing Casamonti twice in domus and neglecting the rest of young Italian architecture is suicide.
…..Casamonti means in the Italian panorama; a bridge to the academic quagmire. And even if some of his designs are quite nice, they demostrate uncommitted eclecticism.
…..I like Casamonti on a personal level. But cultural choices are quite another thin and this approach contributes to serious work on experimentation resulting in nothing, opting for a drawing room avante-garde.

SB …… does it really seem to you that I am neglecting young Italian architecture?…….we can talk properly about Casamonti. If you really want to…….

LPP …….I know you have published a few Italians and you have neen right to do so……. To speak of the conferences about the Italian-ness of Italian Architecture and the dazzling rise of the magazine Area. Domus, for which I held out such a great hope (finally an aircraft carrier in the hands of a good editor), what does it do? I t tends to skate over architecture. It publishes little and even less that is Italian. But little even of foreign architects that are not part of the Star System. I realise that some stars you have to include, for sales reasons…….My feeling is that domus is an aircraft carrier taht could have an extraordinary power for cultural fire and instead is just outside the port doing some practice……..

SB……. I declared my project for Domus right from the cover of the first issue, dedicated to De Carlo and the Triennale of 1968, There I tried to talk about how architecture today has to have a role that is not exhausted in just the architectural construction. Of how there is need to believe in the social utility of our profession, not just because it can change the space we live in but also for its capacity to generate awareness regarding the places dedicated to urban life…….. It can and must find outlets;research, criticism, journalism, non-academic teaching, communication, visual arts, even politics…….And I believe that it is exactly our possibility to acomodate two such different and even conflicting spheres such as research and design represent an extraordinary resource also for architectural design…..It is for this reason that Domus today deals with social studies, relationships between politics and architecture, news, visual arts, photography etc…… Domus follows a precise idea on the possible future of our profession. I really don’t believe that you can say that Domus doesn’t do architecture. What does architecture mean today? Publishing projects, projects, projects?….I, we, follow  mush ambitious…and strong idea about the role of architecture. An inclusive idea of architecture that has also been the prerogative in other periods in the history of this magazine….This is something I also made clear in Domus. I do not want to make the magazine (that I would like to remind you sells half its copies abroad) a kind of “Indian reserve” where we safeguard and promote a protected species in danger of extention that is Italian architects. This I leave to other magazines who believe that the number of pages is a necessary condition of “proof”…….

Basic Issues that Matter (Similarities & Differences) SUM UP!

• All three magazines are lifestyle design magazines.
• They cover design in a broader perspective, not just architecture. They are a bit of architecture, interior design, fashion, technology.
• Wallpaper* is more accessible to the audience/consumers than the other two. Possibly because is cheapper so there is no difficulty in finding it at newsagents.
• ‘Wallpaper*’ is British, ‘Architectural Digest’ is American and ‘Domus’ is Italian.  Just because they have a different ‘nationality’ this says a lot on the concept and culture of the magazines.
• All three magazines are exported abroad as well.
• Wallpaper* is the one with the shortest history as a brand (founded in 1996), Architectural Digest in 1920 and Domus a bit later, in 1928.
• If we compare the websites, the worst belongs to Architectural Digest, in my opinion, the best one belongs to Domus, is provides lots of information as well as archives, news, database as well as the ordinary stuff like whats in the magazine, search engine etc. Wallpaper* provides a normal website with a variety of tabs about the topics that the magazine covers e.g. fashion, technology, art, beauty, cars etc.
• Wallpaper* is a modern publication compare to the other two (concept). Domus is sophisticated and serius as a publication but its concept is modern. Architectural Digest is mostly classic due to the editorial content.
• Size of magazines: Wallpaper* and Architectural Digest are lighter and easier to carry and read. Domus is a massive publication and very heavy. (you cannot carry it with you). Although I guess one fo the reasons is that is bilingual so all articles can be found in both Italian and English. It does make it difficult for the reader though.

He recalls the first time he saw a copy of Wallpaper*, “it made me go wow. It was an incredible invention of publishing, to take what had normally been seen as quiet po-faced and serious and give it a lifestyle gloss that made it accessible and sexy. I loved it”. 2006 was Wallpaper*’s best year for both sales and advertising and the series of special covers celebrating the magazine’s 10th anniversary have attracted renewed attention to the title from consumers.

2007: September went through a redesign, a new font specially designed for the magazine by Mathew Carter. That redesign was part of Chamber’s plote to get readers saying “that’s not very Wallpaper* when they looked at the magazine, previously the design had been centred on a heavy teutomic sans serif typeface. Also the logo was adapted slightly to emphasis the importance of the internet. The web he said “is the making of Wallpaper*”.

After Brule’s depart in 2002 from wallpaper* the creative team went through a brief period of ’storms and stress’ as IPC decided to introduce new faces within the old Brule team. Several ‘name’ creatives out there had a brief involvement in the Wallpaper* project until today, before new editor Jeremy Langmead and Creative Director Tony Chambers got the final title. They started reinventing the magazine, but according to experts it was such a quiet revolution that not easily someone could understand that they made some changes in the concept.

However I am not in a position to argue that the magazine has changed people’s perception of what it is and that it has created a new reputation. It’s been 2 years now that I buy the magazine, not regularly, but the concept to me is all the same except some special editions like the awards edition which was quiet different from the normal issues of the magazine.