Pio Manzù Centre

This collection of papers represents, as stated by Ezio Gianotti, Coordinator of the Planning Committee of the Pio Manzù Centre, the first systemic and interdisciplinary attempt to take a close look at the human environment, in a variety of situations and from different aspects. These studies cover the work carried out by the Pio Manzù Research Centre in the formulation of a didactic model for the overall planning of ‘environmental structures’. The studies were made in three areas: topological (or related to individual space), geographical (or related to communal space), and communication .

The meeting was held within the context of the activity of UNESCO in Italy. In the foreword, Felice Battaglia explains that the event ‘was concerned with the threat to the human environment, which is evident in dramatic episodes of destruction against nature and man, as well as by slow degeneration and corrosion’. With this publication the Pio Manzù Centre sought to contribute both to the human environment and to the methodology of planning and design.

The monograph takes a methodological look at the contributions made, in a variety of ways, by two schools of thought, which have some aims in common but which also have basic differences, namely the phenomenological critique and structuralism.
The volume is divided into two sections:
a) Methodology, psychology and sociology of institutions
b) Linguistics and pre-linguistics principles of the recent trends in art, literature and music.

This booklet is more than the usual catalogue-guide as it explains the process which led up to this first Biennial on the methodology of Design. The basic premises of the Biennial are described in a series of collected essays divided into three areas corresponding to the three sections of the meeting: information and communication, theory of Design and a display section.

More than a hundred scholars gathered together in interdisciplinary and international groups to look at the environmental problem. The Pio Manzù Centre considered the human environment resulting from the technological age, though this is only one of the possible models of civilisation.
During the meeting three exemplary cases of constructive design were presented: the great highway along the Andes forest, planned by architect, Fernando Bealunde-Terry, President of Peru; the plan for the re-development of the port of Genoa, by Konrad Wachsmann; Kenzo Tange’s plan for the redevelopment of Bologna.

This issue of ‘Environmental Structures’ contains some of the papers presented at the first international Biennial on the methodology of Design. In particular the process of automation was looked at in relation to its effects on man. The topic of Leisure was dealt with in detail and a proposal for a ‘Leisure Centre’ was put forward by the Frankfurt group of the Pio Manzù Centre coordinated by Prof. Herbert Ohl.

Three well known urbanists offer differing and original approaches to the theory of town planning.
Konrad Wachsmann coming from California offers the structural dynamic as his approach for coordinating his intervention. The plan for the super highway along the Andes proposed by Belaunde-Terry aims at changing the ecology of a vast area in order to bring a life-line and settlement to the interior of South America where there is now total isolation.

A series of environmental phenomena find an interpretation through the popular and still youthful language of the cinema. The meeting intended taking a first look at this experience particularly in relation to films dealing with aspects of the environment, to interpret the visual messages/language, and study its form, structure and characteristics – to enhance our understanding.

The papers presented in this volume analyse the use of the cinema and the television as an instrument of social enquiry, to clarify thinking on the major problems of our time. A section of the work illustrates the teaching value of the cinema and its use in broadening awareness and the criticism of reality. Gianni Rondolino was responsible for the experimental cinema section.

This publication collects the more significant documents produced by the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment at Stockholm in 1972 entitled ‘Only One Earth’.
For years the Pio Manzù Centre has been promoting studies and research into various aspects of the environment to further awareness of the present reality and the future of industrial civilization.

Organised by the Pio Manzù Centre in collaboration with the RAI-Italian Television service, the meeting aimed to examine the possible use of the cinema and television in the work of sensitization to the central problem of man and his environment.

A series of Panel discussions of great interest: man of the future and his use of time – will work remain the central value of human life? what must society do to manage the use of time?
The ergonomic contribution in industry. Among the speakers were experts in the fields of social sciences and economics such as Sabino Acquaviva, Silvio Ceccato, Ugo Spirito, Georges Friedman, Roger Garaudy, Padre Ernesto Balducci.

The first part of the volume presents two interdisciplinary studies carried out by the Pio Manzù Centre on the theme of leisure and tourism. Tourism as an attitude is the underlying motive of the study conducted by Silvio Ceccato. While the group coordinated by Herbert Ohl prepared a proposal for a tourist area, and the uses of leisure time. The second part of the volume is dedicated to Jean Rouch and the African cinema.

The volume has the dual function to report on the outcome of the use of audio-visual techniques in research into the historic city centres of Turin and Urbino, (carried out by the Agnelli Foundation and the local authority of Urbino), and to formulate a theory for the different use of images of the city and of urban life beyond that of the usual maps.

The research looks at the ever present problem of Housing; one of the burning issues in Italy. To meet the needs of the community, the local Authorities should use a construction system that is more flexible and less costly, and they should encourage experimentation.
In this volume the Pio Manzù Centre informs the Italian public about the research which Prof. Herbert Ohl, architect, carried out in Peru for the UN, and for the German government, developing his ‘Cellular Structure Building System’.

The volume analyses two problems of great current concern which are closely linked: the culture
of the written word and image, and publishing. The structural, economic and developmental aspects are considered.

This interdisciplinary study carried out for the Ministry of Scientific Research, looks at the problem of the relation between man and his surrounding space, taking into account factors such as the population explosion and building speculation. Three experts of the Pio Manzù Centre, an economist, a lawyer and an urbanist, offer an initial methodological approach to the problem of territorial planning for a balanced environment.

Italian edition of n. 65

This work analyses one of the most important and most neglected sectors in Italy. Original solutions are suggested arising from a new look at the phenomenon of  Tourism.

The environment and the work place were the topics under consideration. Industry and all the forces involved were carefully considered. The way forward is to achieve an accurate ergonomic design that plans the environment for man and with man. All the factors which influence the environment are analysed and practical applications of ergonomics are explained.

This research was actually begun before the energy crisis made it necessary to think again about a way of life orientated towards consumption technology, and was thus very well timed and of great topical importance. The Pio Manzù Research Centre examined car-safety within the context of the car-man-environment relationship, to determine a safe-design; car-design was looked at from different points of view, with particular attention to the needs of the consumer.

This volume collects some of the Papers and Resolutions of the United Nations which made proposals for the developing countries, but which also contain much of value for the already industrialised countries.

The central theme explored was that of international collaboration, with particular emphasis on development, and the aspects of independence, inter-dependence and cooperation.

This study posed the question of how it would be possible to improve the choice of alternative routes for both tourism and the transport of merchandise. The answer is sought through a new approach of looking in-depth at the movement of traffic and the effect of a variety of information on the eventual choice made by the road-user. Correct route choice and planning requires a new kind of map using advanced techniques.

The volume analyses the problem of minority languages, and offers practical solutions. These languages are often suppressed in the name of progress, which ignores historical experience. This process often engulfs tradition and overturns customs which represent a unique and authentic heritage.