Architects at Cersaie

Jul 31, 2006

31/07/06 - Two leading figures in world architecture will speak at the 24th Cersaie, the world’s foremost exhibition of ceramic tiles and bathroom furnishings.
Massimiliano Fuksas, a Roman architect of Lithuanian descent, will be the guest of honour at the conference “Bologna and Cersaie – Visions for a new architecture”, to be held on Thursday 28 September during the Cersaie architecture day.

Renowned for his artistic and pictorial freedom and his attention to urban issues in large metropolitan areas, Fuksas is best known in Italy for a series of very important works that include the Ferrari Research Centre in Maranello and the famous sail in the new Milan exhibition centre. Fuksas has always given great importance to experimentation in materials and has frequently used the products of the Italian tile industry in his works.

The other internationally acclaimed speaker at the architecture day is Thom Mayne, who in the afternoon will be presented with the Seal of the ISA (Advanced Studies Institute) of the University of Bologna.
The initiative was created by the Commerce, Tourism and Urban Marketing Office of the Municipality of Bologna and the ISA (Advanced Studies Institute) and is promoted by Assopiastrelle (Italian ceramic tile and refractory materials manufacturers’ association), the Municipality of Bologna, BolognaFiere and the University of Bologna and organised by Edi.Cer. The meeting will see the participation of the Mayor of Bologna Sergio Cofferati, Assopiastrelle Chairman Alfonso Panzani, and BolognaFiere Managing Director Michele Porcelli.

Thom Mayne, co-founder of the Santa Monica-based firm Morphosis and SCI-Arc in Los Angeles, won the prestigious Pritzker Prize in 2005, a kind of “Nobel Prize for architecture”, as the highest recognition for a thirty-year career that has brought him 54 AIA Awards and 25 Progressive Architecture Awards.