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OAK ISSUE - n° 16 - 2018 - € 10 www.theoney d.com
The Art of Sailing CRN Latona 50m
QUART ERLY - P.I. 28/10 /2018 Intern ationa l € 10, Poste Italiane S.p.a. Chf 10,50 , UK £ 7,50 Spedizione in Abbon Postale - 70% amento LO/MI
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THE ARCHITECTURE OF WELLBEING
From products to resorts, this design studio strives for zero impact and respect for location, an innovative approach that still respects traditional values by Marta Bernasconi
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Nacho Alegre
Matteo Thun, who after studying architecture in Florence in the early 1980s, co-founded the Memphis group with Ettore Sottsass in Milan. His work as an architect and designer quickly took off and broadened in scope. Left, the Chiavarina chair by Matteo Thun Atelier
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M
atteo Thun’s adventurous career began in the 1980s but in course of the intervening decades has continued to evolve, keeping him firmly at the
top of his game despite his areas of interest ranging from product design to retail and hospitality. The early years were a time of incredible intellectual ferment as he mixed with some of the leading lights on the world scene. After
nature, materials and design in Thun and co.’s creations too which
studying with Oskar Kokoschka and Emilio Vedova and
he clarifies for us: “The principle of the three zeros is the starting
then graduating from Florence’s Università di Architettura,
point in all our work. We try to apply the same philosophy to all
he co-founded the Memphis group with Ettore Sottsass
of our projects and it translates as: zero kilometres, which means
in Milan in 1981. Just three years later, Thun opened his
that construction materials and skills have to be local; zero CO2,
own studio also in Milan. But his architectural adventured
achievable by managing energy and lower emissions; zero waste,
turned plural in 2001 when he founded Matteo Thun &
achieved by managing the life cycle of the building, the way it is built
Partners with Antonio Rodriguez, headquartering it in
and removed. Technology is increasingly at the service of our design
Milan with an outpost in Shanghai. The studio followed
criteria.” We owe some magnificent hotels and resorts to Matteo
the same design model for smaller product designs and
Thun & Partners and so luxury is a part of the day-to-day reality
the larger resorts it created, an approach summed up in
of their job. This is how Thun describes the studio’s vision of the
the “from spoons to cities” motto of the Milan design
concepts of luxury and style: “Luxury to us means sensorality and
school. There is a consistent and very clear link between
longevity. Aesthetic and technological durability and the concept
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This page, top, Antonio Rodriguez, partner in Matteo Thun & Partners. Above, a larch bathtub made by Rapsel, the Davines Village, the Vigilius Mountain Resort. Opposite: left, clockwise from top, two spaces from The Twins project in Shanghai designed for Zwilling and the entrance of the Waldhotel Health & Medical Excellence
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Water is a fundamental part of the charm and sophistication of the JW Marriot Hotel in Venice. Here, like all the studio’s project, the focus is on the surrounding area’s soul which becomes the springboard for the development of the design
of healthy living are the foundations of our work. We strive for innovation but refuse to compromise on traditional values.” Currently Thun and Rodriguez have Hospitality and Residential projects in hand in Italy, Austria and Germany. By way of example, the new Davines Village headquarters, opened recently in Parma, is designed to guarantee the company’s workforce a better lifestyle through direct contact with nature. The materials used are natural while large windows meld interior and exterior with green courtyards adding to effect. Overall Thun and Rodriguez’s projects centre around their desire not just to satisfy their clients’ briefs but also to reconcile the projects with the environment and the natural space surrounding them. Perhaps one day they will give us a yacht design that will be just a perfect a model of a respectful relationship between man and sea.
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