A culture of production and a culture of design are the fundamental reference points for Casalgrande Padana's development strategy that, right since its start, has been to establishing a cooperative relationship with the design sector. Creative Book, a publishing project implemented with Casabella, an international architectural magazine, is intended to consolidate and deepen this important bond, offering itself as a support tool for the designer's work. Conceived to provide some starting points for additional reflection about the expressive and applicative potential of Granitogres and Marmogres ceramic materials, the volume offers a series of practical contributions. Information, examples, solutions, suggestions, hints, atmospheres... A tool for quick consultation.
To leaf through, when necessary. Creative Book is organized into three sections dedicated to works, materi¬als and compositional proposals. The first part presents a selection of projects that participated in the last edition of the international architectural competition, Grand Prix Casalgrande Padana. The review has been organized according to the principal types of interventions: shopping centres and executive offices, public and service buildings, industrial buildings, façade coverings and external pavements, and residential buildings. Each work is illustrated with a series of pictures accompanied by a technical sheet about the project. The central section of the volume is dedicated to materials. The performance characteristics and aesthetic qualities of Granitogres and Marmogres are highlight-ed through large thematic tables and in-depth details. Colours, sizes and surfaces provide the designer with a particular interpretative key to the information that integrates at different levels, allowing differentiated reading levels.
The last part, dedicated to compositional studies, analyses the possibilities for applying ceramics in flooring, developing a series of proposals and suggestions for whole environmental al compositions, central decorations, border decorations, route markers and water-jet cutting. A section dedicated to façade coverings completes the study. Creative Book thus intends to indicate some possible directions for expressive and compositional research into the use of ceramic materials in architecture, offering the designer a series of useful notes for his work.