ZODIAC 8, October 1992
The Latin American Laboratory
Guido Canelli [Editor]
Guido Canelli [Editor]: ZODIAC 8. Milan: Editrice Abitare Segesta S.p.a., October 1992. Original Edition. Text in Italian and English. Quarto. Printed French folded wrappers. 292 pp. Illustrated articles. Designed by Massimo Vignelli. Interior unmarked and very clean. Out-of-print. Wrappers lightly worn and soiled, so a very good copy.
8.5 x 10.5 softcover book with 292 pages of modern architecture, beautifully designed by Massimo Vignelli and printed in Italy. Illustrated with numerous black & white photographs and drawings. A few trade advertisements at the front.
This new series issue of ZODIAC offered an overview of Contemporary Architecture, circa 1991.
Contents
- Per/To James Stirling (1926 – 1992): Carlo Aymonino , Manfredo Tafuri
- The Latin American Laboratory: Guido Canella
- The Latin-American City: Pre-Columbian Ancestry, The Founding Laws And Traditions: Mario Sartor
- Thoughts From The Tropics: Juan Pedro Posani, Alberto Sato
- A New World For The New Spirit: 20th- Century Architecture’s Discovery Of Latin America: Jorge Francisco Liernur
- Desert And Selva: From Abstraction To Desire. Notes On The Regionalist Dilemma In Latin American Architecture: Roberto Fernández
- Report From Havana: Sergio Baroni
- Projects by:
- Domingo Alvarez, Venezuela
- Alberto Cruz, Cooperativa Amereida, Chile
- Christian de Groote, Chile
- Clorindo Testa, Argentina
- Aslan y Ezcurra, Argentina
- Gramática/Guerrero/Morini/Pisani/Urtubey/Pisani, Argentina
- Lina Bo Bardi, Brasil
- Luiz Paulo Conde, Brasil
- Rogelio Salmona, Colombia
- Laureano Forero, Colombia
- Fruto Vivas, Venezuela
- Jimmy Alcock Venezuela
- Jesús Tenreiro-Degwitz, Venezuela
- Abraham Zabludovsky, México
The 1982 AIGA MEDAL citation: “Upon the occasion of the major retrospective of the Vignellis' work exhibited at Parsons in 1980, The New York Times critic Paul Goldberger characterized Massimo (Italy, 1931 – 2014) and Lella Vignelli (Italy, 1934 – 2016) as “total designers.” They and their office have indeed done it all: industrial and product design, graphic design, book design, magazine and newspaper design, packaging design, interior and exhibit design, furniture design. Massimo and Lella work together in two ways: he concentrates on what they call the “2D”; she handles the “3D”. He's the visionary: “I talk of feelings, possibilities, what a design could be.” She the realist: “I think of feasibility, planning, what a design can be.”
The Vignellis were both born and educated in the industrial, more-European north of Italy, he in Milan and she in Udine, 90 miles away. Massimo's passion was “2D”—graphic design; Lella's family tradition and training were “3D”—architecture. They met at an architects' convention and were married in 1957. Three years later, they opened their first “office of design and architecture” in Milan and designed for Pirelli, Rank Xerox, Olivetti and other design-conscious European firms. But their fascination with the United States, which took root during three years spent here after they were married, eventually grew strong enough to lure them away from Italy permanently. “There is diversity here, and energy, and possibility,” recalls Massimo, “and the need for design.” He cofounded Unimark in 1964, which ballooned and collapsed as the corporate identification boom of the late 1960s hyperventilated, then ran out of breath. In 1972, their present office was formed: Vignelli Associates for two-dimensional design, Vignelli Designs for furniture, objects, exhibitions and interiors.
Not only do the Vignellis design exceeding well, they also think about design. It is not enough that something—a chair, an exhibition, a book, a magazine—looks good and is well designed. The “why” and the “how,” the very process of design itself, must be equally evident and quite beyond the tyranny of individual taste.
“There are three investigations in design,” says Massimo. “The first is the search for structure. Its reward is discipline. The second is the search for specificity. This yields appropriateness. Finally, we search for fun, and we create ambiguity.”