Reading again Levi’s words, matter appears as the cornerstone of man’s cultural civilization, and in this sense hard is shown the task of introducing the subject starting from the background which underpin the present magazine. The editorial committee considers it as a union means between the various disciplines that represent SMC Magazine’s soul itself. It could in fact be recognized as a communication ring between the different cultural, social and scientific aspects which connect among them construction, technology as well as the anthropized environment itself. One of the meanings of matter’s concept within this context can emerge from Schopenhauer’s thought, modern philosopher inspired indeed by the phenomenal reality. The possible location of matter within the field of construction can find its raison d’être in the tangible and immaterial relationship between space and time. The philosopher in fact introduces the subject of matter referring to the very concept of time, at its turn derived from the reason. “Who has met this shape of reason principle which appears in pure time as it is, and on which any numbering and calculation lies, has with this indeed met also the whole essence of time.”1
In these words the need can be recognized of comparing the whole concrete world, that on which indeed lies any numbering and calculation, with the relative length, therefore with the time, with the historical period, and with the circumstances: thus with anything that concretely appears linked to nature’s as well as man’s phenomena. He once again continues: “…who then had known the reason principle as it dominates in the pure space’s intuition, has, with this, run out of the entire essence of space; because the latest through and through nothing else is, if not the chance of mutual determinations of its parts, which is called location.”2 […]
001_ COVER
003_ VIEW_Matter: Science and Technology for Habitat
Dora Francese
017_ INDEX
FOCUS ON MATTER AND CULTURE
018_ Iron and Steel: the Industrial Revolution New Materials as a Game Changer in Architecture’s Evolution
Georgia Cheirchanteri
025_Earth-Shelterd Dwellings in South Tunisia: Troglodytic caves of Sened Jebel
Fouad Ben Ali
030_On Applications of Thrust Lines to Simply-supported No-tension Panels
Enrico Babilio, Luca Buoninconti
036_Insulation, Building Mass and Airflows – Provisional and Multi-variable Analysis
Giacomo Chiesa, Mario Grosso, Andrea Acquaviva, Badiaa Makhlouf, Alice Tumiatti
041_Materials and Finishes in Mediterranean Healthcare Facilities
Artemis Kyrkou, Fani Vavili
047_Mathematical Models for Atypical Terracotta Infill Walls
Adriana Rossi, Umberto Palmieri
052_Material Identity Harmony Perception. New Solutions for Eco-oriented Building
Giuseppe Vaccaro
058_Living, Building, Recycling
Gigliola Ausiello, Enza Santoro
064_Resource Matter Material. Reuse as a Technical Option for Sustainable Design
Paola Altamura, Serena Baiani
071_Recovery and Re-use of Building Materials and Components in Architecture
Tiziana Firrone
STUDIES AND RESEARCHES
078_A Semiotic Framework to Support Sustainable Design Inside Mediterranean Cities
Massimiliano Condotta
PHD RESULTS
085_Bio-composite Materials in Architecture. An Hypothesis for an Indoor Vertical Partition power system
Claudia Balestra
086_Functional Refurbishment with Architectural Membranes
M. Rachel F. Macieira
087_Variability of Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Materials Affected by Humidity.
Veronica Vitiello
EVENTS
088_ Building in Mediterranean Region. Sustainable Technologies and Materials for Inhabiting. Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Tunisia
Paola De Joanna, Fani Vavili-Tsinika, Giancarlo Priori
091_LIST OF AUTHORS