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“Believe in your intuitive and inventive ability with determination and you will contribute important and substantial architectural works to history”. This was Dante Bini’s message to young architects on the day he received his Honorary Doctorate in Architecture and Construction from Rome’s La Sapienza University on November 6, 2023.
The book Dante Bini: The Autobiography of an Inventor, published by THE PLAN Editions as part of Maggioli’s Politecnica series, tells the story of Dante Bini’s extraordinary human and professional journey. Born April 22, 1932, in Castelfranco Emilia, Modena, and an architecture graduate from the University of Florence, Bini is best known as the designer of the Cupola, the 1970s Sardinian home built for director Michelangelo Antonioni and actress Monica Vitti.
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The Cupola, an Italian National Trust “Luogo del Cuore” (Place of the heart) is the best known of the over 1500 reinforced concrete hemispherical structures around the world built using the Binishell system. This involves the use of dynamic pneumatic formwork to build reinforced concrete domes that can span up to 118–131 ft. (36–40 m) while reducing both construction times and costs.
The Binishell system, however, is just one example of Bini’s prolific career. In the space of 60 years, he worked all around the world, including Australia, Japan, and the United States, where he lives today with his wife, Adria, and conducts seminars at the country’s most prestigious universities. He has also worked in numerous fields, ranging from studies of new building systems and materials to spatial research, industrial design, and automated urban infrastructure projects.
The book opens with a preface by Marco Imperadori, professor at the Department of Architecture, Construction Engineering, and the Built Environment at Politecnico di Milano. This is followed by an interview with Bini by architect Mario Cucinella, founder of the MC A design studio, with offices in Bologna and Milan.
The main body of the text describes the many building systems patented by Bini, and includes technical drawings and illustrations of many of his projects. The book is in English, with an Italian translation included as an appendix.
The human and building adventure of Dante Bini spans two centuries but is characterized by a singular fil rouge that connects the various stages: genius and passion. Fearless and curious, he has a Leonardesque spirit and is always seeking to think laterally, or “outside the box”, as he likes to say. His objective throughout all his numerous experiments is always innovation with an ethical background, and never as an end in itself.
From the preface “Infinite Innovation”, by Marco Imperadori
Dante Bini’s autobiography recounts the life and work of this Modena architect and pioneer of automated construction systems based on physics and robotics. In the book, the visionary designer of Michelangelo Antonioni and Monica Vitti’s Do... Read More
Paper Version
