ACTIVE for a better life. http://www.active-ceramic.com Tue, 21 May 2013 14:19:10 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.active-ceramic.com/commons/images/active_logo.jpg http://www.www.active-ceramic.com Feed provided by Active. Click to visit. http://www.active-ceramic.com/event-detail.php?id=25 The Group GranitiFiandre promotes young talents in Spatial Design with a competition for ideas organised in partnership with Spatial Design Teamwork of Politecnico di Milano | School of Design, directed by Prof. Giovanna Piccinno, under the name International University LAB Competition 2013 [IULC] .
The competition will be held as part of the Degree Programme in Interior Design, Final Synthesis Laboratory for the I3 Master’s Degree programme, with the aim of exploring new uses of innovative technologies for the production and treatment of large 300x150 cm porcelain tiles and Active Clean Air & Antibacterial Ceramic™.
The initiative will be of international scope, with the participation of the University of Brighton (UK), Master’s Degree Course in Interior Design, coordinated by Prof. Frank O’Sullivan.
The ’International University LAB Competition 2013 [IULC] addresses the design of intermediate urban spaces in the contemporary city, coming up with Spatial Design concepts for innovative applications for large 300x150 tiles and the Active Clean Air & Antibacterial Ceramic™anti-pollutant treatment.
The experiments in design will focus on identification of new sustainable Urban Landscapes through experimentation with innovative ways of using and furnishing ever-changing urban spaces and intelligent use of materials for optimising our use of resources from the environment.

This is the contest calendar:
January 14 through 18, 2013, at Politecnico di Milano, School of Design.
Contest deadline for uploading of projects: January 25, 2013.
Contest results will be on view at Spazio FMG from January 30 to February 3, 2013.
Exhibition opening and selection of the winners by an international panel of judges on January 30, 2013.

The initiative involves several international teachers and technicians including:

Contest organiser:
Prof. Giovanna Piccinno, Politecnico di Milano, School of Design, Spatial Design Teamwork director

Project team tutors, professors:
Elisa Lega
Francesca Murialdo
Frank O’Sullivan
Giovanna Piccinno
Alessandro Piva
Osvaldo Pogliani

Consultants:
Mario Novo

]]> Active Tue, 08 Jan 2013 18:05:41 +0100 http://www.active-ceramic.com/event-detail.php?id=23 THE BIGGEST EVER HUMAN TREE WILL BE CREATED IN MILAN TO SAY "WE WANT TO BREATHE AGAIN" WITH A SYMBOLIC ACT THAT WILL TRAVEL AROUND THE WORLD ON THE INTERNET AND BE REPEATED IN BIG CITIES ALL OVER THE PLANET.

At 16:00 on Saturday February 5 in Piazza Duomo in Milan, Active, the super-material that purifies the air of nitrogen oxide just as trees do, will host the BE ACTIVE BE a TREE! flash mob launching a message of environmental responsibility to the world. A great performance conceived by nationally and internationally renowned digital artist Giuseppe La Spada, the only Italian to have won a Webby Award.

"Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Start again. Let’s take air back to its roots. Clean it up. Not in pursuit of some ideal, some unrealistic philosophy, but because we need to breathe! We will form a tree, the first human tree, the biggest human tree ever seen."
With these words the Tree Woman, a true digital spirit, is making her way across the internet, launching an appeal and asking everyone who wants to defend their right to breathe to come to Piazza Duomo at 16:00 on Saturday, February 5.
The key ambassadors behind this great mobilisation to promote environmental responsibility are the Iris Ceramica and GranitiFiandreGroups, whose consciousness of environmental issues has led them to develop a super-material that cleans the air like a tree: Active Clean Air & Antibacterial Ceramic™, an innovative eco-active, anti-pollutant and anti-bacterial wall and floor covering that gives concrete form to the message behind the event.  
This great gesture does not stop here. Photographs and videos of the biggest human tree ever in the middle of Piazza Duomo will travel around the world on the internet so that the event can be repeated in squares in the world’s biggest cities...because breathing is a universal right!
 
BE ACTIVE BE a TREE! is an idea by Giuseppe La Spada, a digital and creative artist who has always been highly aware of environmental issues, the only Italian to win a Webby Award, in 2007 for an “eco-friendly” project developed in collaboration with famous musician Ryuitchi Sakamoto.

BE ACTIVE BE a TREE!
Saturday February 5 2011
Starting at 16:00 - Piazza Duomo, Milano
For information, join the BE ACTIVE BE A TREE! Facebook fan page.

]]> Active Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:05:41 +0100 http://www.active-ceramic.com/event-detail.php?id=22 ZeroImpactWeb.com from LifeGate is the new project that allows all those who manage a site to reduce and offset the CO2 emissions generated by Internet navigation.

Perhaps we have never thought of the greenhouse gas emissions that come from the Internet, but although the web has allowed us to reduce our environmental impact by shortening distances and providing time-and-energy-saving tools such as e-mail, online shopping, and video conferencing, portals, websites and blogs rely on servers powered mainly by fossil fuel energy and thus generate CO2.

It is estimated that information technology is responsible for 2 percent of European CO2 emissions, with approximately 7 million data processing centers and 40 billion kWh consumed per year, enough energy to meet the needs of more than 13 million households.

A Greenpeace report from March 2010 that analyzes "cloud computing", that is to say the cloud of information technology available online, states that, if they continue to grow at their current rate, data centers and telecommunications networks will consume about 2,000 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2020, more than triple their current consumption.

The choice made by Lifegate becomes essential as it is an innovative project that makes it possible to do something concrete for the planet, using its website as a tool to increase awareness about the environment and global warming.

To join, simply visit www.zeroimpactweb.com and, based on the number of monthly pageviews of the site, select the square meters of forest needed to offset the CO2 emissions generated.

Floornature.com, a multilingual portal that informs, documents and reflects on the rapid changes in the international architectural scene, was among the first to join the initiative, demonstrating once again its careful attention to environmental issues, which it discusses on livegreenblog, its section dedicated to the issue of sustainability.

But ecology, respect for the environment and new materials for well-being are also key issues for companies like Fiandre and Iris Ceramica, which have, through research and innovation, perfected a new production process oriented towards materials whose active ingredient helps improve the quality of the environment.

Active.ceramic.com, the portal that contains all the information regarding Active Clean Air & Antibacterial Ceramic™, is also among the first to participate in the Lifegate project, promoting innovation and commitment for a better future.

Certificate Zero Impact® Web



]]> Active Wed, 01 Dec 2010 18:05:41 +0100 http://www.active-ceramic.com/event-detail.php?id=19 Prof. Zheng Shiling of Tongji University moderated speeches by architects Cui Kai (China), Furuichi Tetsuo (Japan), Hwang Doojin (Korea), Ken Yeang (Malaysia) and Vo Trong Nghia (Vietnam) coordinated by Prof. Maki Fumihiko at the workshop "ACTIVE SUSTAINABLE DESIGN NOW" promoted by Fiandre and Iris Ceramica, Italian Pavilion partners at Expo 2010 in Shanghai, in partnership with Tongji University and a number of organisations: Chinese Architectural Academy (CAA), Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ) and Japan Institute of Architects (JIA).

The event was held on September 1 2010 to introduce a series of initiatives planned for architecture month in the Italian Pavilion. Maki Fumihiko, a master of Japanese architecture and winner of the Pritzker Prize in 1993, stated "There are two types of sustainable architecture: physical and social. Physical sustainability is achieved through the treatments we apply to buildings to make them more compatible with the environment. Social sustainability is not as tangible, but equally important for the way a building can preserve its value and usefulness over time. A building is truly sustainable only if it reflects both criteria". Zheng Shiling agreed, noting that "Sustainability means balance and coordination between physical and social aspects, between human beings and nature." The only Italian architect present was Massimo Roj, whose speech focused on the central role of the individual in the process of design.

]]> Active Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:05:41 +0100 http://www.active-ceramic.com/event-detail.php?id=18 AILATI. RIFLESSI DAL FUTURO (Reflections from the future), the exhibition at the Italian Pavilion at the 12th Venice International Architecture Exhibition, will be opened to the public on 29 August (running until 21 November 2010). The exhibition, curated by Luca Molinari, is promoted by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage with the PaBAAC (General Directorate for Landscape, Fine Arts, Architecture and Contemporary Arts) and the Biennale of Venice.

AILATI. Riflessi dal futuro (Reflections from the future) plays with reflections of the name "Italia" to create an installation which offers a new reading of contemporary architecture by providing an original, sideways look at things, reality and projects ("ailati" means "at the sides"), for a stronger, wiser appreciation of the reflections from the future we receive from the world around us every day, and which constitute the resource on which Italian architecture can build new styles and identities. The exhibition therefore surveys the path of architecture through the past, present and future: a path GranitiFrandre and the Iris Ceramica Group have walked in their decades of experience.

While the past and present are represented in the exhibition to dictate the critical agenda and define the state of the art of Italian architecture, the future is the opportunity for reflection: the blueprint for a time still to be built, a location for experimentation, for which Fiandre, Technokolla, Iris Ceramica and FMG Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti are already hard and enthusiastically at work.

GranitiFiandre and the Iris Ceramica Group have had faith in this idea, sustaining it through their continual responsiveness to original, previously unpursued possibilities for the shaping of matter.

Proof is provided by their constant prioritisation of Quality, first and foremost in terms of the quality of life of each of us, which has led to the conception and creation of ACTIVE Clean Air & Antibacterial Ceramic™.

This new "living", "intelligent" material, capable of interacting "actively and positively" with the environment, welcomes visitors when they enter the Exhibition, since it forms the word AILATI, presented twice to frame a path of discovery through the culture of architecture, towards a future of new roads to a better society. "ACTIVE symbolises our commitment in terms of active sustainability, which led us to produce this sort of super-material, designed to meet the needs of contemporary architecture. Its use to form the signs that welcome visitors to the exhibition in the Italian Pavilion curated by Luca Molinari metaphorically marks ACTIVE’s official entrance into the world of architecture" states Graziano Verdi, Chairman and CEO of GranitiFiandre and CEO of Iris Ceramica.

The materials chosen for this occasion are: Crema Marfil of FMG Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti (Marmi collection, size 60x60 cm), White Brilliant of Iris Ceramica (Brilliant collection, size 60x60 cm) and Taxos Extreme of Granitifiandre (Extreme collection, size 75x150 cm).

The opening to the public on 29 August will be preceded by the official inauguration at 11.00 am on 28 August 2010, attended by Sandro Bondi, Minister for Culture and Heritage.

]]> Active Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:05:41 +0100 http://www.active-ceramic.com/event-detail.php?id=17 New certificate ensures that Active helps to reduce air pollutants.
Active Clean Air & Antibacterial Ceramic™ products have just obtained a new certification by TCNA (Tile Council of North America) confirming that their application contributes to the reduction of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), some of the main pollutant agents of the air.
According to the attestation, 1000m2 of Active photocatalytic tiles act just like 20 mature trees in the reduction of NOx: with ACTIVE the ceramic is enriched with the exceptional property of interacting with the environment, contributing to purify the air that we breathe and bringing other important advantages.
Active evolves into an "active" material which make environments more livable and healthy.

]]> Active Tue, 10 Aug 2010 17:05:41 +0100 http://www.active-ceramic.com/event-detail.php?id=16 The approximately 80-square-meter, one-level housing unit was designed with some of the more recent building innovations, first of all Active by Fiandre and Iris Ceramica. The ceramic and porcelain tiles, used for the slip road, the internal floor covering and the external wall covering, represent a great innovation and a new frontier for the eco-sustainability. The surfaces are, in fact, bio-active and perform a concrete antipollution and antibacterial function (beside being repulsive to dirt outdoors).

Active Clean Air & Antibacterial Ceramic™ is the exclusive, titanium-dioxide-based production process applied to the slabs at high temperatures. This process let the tiles actively interact with the environment purifying the air of pollutants and performing an antibacterial function, particularly important for the domestic rooms, such as the kitchen or the bathroom, where an high hygienic standard is needed in order to ensure wellness. According to the Arch. Paolo Bodega, designer of the project, "thanks to the characteristics of Active, building the “Casa del Ben-essere” is the equivalent of planting ten trees!".

This house becomes the nature icon also through its slabs textures: the internal walls are covered with TAXOS EXTREME by Fiandre with a distinct plant texture that makes the walls of the home similar to a forest, while the slip road and the indoors are covered with CRYSTALWOOD by Iris Ceramica, fossil wood floor tiles in ceramic.

Upon entering, one immediately notices how the "House of Wellness" adapts to the needs of its residents thanks to its dynamic structure. Here, the traditional rooms are replaced by "spaces", which can be easily arranged to meet the needs of its residents.
The wellness area is the heart of the home, around which other settings have been developed in a ring-shaped path without barriers, making it possible for individuals with ambulatory problems to use the space independently. Inside, the furniture, made with fireproof, eco-friendly materials, are painted with non-toxic, anallergic products; the fibers of the cloth used are also anallergic. Their design, free of sharp corners, ensures the utmost safety and the highest level of comfort.
In the kitchen, the furniture and equipment provided ensure healthy eating habits, also thanks to the presence of a mini-greenhouse located outside, where it is possible to grow vegetables, flowers, aromatic essences and officinals.

The natural colors and changing shades RGB lighting bring the benefits of chromotherapy, which along with fragrance dispensers and proper air-conditioning, are good for the respiratory system.
The ceramic indoor flooring, laid using Technokolla products, a company that has always been at the forefront in terms of attention and respect for the environment, also has an Active finish, creating an antibacterial and antipollution effect.
The purity of the air is also guaranteed by a controlled mecchanical ventilation system that provides the necessary exchange of air, keeping the temperature and humidity of the indoor environment under control. The floor and ceiling radiation system ensures an ideal temperature throughout the entire home and domestic hot water is generated by the solar heating system which ensures the utmost comfort and attention to the environment. The photovoltaic and wind energy systems also produce “clean” electricity.

In the “House of Wellness,” it is possible to control the alarm system, regulate the lights, activate the motorized curtains, control the amount of energy consumed and manage the sound system, thanks to fixed or mobile home management touch-screens.
In particular, the sophisticated home automation system, My Home BTicino, makes it possible to integrate all of the systems present within the home, making it simpler for the user to manage, program and control them, meeting the needs of the average resident as well as of those with special needs, improving the quality of live for the latter. This is because the reduced carbon dioxide emissions, lower than those produced by a single individual in a year, are eliminated by the ability of the external ceramic covering to absorb pollutants, just as trees do.

In accordance with A+ energy class standards, this house is designed to be energetically-autonomous, cutting consumption and reducing the amount CO2 released into the atmosphere. Its high-performance walls, roofing, window and door frames, and double-glazed windows guarantee proper heat and sound insulation. The house was built using industrialized construction technology with large panels of “Housing System” reinforced concrete, developed and perfected by Fumagalli Edilizia Industrializzata, which guarantees that the building is earthquake-proof and long-lasting.

]]> Active Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:05:41 +0100 http://www.active-ceramic.com/event-detail.php?id=15 The Iris Ceramica Group, with the Iris Ceramica and FMG Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti trademarks, has always demonstrated its commitment to safeguarding the environment, as its many certifications demonstrate: ANAB, EMAS and LEED are only a few of the qualifications the company has earned over the years, in line with the green policy of NATURAL BUILDING that has characterised the company ever since it was first established. Iris Ceramica considers respect for nature - also meaning respect for humans – its primary economic and social value, and is working on implementing the vision with ever greater responsibility and energy in terms of research, innovation and concrete action.

The clearest expression of this commitment is ACTIVE Clean Air & Antibacterial Ceramic™, a patented productive process used to make ECO-ACTIVE ceramic tiles and surfaces with anti-pollutant and anti-bacterial properties. ACTIVE belongs to the new frontier of environmentally sustainable materials, or "living" materials that interact with their environment to reduce atmospheric pollution and eliminate some of the most hazardous types of bacteria for human health: an extraordinary revolution in the world of ceramic materials for floor and wall coverings.

Mario Tozzi, geologist, First Researcher at the CNR and one of Italy's most prominent representatives of the world of science, mentions ACTIVE in his advice for environmentally friendly living in an interview with Giuliana Zoppis published in DCasa, Repubblica’s living magazine:
"The basic idea behind this eco-active surface is sound. It is a virtuous example of sustainable production, a ceramic material which can considerably cut pollutants in our homes once and for all, for instance in metropolitan residential areas where there are a lot of toxic substances in the air (and where there have been a growing number of related deaths in recent years). The new Iris surface kills bacteria and cleans itself, cutting the amount of CO2 and other hazardous oxides in the air [...]".

The value of ACTIVE has been certified by specialised international research centres such as the TCNA and Centro Ceramico Bologna, and has been acknowledged by authoritative international experts like Mario Tozzi. ACTIVE’s success is above all a success for the environment and for human beings.

Read article (DCasa, May 22 2010)

]]> Active Fri, 28 May 2010 17:05:41 +0100 http://www.active-ceramic.com/event-detail.php?id=13 The initiative, sponsored by the Health Councillorship of the City of Milan, is intended to demonstrate how to support wellbeing in the city, an important factor in European economies and above all in cities that need to breathe. In view of Expo 2015, the city of Milan needs to reclaim urban spaces from “the concrete jungle”.
The message conveyed to citizens and visitors is that it is now perfectly feasible to build a home where people are physically and psychologically comfortable while participating in sustainable urban development.
At a crowded press conference in the Aula Magna of the city’s Natural History Museum, Milan’s Health Councillor Giampaolo Landi di Chiavenna described the reasons for the City’s support for the initiative, inspired by reflection on the problems of living today: the home is the space where we all seek wellbeing, refuge and protection.
The challenge of the home of the future is how to optimise comfort while reducing energy consumption.
The "House of Wellbeing" demonstrates the concrete possibility of living in a residential unit which is physically and psychologically healthy, safe, comfortable and accessible to all.

Giovanni Fumagalli, Managing Director of Fumagalli Edilizia Industrializzata Spa, illustrated the virtuous path that led his company to this project crowning its achievements in pursuit of ongoing development. The "House of Wellbeing" is intended to represent a further evolution of Fumagalli Edilizia Industrializzata’s exclusive "Housing System".

Mr. Bodega, the architect in charge of the project, based it on the image of a wrapper in which the walls of the home are like a forest, drawn on Fiandre’s anti-bacterial porcelain stoneware tiles: a home that blends into its natural surroundings both aesthetically and functionally.

GranitiFiandre Chairman and Iris Ceramica Managing Director Graziano Verdi told us why Fiandre and Iris Ceramica are the perfect partners for a project focusing on wellbeing and sustainability.

"Innovation is in our companies’ DNA. Working to make a better world is more than just a slogan for us: it’s a call that enterprises and people must respond to right away, without hesitation. Our references testify to our customers’ predilection for our focus on the environment, with LEED and ANAB certification, for example, testifying to our motto of “building nature’s way". Our materials are born out of nature: we use the raw materials that form natural marble and granite, but without consuming precious natural resources.
“And we don’t settle for safeguarding nature: we have also added new technological content to our superior technical porcelain stoneware tiles, creating Active Clean Air & Antibacterial Ceramic™, the material chosen for the House of Wellbeing, perfect for Mr. Bodega’s sustainable architectural design."

For two months (until July 4) citizens may visit "Indro Montanelli" Gardens via the Porta Venezia and Bastioni entrances and tour the new home free of charge.

Book your visit at: www.lacasadelben-essere.it

]]> Active Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:05:41 +0100 http://www.active-ceramic.com/event-detail.php?id=11 Active Clean Air & Antibacterial Ceramic™ will be actively present at FuoriSalone in Milan (April 14-19).

At Via Goldoni 33, Alessandro Rosso, Simone Micheli and Massimiliano Orsatti will present a new concept of hospitality: highly evocative, functional spaces for a new dimension of urban hospitality, a new concept of Home Away from Home. Created in Milano but destined for big cities all over the world, the ground floor on Via Goldoni will become town@house street: fully computerised hotel suites directly on the street, with no need for a reception desk.
Four suites opening directly onto the street and the city, each with its own separate access, in which the classic boundaries between indoors and out blend and fade away.

Fiandre and Iris Ceramica’s Active materials are the perfect partner in the project, offering absolute innovation and a new generation of environmentally active materials that aim to achieve active rather than passive sustainability, useful and essential to improve our quality of life, starting in the places we live in.

The outstanding feature of this initial urban suite installation are new shades of Active created specifically for the occasion, Fiandre's Extra White 120x60cm and Iris Ceramica's White Brilliant Active in 60x30cm: two neutral whites to underline and dramatise different architectural situations, establishing contact with the city, its inhabitants and the urban landscape.

]]> Active Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:05:41 +0100