Ceramics today is one of the best ways to make a floor or walls durable, easy to use and attractive in terms of decor. For more than half a century, technologists and designers around the world have been creating materials that have properties comparable in strength to granite, and sometimes even exceeding its impact resistance; they can reproduce the texture of marble, wood, leather; in use, they are no more pretentious than plastics. In addition, the modern market of finishing materials is replenished every year with solutions that facilitate the construction process - ceramic products become thinner and lighter, larger in area (which reduces the number of tile joints). They are resistant to most mechanical and chemical damage and are environmentally friendly.
Among the factories of the Confindustria Ceramica Association of Italian Ceramic Tile Manufacturers are the best and most reputable companies producing products for finishing and surface cladding. Porcelain stoneware of these brands, in different formats and textures, is designed to realize the most daring architectural and design tasks. Relevant product experience usually helps to be confident in your choices. In the case of Confindustria Ceramica, the portfolio illustrating the use of ceramic-based materials is impressive. We offer several examples of completed architectural objects using the products of Italian ceramic manufacturers.
Fioranese Factory
The Italian company has been developing high-quality ceramic materials for 50 years, using advanced industrial equipment, ideas from talented artists and designers. The company improves its collections every year and offers products of the highest quality that are unique in their texture and shades.
Among the objects in the implementation of which Fioranese products were used, the Park Royal Palace hotel in Vienna stands out, located next to the Polytechnic Museum and the summer residence of the Austrian monarchs (Schönbrunn Palace). In the quarter where most of the buildings of the architect Otto Wagner are located, the hotel building looks quite modest, without standing out. The authors of the project of converting the former cinema into a hotel, the Austrian bureau Moser Architekten Ziviltechnike, deliberately made the facade decor neutral, while retaining the main visual accents on the cultural and historical attractions of the area.
Austrian architects selected Fioranese gray Nu Marble porcelain stoneware for the flooring to better contrast with the warm honey tint of metal strips on the façade and interior, with golden chandelier elements and textile décor. Sturdy large-format slabs cover the floors of all public areas of the hotel on the ground floor (lobbies, halls, corridors), as well as floors and walls in the bathrooms of the suites.
Mirage Factory
120 million sq m - this figure is given by the company, speaking of the area of surfaces that are lined with its products around the world. Mirage products are 99% natural ingredients (minerals, kaolin, feldspar, clay), the rest are dyes, and also organic. Each plate is manufactured without adhesives and resinous additives by pressing with a mass of more than 500 kg per sq. Cm. The products are fired in long furnaces (up to 90 meters) at temperatures above 1250˚С.
The factory has perfected production technologies for years and today continues to conduct research to improve the quality of its products. The patented technology for loading raw materials allows you to create unique and original textures, for example, imitating a porous, like aged stone. For example, such a collection of porcelain stoneware, Stones 2.0, was used in the construction of a cultural center-library in Ontario (Canada).
Such objects of educational infrastructure are considered one of the most difficult in the professional environment, since they involve the organization of spaces, flows of people and communication by analogy with urban planning. Different tasks, different social and age groups require a solid and aesthetic platform for action. And Mirage porcelain stoneware has become such a connecting and reliable "platform". The floor of all public areas, passages, the central staircase, inter-lift halls is tiled with it. In 2012, the building of the cultural center-library received a LEED silver certificate and an award in the industry award Ceramics of Italy Design Competition.
Factory Casalgrande Padana
Private residential construction has special criteria for the quality of materials. In a mansion or a country villa, direct contact with finishing materials occurs much more often than in buildings of a different typology. Finishing work in the implementation of an architectural concept often plays a key role: in addition to the fact that ceramic tiles must be durable and environmentally friendly, they must have high aesthetic characteristics. Many architects strive to focus on texture, to give the material itself the opportunity to play the main decorative role in the design of spaces. By completely covering the walls and floors with ceramic granite, the authors confirm the concept of sustainable living, naturally, provided that it is, in fact, a high-quality ceramic product.
French architect Jean-Pierre Meignan used two series of Casalgrande Padana porcelain stoneware as the main finishing material for his project. Moreover, porcelain stoneware acted in the project as the main link between interiors and exteriors. The fact is that the house with a courtyard, in the plan representing the letter U, badly needed routes and sites united by a common decorative theme. The terraces facing the courtyard required a finish that was compatible with the interior decoration of the premises, was resistant to atmospheric and physical influences, and also had high aesthetic characteristics. With the texture and color of natural stone, Casalgrande Padana porcelain stoneware did the job perfectly. All floors of public areas in the interior, as well as the floor of the terraces and fragments of the facades are faced with it.
Ceramica Vogue Factory
The Ceramica Vogue factory focuses on the environmentally friendly manufacturing processes of products that reduce carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, and also wisely uses production waste in further work. The ceramic tile factory is located next to the raw material extraction site; innovative technological equipment allows to reduce production requirements for water resources by 42%. The company's products are easily disposed of and recycled.
The issue of choosing affordable, and most importantly, efficient in use materials is acute for many economies of developing countries. Recent construction projects in South Africa, for example, showcase the most modern and sustainable approaches to their implementation. For the interiors and facades of Johannesburg's socially and culturally significant site, young African architects Afritects Architects have chosen bright, durable and sustainable ceramics from Ceramica Vogue. The Soweto Musical Theater is faced with glazed tiles (dimensions 10x10 cm) in six shades of colors.
After more than 4 years of researching theaters and musical institutions in the country and abroad, a team of young architects has developed an avant-garde architectural concept, in which the main emphasis is on the acoustic properties of the building and on lighting. And with the help of glazed ceramic tiles, the architects managed to implement the project so that the building would be attractive for visiting young people and children who can join the national cultural values and modern technological achievements. Today, the Soweto Theater has become a center of attraction for locals and a popular attraction for those traveling in South Africa.
With the support of the Trade Exchange Development Department of the Italian Embassy (ICE)
