Valcucine Kitchen @ Solar Decathlon

Gable House was one of the first to be assembled and ran like clockwork the entire competition. The team set out to express its regional heritage and sought to create a synergy between old and new. Traditional techniques in homebuilding, along with great advances in technology, blended to create a house that performed exceptionally well in energy efficiency—as demonstrated by the team’s results in all the objective contests. Focused on performance, this team also achieved elegant simplicity in design: Valcucine Kitchen (model Riciclantica), Whirlpool applaiancies, USG drywall, Imperial and 3M ducting, Kane interior furniture.

The Solar Decathlon brings attention to one of the biggest challenges we face—an ever-increasing need for energy. As an internationally recognized event, it offers powerful solutions—using energy more efficiently and using energy from renewable sources.

The Solar Decathlon has several goals:

To educate the student participants—the “decathletes”—about the benefits of energy efficiency, renewable energy and green building technologies. As the next generation of engineers, architects, builders, and communicators, the decathletes will be able to use this knowledge in their studies and their future careers.
To raise awareness among the general public about renewable energy and energy efficiency and how solar energy technologies can reduce energy use.
To help solar energy technologies enter the marketplace faster. This competition encourages the research and development of energy-efficiency and energy production technologies.
To foster collaboration among students from different academic disciplines—including engineering and architecture students, who rarely work together until they enter the workplace.
To promote an integrated or “whole building design” approach to new construction. This approach differs from the traditional design/build process because the design team considers the interactions of all building components and systems to create a more comfortable building, save energy, and reduce environmental impact.
To demonstrate to the public the potential of zero-energy homes, which produce as much energy from renewable sources, such as the sun and wind, as they consume. Even though the home might be connected to a utility grid, it has net zero energy consumption from the utility provider.

More info about Riciclantica: DOM / Valcucine New York info@domshowrooms.com

The Value of Sharing: Social Engagement

The Value of Sharing: Social Engagement

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Valcucine dealer meeting in NYC

Valcucine dealer workshop new york

Inserito originariamente da valcucine

Today at Valcucine’s New York showroom, all of the North American dealers from across the United States and Canada gathered for their annual meeting.
Brian Jevremov and Seth Jameson from Valcucine NY, Alessandro Ciani, Irina Verardo, Micol Braha and Daniele Prosdocimo from Valcucine Italy took turns explaining the company’s guidelines, the worldwide best practicies and the driving forces behind the 2010 strategy. We had a very nice and inspiring time. Thanks to everybody.

At the meeting attended dealers from
Brian, Seth, Giorgio, Pamela and Esther from Valcucine New York info@valcucinena.com
David from Valcucine Minneapolis info@valcucinempls.com
Scott and Meridith from Valcucine Tulsa | Pohlenz Cucine Moderne, LLC info@pohlenzcm.com
Jeff from Valcucine Dom LA.info@domshowrooms.com
Monica from Casa Design Boston casadesignboston@gmail.com
Lana and Stephanie from Valcucine Chicago – The Merchandise Mart chicago@valcucine-chicago.com
Jesper from DNA European Design Studio San Diego info@dnaeuropeandesign.com
Sherry from Style and Form San Francisco Bay Area valcucine@styleandform.com
Richard from DOM Toronto richard@domtoronto.com

Tree O’Clock: new planted trees at Valcucine!

We have planted many new trees at Valcucine...

Tree O’Clock is past! Tens of thousands of new trees are in the ground and at Valcucine we took part of it. More info at Tree o’clock. More photos on flickr.

The story of cap & trade for the climate solution: recycling can save the planet

The Story of Cap & Trade is a short movie that provides a look at the leading climate solution being discussed at Copenhagen and on Capitol Hill. Host Annie Leonard introduces the energy traders and Wall Street financiers at the heart of this scheme and reveals the “devils in the details” in current cap and trade proposals: free permits to big polluters, fake offsets and distraction from what’s really required to tackle the climate crisis.
We chose to publish here this video because it highlights the importance of ethical practises for the environment, such as recycling.
Source: The Story of Stuff Project & Free Range Studios

In nature substances circulate, are transformed and, in the end, everything is reabsorbed and reutilised. We should learn how to reduce the quantity of rubbish we produce and favour the reutilisation and recycling of materials in every possible way, also because the resources we have are limited. Recycling is probably the cheapest way to save the planet: reducing emissions through recycling is 30% cheaper than through energy efficiency and 90% cheaper than through wind power.
The potential of recycling, composting, biogas, and other waste prevention techniques to reduce emissions is enormous. Please sign a letter to be delivered to climate negotiators in Copenhagen. We hope the new climate treaty, discussed in these days in Copenhagen (7-18 devember 09) will increase recycling through the informal sector, instead of funding landfills or incinerators.
Valcucine has devised the simplest and most complete recyclability of its products by designing them so that the elements of which they are composed can be easily identified and separated when discarded. The plastic parts are marked so that they can be easily identified at the end of their life cycle. To promote recycling of its products, Valcucine is working on having them picked up in the future and on the total recovery of the materials of which they are composed. An example is Invitrum, the new base units, entirely made of glass and aluminium, so completely recyclable and with no toxic emissions.

Ugo Nespolo’s world through traditional and modern art

source: The New York Times

Valcucine’s collaboration with the Italian artist Ugo Nespolo, whose career dates back to the Sixties to the era of Italian Pop Art to Conceptualists and Future Poverists, is espressed by some artistic collections of kitchen programmes, such a Artematica.

On the 27th November, The New York Times published an article about Ugo Nespolo, descibing his works through traditional and modern art. Here below is a part of the original article:

The paintings, sculptures and other playful objects raised in the fantastic nursery of Mr. Nespolo’s imagination bring to mind that whole new race of Futurist toys proposed in the “Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe” which, it was envisaged, would not only delight children but also be “very useful to adults, too, keeping them young, agile, joyful, self-assured, ready for anything, indefatigable, instinctive and intuitive.”
The authors of this manifesto, published in 1915, were Giacomo Balla and Fortunato Depero, whose works Mr. Nespolo has collected for many years. He is also the owner of around 4,000 manuscripts relating to Depero’s life and works, and the exotic waistcoat, designed by Depero, which Filippo Tomasso Marinetti, the founder of Futurism, can be seen sporting in a famous photograph taken in Turin in 1922.
The Futurists hated museums, or at least affected to — Marinetti likened them to cemeteries in the first 1909 Futurist Manifesto — but Mr. Nespolo is an avid enthusiast for them. One favorite, he says, is the Bargello in Florence, which contains some of Italy’s greatest sculptures — from Donatello’s “David” and “St. George” to Michelangelo’s “Bacchus” and Giambologna’s “Mercury” — alongside an outstanding collection of ceramics, glass, metalwork, ivories, enamels and other applied arts.
Mr. Nespolo was invited by the Bargello to stage a retrospective of his work in its temporary exhibition space, the first time it has ever hosted a contemporary artist. Mr. Nespolo’s “Novantiqua”- the name is a word play on new and old — is curated by Beatrice Paolozzi Strozzi, the museum’s director; it runs until Jan. 10.
The show consists of 40 paintings and sculptures in ceramic, glass, bronze and other media, spanning Mr. Nespolo’s career. It includes three pieces, “Novantiqua 1-3,” inspired by the Bargello itself and made especially for this exhibition.
Museums have long been a theme for Mr. Nespolo, as demonstrated by three earlier works among the paintings here.
“Andy Dandy,” from 1973, features a bizarre display of three identical flower paintings being observed by a man accompanied by a bulldog on a leash; “Ferrarese Suggestions” from 1982, offers a view of an imaginary gallery containing paintings by the Metaphysical artist Giorgio de Chirico; and “The Beautiful Gestures,” from 1999, presents a vista of a museum, or other exhibition, of modern art.
The images are constructed from jigsaw-like patterns of wooden pieces, painted in glossy, primary acrylic colors, suggesting a vision of childlike wonder and simplicity. In the three “Novantiqua” pieces, which employ the same technique, Mr. Nespolo has depicted internal views of the Bargello, reinforcing the chromatic richness with gilded sections, reminiscent of the golden backdrops of precious Byzantine mosaics and medieval Italian paintings. Among the exhibits, museum visitors — gazing at the displays, reading guide-books, taking photographs and sketching — themselves constitute unwitting living statues amid the antique marbles and bronzes.

Read the full article from the New York Times

Welcome to our austrian dealer blog!

We would like to welcome a new german speaking partner blog by Schwab GmbH & Co. : Kuechendesign and Handwerk (kitchen design and handicraft)… themes that Valcucine loves.
They understood the power of sharing information and links…an we love it too!!

Valcucine’s Mater Terra 2009 @ Triennale, Milan

Valcucine’s MATER TERRA calendar 2009 is currently exhibited at the Triennale in Milan until the 1st November 2009 with other 26 best handicrafts.

Mater Terra was selected among over 700 graphic design projects from Italy, Belgium, Spain, France, Germany, UK, Irish Republic, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Holland, Brasil, United Arabian Emirates, India, China and Australia.

Milano design in the city: 22nd-25th October ‘09

Milano design-in-the-city is the new urban event entirely dedicated to design enthusiasts. Showroom, culture and entertainment are the three souls of the initiative, linked by a common thread: “Shape of dreams”.

From Thursday 22nd to Sunday 25th October 2009, product circuits, cultural initiatives and entertainment activities, a unique occasion to meet the protagonists of international design and live an inedited experience experience rich of contents: the best design is on display in exceptional installations and available to be purchased.

Here below you find the invitation to the opening of the exhibition ‘R.S.V.P. 1000 invitation regarding fashion, art and design’,
that will be held today, Wednesday 21st at 7.00pm at the DesignLibrary in via Savona 11, Milan.

Blog Action Day ‘09: How is global warming affecting the planet?

Today is Blog Action Day! We want to take part to it by analysing the causes of global warming, as the more we know about it, the more we get aware of its risks and be able to act against it.
Global warming is one of today’s major plagues of the Earth planet and its inhabitants. But what is global warming? So, should we prevent global warming or should we use our resources and skills to adapt to its effects?
There is a current debate about this that reveals two different approaches. The first, mitigation, is about limiting carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in the atmosphere mostly by reducing human polluting activities. An example for this is the Kyoto Protocol. The second approach, adaptation, is about diminish society’s weakness to the consequences of global warming.

With the term ‘global warming’ we refer to the long-term set of changes affecting the planet’s climate, that is the overall increasing of the Earth’s temperature. As all living species depend on climate trends, global warming is a phenomenon affecting everybody.
Global warming directly influences the climate trends, so that it determines the rise in the number of extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods, heat waves and droughts. Besides, the natural habitats, the biodiversity, and the overall quality of life are at risk. It is therefore important to understand the risky situation characterising out planet today. To do that, let’s now make a list of the different effects of global warming.

DISAPPEARING OF FORESTS
According to recent studies, only in the last 30 years the human activities have destroyed almost a third of the forests. As a matter of fact, about 10% of the planet’s land area is still intact forest, the boreal forest and the tropical rainforest. The forest loss directly influence the loss of biodiversity.

LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY
The planet Earth is characterised by a wide diversity of living species, the biodiversity. Therefore, the Earth has an inestimable value, recognized by all human cultures around the world. Natural biodiversity has many implications and has to be protected. The currently estimated extinction rate of vegetal and animal species is about 1,000 times faster than before the human presence and it is expected to increase around 10,000 times faster in the next 40 years.

SPECIES EXTINCTION
The planet Earth is characterised by a wide diversity of living species, the biodiversity. Therefore, the Earth has an inestimable value, recognized by all human cultures around the world. Natural biodiversity has many implications and has to be protected. The currently estimated extinction rate of vegetal and animal species is about 1,000 times faster than before the human presence and it is expected to increase around 10,000 times faster in the next 40 years.
Many scientists believe the planet Earth is experiencing the first mass extinction since the dinosaurs’ death about 65 million years ago. The last IUCN’s World Conservation Congress in Barcelona has released a Red List of the living species at risk of extinction. In particular, the List speaks out that about 40% of 44,838 species catalogued are at risk, with over 3,000 of them classified as “critically endangered”, that is they are highly likely to dying out.

GLACIERS’ MELTING
Another effect of global warming is the glaciers melted, has revealed by scientists. In the past this process was normal, but today glaciers are melting so fast that they are going to vanish from the earth forever. In fact, the increase in the world temperature prevents the falling snow to replace the amount of melting ice that normally melts.

RISING SEA LEVELS
As a direct consequence of glaciers melting is the increase in the sea levels. As a consequence of this, the sea level is expected to rise of 50 centimetres by 2100. Such an event would threaten areas such as Asia, where million of people live very close to rivers and flood plains.

WATER SHORTAGES AND DESERTIFICATION
The growth of world population in addition to the increase in the temperature levels, the demand of water is rising as well as the amount of desert areas. The World Bank has revealed that today 80 countries suffer from water shortages that threaten the quality of life. Besides, about 2 billion people have no access to clean water.

REDUCED TOURISM
Because of global warming and mass tourism many natural areas, considered as ‘real wonders, are disappearing. The biodiversity is dying out. So the most popular vacation areas, such as the Carribean coral reefs or famous ski resorts, can no longer be granted.

POPULATIONS AT RISK
The changes the precipitation and temperature can damage food crops, disrupting food production in some parts of the world the as well as contribute to the rise in the amount of insects that bring and spread dangerous illnesses.

UNSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
In the last years, the quality of life has got worse: the world population increases daily as well as the amount of necessary amount of natural resources. Il 20% of the population consumes more than the 80% of the available resources. If the remaining 80% of population had the same consumption opportunities, 5 planets Earth would not be enough to satisfy everybody’s needs. Increasing the consumes, the man produce also a huge quantity of waste, damaging the ecosystem and seriously menacing the natural environment and biodiversity.

The effects of global warming are more and more spreading all over and are going to worsen the more we wait to take action and change our life-style. Let’s take action today!

Valcucine is doing its part in contrasting global warming reducing the enormous debt with the environment that Man has accumulated to the detriment of our planet. In fact, Valcucine has implemented some reforestation projects, so that the trees planted can transform the carbon dioxide created by industrial production into oxygen and so that the quantity of wood used to make furniture can be replaced.