The new year starts with much that is new for Casabella,
the architectural magazine of the Mondadori Group. In fact, from this month the magazine, edited by Francesco Dal Co, will appear with a new look and new content, while remaining faithful to the character that has made it successful since 1928, as, for example,  the unusual 28 by 31 centimetre format.

“From 1996 the design of Casabella has been updated on a number of occasions,” the editor Francesco Dal Co explained. “After some twenty years we decided it was time for a more marked update. However, redesigning the magazine without taking a new look at the content wouldn’t have made much sense. Consequently, the changes that we decided to make should be clear from the issue that readers now have in their hands. Only a single section of the magazine has remained essentially the same. These are the pages dedicated to the presentation and discussion of books, until now introduced by a celebrated photograph of and great architect who was also an assiduous reader, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. In place of this photograph readers will now find an impassioned plea on behalf of reading written at the beginning of the 16^th century by one of the greatest publishers of all time, Aldo Manuzio, an exhortation that remains surprisingly apt, also today,” the editor concluded.

The changes to the other parts of the magazine can be seen right from the first pages, in which information for professionals about what the industry is making available and what is happening in the profession itself, will be progressively refined in order to provide and effective and critically oriented service.

The inside pages will also be changed to make Casabella a printed magazine (but not only) that pays attention to the design, the writing and particular attention to the way in which architectural works takes form, in other words, to the drawings and design plans. Even more attention will be given to the combinations and quality of images, as well as a tighter critical approach, in order to live up to the expectations of readers.

In addition to news, there will be a new focus also on history, given that “without looking at the past design is an incomplete activity: a weak exercise conducted in a state of illusory lightness, just as it is an illusion to discuss current affairs without reference to the past,”  the editor Dal Co explained.

But Casabella is not just a highly prestigious national and international magazine. It is also a web site casabellaweb.eu, and is also present on a range of social media that integrate the content in an increasingly refined and functional way also for those who interested in talking about production, products and the realisation of designs.  The brand also lives through a space in the heart of Milan, the Casabella Laboratorio, that hosts exhibitions, meetings and events.

And, finally, Casabella, in collaboration with ProViaggiArchitettura, a company that specialises in organising architectural tours and itineraries, has developed the “Casabella Formazione” project. Conferences, tours, visits to construction sites and factories, exhibitions, courses and meetings, are just some of the activities organised by Casabella and ProViaggiArchitettura, and aimed at extending the magazine’s cultural offer and responding to the needs of readers and the obligations of keeping up to speed with professional requirements.

28×31 Casabella 2017 will be available on newsstands from 14 January at a cost of €12.