Italcementi

Architecture has always been a sign of the times. In fact, when analyzing a historic period, one of its most important elements is undoubtedly the architectural style. However, only few people analyze the influence the development of raw materials has had on architecture. For example, thanks to research and technological innovation cement, a poor product that originates from stone and fire, is able to offer performance levels one could not imagine only some fifty years ago.
Italcementi is undoubtedly a company that since its foundation has chosen to establish a vital and deep relationship with the design world. For the Bergamo-based group, complexity and integration of research, applied research and building techniques have always been carried out to reach a common target: endurance, functional and aesthetic quality, high performance. Indeed, Italcementi offers the world of architecture a wide collaboration in several areas:
- cultural, participation in meetings and discussions on the great subjects of contemporary architecture;
- formative, support to those universities and institutes that are preparing the new generation of architects;
- operational, direct involvement in Great Projects that well represent the new building techniques;
- servicing, technical and calculation support.
In this framework, Italcementi took part in a very important cultural event in the field of architecture, as it did fifty yearso ago. Indeed, already in 1949 research and technological innovation were the objectives of the Bergamo company and an event like the 7th Congresso Internazionale d'Architettura CIAM, International architecture meeting, which was held in Bergamo in July of that year, represented another step towards that close relationship that already existed between those who produce materials and those who use them for design works. At that time, during the congress, a delegation led by Le Corbusier (one of the key protagonists of modern architecture), visited the seat and the “Laboratory for testing of concrete works” of Italcementi; a very important moment for the history of a company that always operated in building technology.
The company took part in another event, EXPOBIM '99 (16th BIBM International Congress), an important show devoted to the industries that produce cement prefabs and their suppliers, held in Venise, in May.
Two were the aspects that Italcementi wanted to effectively present by means of graphical representations, that is, a mobile laboratory for rapid “home” assistance to customers who require tests, material analyses and on-site consultancy, and the plastic model of the Church of 2000, the universal symbol of the Jubilee. These two elements underline the two extremes that sum up the ability of Italcementi, the European leader in cement production and sale, to provide advanced technological solutions to all its customers.
As far as the mobile unit is concerned, Italcementi is the only company in its field that offers its customers a system of this type. In fact, this is a real laboratory housed in a motor vehicle and perfectly equipped to carry out a number of tests: characterization of the materials that make up concrete, analysis of the optimal mix for packaging, granulometric analyses, tests on the mix developed and practical pumping tests.
The company is not only able to provide its customers with more efficient service, but it can also use results to improve production quality, therefore making other steps forward in the field of product innovation, keeping to those guidelines that have always characterized its history.