Glasraum is the result of a collaboration in the fields of architecture and photography. Set within the interiors of a remodelled office by Ganko, with pictures by Louis De Belle, the book occupies a liminal state between documentation and composition. Favouring a certain classicism in the strand of the modern tradition both authors identify with, Glasraum explores the deliberate ambiguities embedded in a seemingly aloof approach to the construction of both space and image.
Ganko is the Milan-based practice led by Nicolà Munaretto and Guido Tesio. The work of the office spans different realms and scales—from urban planning to architecture up to interior design and scenography for exhibitions and events. Ganko understands architecture as the creative negotiation between desires and possibilities, subject and context, form and content. Favouring a certain classicism in the strand of the modernist tradition it most identifies with, the office is interested in the unpredictable consequences embedded in a (apparently) utilitarian, rational approach. Ganko understands design as the definition of precise conditions of indeterminacy; and architecture as the formal infrastructure allowing for multiple, often unexpected, appropriations. Unapologetically modern, Ganko is after an architecture that is as precise in its presence as it is open in its experience.
Louis De Belle (born 1988) is a photographer based in Milano. He studied at the Politecnico di Milano (BA) and Bauhaus–Universität Weimar (MFA). His works have been published by newspaper and websites including The Washington Post, Libération, WIRED, Slate, It's Nice That and The Independent. He is the editor of Forms of Formalism, and collaborates with STILL Magazine.
