VITRUVIO, AN ARCHITECTURAL RESOURCE
by Michelle Bienias
 Sometimes we forget that one of the founding reasons for the creation of the Internet was to enable the free exchange of ideas and information. Too quickly, perhaps, the web became another venue for commerce and sites founded purely on the original principal are becoming increasingly rare to find. That’s why it’s so refreshing to stumble upon a couple of guys with an abiding interest in their work and a desire to share their knowledge.
Dario Galimberti and Antonio Bassi, both architects, are the founders and brains behind Vitruvio, a website dedicated to architecture. The name is taken from Marco Vitruvio Pollione (also known as Marcus Vitruvius Pollio), a Roman architect and engineer who lived in the time of Christ and wrote a famous treatise on architecture - De architectura libri decem (Ten Books on Architecture) - focused on engineering principles. It was Vitruvio’s hope that the Emperor Caesar would read his work and make more educated decisions in his construction of public buildings.
This easy to navigate website is a sum of the founders’ passions: architecture and computer science. Galimberti is the computer specialist, teaching at SUPSI in Lugano while Bassi is the website writer and photographer. Both work on the site in their spare time. The idea for the site originated when both were traveling the world, visiting and photographing interesting architectural sites and realized the need for relevant information on the chronology of architecture, important architects throughout history and a reference tool to find other informative sites.
The site has become an excellent reference tool for finding anything about architecture on the web: from researching great architects and finding architecture by city, to a history of architecture dating back from primitive times right up to the current contemporary and even a look to the future. It has a user-friendly interface and a vast array of external links, supplemented by its own content. And it’s proving to be a popular tool for students, professionals and enthusiasts, judging by the 100,000 unique monthly visitors. With over 2,500 pictures and 18,000 links, it’s a tool that we at VRMAG have used repeatedly. In fact, VRMAG and VRWAY have partnered with vitruvio.ch and you will soon find our VRs included in relevant sections of the site.
Email: michelle@webidentity.com
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