Alberto Ponis, born 1933 in Genoa, was educated at Florence University, where he qualified as an architect in 1960. He worked in London with Erno Goldfinger and Denys Lasdun in 1960-64, under the strong - and lasting - influence of the movements of modernism and new brutalism then dominant in British architecture. He established his studio in 1964 in Palau on the island of Sardinia. Ponis has studied the natural conditions and social history of Sardinia and has also done extensive research on the "stazzo", Sardinia's typical rural building type. On this thorough knowledge of conditions, traditions and requirements, an oeuvre of more than 300 residential buildings is founded. Each house is deeply rooted in its environment and connected with the land and other dwellings by the "sentiero", the path leading to and from it. They show a natural modesty and simplicity and express the architect's great formal skills and sensitivity. Alberto Ponis - Sardinia is the first comprehensive monograph on this highly interesting and original architect.Lavishly illustrated, it documents his life and work and presents in detail eight selected buildings between 1965-98 that make traceable the evolution of Ponis's work and philosophy.

5+1 (Paola Arboco, Pierluigi Feltri, Alfonso Femia, Gianluca Peluffo, Maurizio Vallino) is one of Italy's hottest young architectural studios. The 5+1 studio of associated architects was established in Genoa in 1995 by five graduates of the Faculty of Architecture at Genoa University where they worked on architectural design courses with Enrico D. Bona. After winning the first prize in a national competition regarding the signalling system at Campi industrial park in Genoa in 1996, since 1997 they have been part of the IFYA (International Forum of Young Architects), and in the same year they were commissioned by Spes spa to convert the former Bligny Barracks in Savona into a new university campus. In 1998 they were invited by the Italian Institute for Culture in Paris to expound on the creative process in an exhibition entitled 5+1 associati: progetti in gruppo. Fin qui tutto bene with a catalogue jointly published with Joshua. In 1999 they won a bid to design the new archaeological centre in Aquileia, which with the university campus in Savona is an important example of project based on existing sites. In the same year they took part in the Biennale dei Giovani Artisti dell'Europa e del Mediterraneo held in Rome (May-June) where they displayed their work in the exhibition Gerico and a portrait of the studio in 'grande et@gere'. They were invited to take part in the second phase of the international design competition for the expansion of the Palace of Justice (Law Courts) in Siena. In 2000 they were invited by INARCH to display their work at the Italian Institute of Culture in Prague and at the Venice Biennale, both of which were dedicated to young Italian architects. They won the competition to construct an office building at Vado Ligure and were invited to take part in the second phase of the international design competition for the new Congress Bridge in Rome.