The hallmark of the earlier avant garde was a contrived impetus and a vain, destructive fury, mingling good and bad elements: the hallmark of today’s youth is a desire for lucidity and wisdom…This must be clear…we do not intend to break with tradition…The new architecture, the true architecture, should be the result of a close association between logic and rationality.
— Giuseppe Terragni, one of the founders in Gruppo 7
Thoughts
Elevation proportion, revealing the rationalism in Terragni’s design
Peter Blundell Jones.Modern Architecture Through Case Studies.Oxford: Architectural Press.2002. Print
Site
Site plan and bird view: Casa del Fascio located facing Como Cathedral
Peter Blundell Jones.Modern Architecture Through Case Studies.Oxford: Architectural Press.2002. Print
Drawings
Ground floor plan: atrium, army association and victim monument
Brian Pagnotta. “AD Classics: Casa del Fascio / Giuseppe Terragni”. Posted on Jan 3, 2013. Accessed on Oct 11, 2017.http://www.archdaily.com/312877/ad-classics-casa-del-fascio-giuseppe-terragni
First floor plan: reception room and leader’s room
Brian Pagnotta. “AD Classics: Casa del Fascio / Giuseppe Terragni”. Posted on Jan 3, 2013. Accessed on Oct 11, 2017. http://www.archdaily.com/312877/ad-classics-casa-del-fascio-giuseppe-terragni
Second floor plan: offices and atrium
Brian Pagnotta. “AD Classics: Casa del Fascio / Giuseppe Terragni”. Posted on Jan 3, 2013. Accessed on Oct 11, 2017. http://www.archdaily.com/312877/ad-classics-casa-del-fascio-giuseppe-terragni
Third floor plan: offices and guard room
Brian Pagnotta. “AD Classics: Casa del Fascio / Giuseppe Terragni”. Posted on Jan 3, 2013. Accessed on Oct 11, 2017. http://www.archdaily.com/312877/ad-classics-casa-del-fascio-giuseppe-terragni
Southwest facade
Brian Pagnotta. “AD Classics: Casa del Fascio / Giuseppe Terragni”. Posted on Jan 3, 2013. Accessed on Oct 11, 2017. http://www.archdaily.com/312877/ad-classics-casa-del-fascio-giuseppe-terragni
Southeast facade
Brian Pagnotta. “AD Classics: Casa del Fascio / Giuseppe Terragni”. Posted on Jan 3, 2013. Accessed on Oct 11, 2017. http://www.archdaily.com/312877/ad-classics-casa-del-fascio-giuseppe-terragni
Northeast facade
Brian Pagnotta. “AD Classics: Casa del Fascio / Giuseppe Terragni”. Posted on Jan 3, 2013. Accessed on Oct 11, 2017. http://www.archdaily.com/312877/ad-classics-casa-del-fascio-giuseppe-terragni
Northwest facade
Brian Pagnotta. “AD Classics: Casa del Fascio / Giuseppe Terragni”. Posted on Jan 3, 2013. Accessed on Oct 11, 2017. http://www.archdaily.com/312877/ad-classics-casa-del-fascio-giuseppe-terragni
Cross section: through upper atrium and offices
Brian Pagnotta. “AD Classics: Casa del Fascio / Giuseppe Terragni”. Posted on Jan 3, 2013. Accessed on Oct 11, 2017. http://www.archdaily.com/312877/ad-classics-casa-del-fascio-giuseppe-terragni
Longitudinal section: through offices and stairs
Brian Pagnotta. “AD Classics: Casa del Fascio / Giuseppe Terragni”. Posted on Jan 3, 2013. Accessed on Oct 11, 2017. http://www.archdaily.com/312877/ad-classics-casa-del-fascio-giuseppe-terragni
Longitudinal section: through upper, lower atrium and offices
Brian Pagnotta. “AD Classics: Casa del Fascio / Giuseppe Terragni”. Posted on Jan 3, 2013. Accessed on Oct 11, 2017. http://www.archdaily.com/312877/ad-classics-casa-del-fascio-giuseppe-terragni
Building
Southwest facade facing the Como Cathedral
Brian Pagnotta. “AD Classics: Casa del Fascio / Giuseppe Terragni”. Posted on Jan 3, 2013. Accessed on Oct 11, 2017. http://www.archdaily.com/312877/ad-classics-casa-del-fascio-giuseppe-terragni
Southeast facade
Brian Pagnotta. “AD Classics: Casa del Fascio / Giuseppe Terragni”. Posted on Jan 3, 2013. Accessed on Oct 11, 2017. http://www.archdaily.com/312877/ad-classics-casa-del-fascio-giuseppe-terragni
Northeast and northwest facade
Museo Virtualle Astrattismo e Athicterrura Razionalista Como.CASA DEL FASCIO. Accessed on Oct 12, 2017. http://www.maarc.it/opera/casa-del-fascio
Northwest and southwest facade
Polpettas. Polpettasgoes|Como:Rationalism in Terragni City.Accessed on Oct 12, 2017. http://www.polpettas.com/en/polpettasgoes-como-rationalism-terragni-city/
Atrium at ground floor
Polpettas. Polpettasgoes|Como:Rationalism in Terragni City.Accessed on Oct 12, 2017. http://www.polpettas.com/en/polpettasgoes-como-rationalism-terragni-city/
Description
Casa del Fascio(Como) was designed by a talented Italian architect—Giuseppe Terragni, one of the initiators of Gruppo 7 promoting Rational Architecture in Italy. The rationalists believed that true architecture should be the result of a close assocation between logic as well as rationality, so they intended to strike a middle ground between the classicism and futurism. In his proposal for Casa del Fascio, Terragni attempted to create a order for organization in a logic way, which can be revealed in different facades. To be more specific, all the rooms are distributed along the periphery for natural light and connected by internal corridor as well as atrium. What’s more, the rooms’ main surfaces are designed with glasses while the minor surfaces are concrete walls, indicating varieties of transparency in facades. Finally, the interior rooms with different functions are strengthened in elevations by order in grid frames, creating quite an impressive style of rational modern building.
by <Zhu Jiayi, MArch, Group A>
Modern Architecture: A Visual Lexicon 