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CZA Cino Zucchi Architetti was invited by the curators Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara to partecipate to the 16th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia FREESPACE with a project about milanese architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni.
Everyday Wonders: the building complex of Corso Italia 22-24 in Milano
The installation/exibition proposed by CZA wraps up in a custom-designed space a series of thematic readings of Caccia’s work. After a “constellation” of black and white “postcard” pictures of the great number of buildings Luigi Caccia Dominioni built in Milano and a model representing their location in the city, a protected, vaulted space develops a manifold reading of one of Caccia’s more interesting and complex work: the multi-functional building complex in Corso Italia 22-24.
The spatial envelope of this inner “tholos” takes the form of an elliptical dome sectioned by vertical planes arranged on an irregular polygon plan. The intersection of these planes with the dome gives shape to skene arches, penetrated in two points by vertical slabs which determine the access points to its interior. The exterior and the interior of this temporary structure were marked by strong material and chromatic features: a glossy dark stucco on the outside and a Pompeian red render on the inside.
Four interpretative models highlight the visual narration – mixing original material and custom-made images – in a “zoom-in” sequence from the scale of the city to the one of the details. The first model shows the volume articulation of the building complex at 1:500 scale in its urban context; the second represents the full architectural features of the whole building at 1:50 scale; the third one is realized – as in the “mould” models that Luigi Moretti made of ancient basilicas – again in 1:50 scale as a solidification of the void space from the central gallery to the atriums and the stairs; the fourth, at 1:5 scale, represents the “invention” of the three-doors swirl connecting the living area to the sleeping quarters of one of the apartments. On the walls, original drawings by Caccia and original artworks by Francesco Somaini are alternated to a photographic shooting commissioned for the occasion.
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