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Apartment Building
Via Ippolito Nievo 28/1, Milano
1955 - 1957
The
project for an apartment building on Via Ippolito Nievo 28/1 in Milan
was designed as a part of a larger development plan of the Milan Fair
area.
It is considered to be the first contribution in a far-reaching research into the theme of the residential building by Luigi Caccia Dominioni. This research embraces
a serie of residential constructions, among them the buildings in Via Santa Croce (1959 - 1964), a second building in the Via Nieve (1964 - 1965) and the famous work
on the Piazza Carbonari (1960 - 1961). In each of these projects, the undervalued urban building typology of the condominium, was bestowed with the "dignity of an urban palazzo".
There are several aspects which are responsible for this successful transformation. For example the constrast between the uniformity of the building's volume and
the refined texture of its clinker cladding, or the sophisticated composition of the façades where the shiny, flush windows with metallic frames express the layout of the interiors,
or the carful and elegant spatial articulation and choice of materials in the communal parts of the building. Thes materials are enriched by the mosaic floors by Francesco Somaini.
Another relevant aspect is to be seen in the vertical envelope of the spiral staircases, seen both as functional device and also as an opportunity to experiment sophisticated detailings.
This nine-storey building on Via Ippolito Nievo 28/1 exhibits a massive volume interrupted vertically by the vents in the stairwells and the large windows of some living rooms.
The disposition of the façades and the use of glazed stoneware tiles, a material created for flooring but here used for the walls, inaugurates "a school that is undeclared but pratised"
in the years following its construction, as pointed out by Giacomo Polin. The impressive nature of this project is considered to be due to the grand, moderated stereometric strength of
its elevations. In the original layout, the numerous windows, mounted flush with the clinker cladding, were inserted according to the articulated internal distribution of the flats.
A blue-gray brick façade covers a the building's volume like a tensioned membrane. The lateral and longitudinal elevations are not explicitly differentiated. The various
window formats are grouped tightly strung like balls mounted on a counting frame. The various proportions of the windows appear like a mischievous comment on
Le Corbusier's classification of windows as strip window, punched windows or glass surfaces. Sliding shutters are hidden behind the mysterious appearing black opal glass.
The curtain wall glazings, extending over two floors and appearing as patches, constructed as a kind of bow windows, introduce a further order and complete
the free play of the opal glass. The façade overrides a continuous pillar structure. Opal glasses, located one above the other, refer indirectly to the position of the pillars.
However, this reference is obscured immediately due to the different formats, which are square, horizontally or vertically aligned. The structure is only really visible in
the area of the compressed basement or in the diagonally arranged bow windows. On the front sides the corner posts are retracted in relation to the longitudinal facade
and break clear the building corner. The second staircase, the rear one seen from Via Ippolito Nievo, is moved out of the order of the grid, which confirms the pragmatic attitude,
subordinating the structure in relation to the façade .
The access routes to the building are of a rational distribution, introducing a distinction between the driveway at the rear, the direct access to the garage and the main
access on the opposite side. The sinuous vertical connections are in an apparent contrast with the regularity of the orthogonal volume, and seem to play a significant
role in the composition of the whole work. In this compositon, the façades are elaborated to break down the massive character of the volume. In the interior, the careful
configuration of each apartment, where each space is accessed via corridors, is crucial. The apartments fit into the continuous structure. The floorplans are committed
to the upper-class residences and features a representative entrance vestibule, a privete hallway behind which are lined the bedrooms with the corresponding side rooms.
The irregular and asymmetric disposition of the windows is superimposed on the classic look of spatial structure of the apartments.
Luigi Caccia Dominioni erodes the basic rules of the orthodox modernism with this building, both at the structural as well as on the visual level.
The grid of pillars is stretched and compressed, the pillars themselves are wrapped up and robbed of their autonomy as Pilotis.
The façade is not a direct reflection of the interior. It appears denaturalized, removed from the context of functions and history.
It results a dynamic through the wanted infractions.
It is considered to be the first contribution in a far-reaching research into the theme of the residential building by Luigi Caccia Dominioni. This research embraces
a serie of residential constructions, among them the buildings in Via Santa Croce (1959 - 1964), a second building in the Via Nieve (1964 - 1965) and the famous work
on the Piazza Carbonari (1960 - 1961). In each of these projects, the undervalued urban building typology of the condominium, was bestowed with the "dignity of an urban palazzo".
There are several aspects which are responsible for this successful transformation. For example the constrast between the uniformity of the building's volume and
the refined texture of its clinker cladding, or the sophisticated composition of the façades where the shiny, flush windows with metallic frames express the layout of the interiors,
or the carful and elegant spatial articulation and choice of materials in the communal parts of the building. Thes materials are enriched by the mosaic floors by Francesco Somaini.
Another relevant aspect is to be seen in the vertical envelope of the spiral staircases, seen both as functional device and also as an opportunity to experiment sophisticated detailings.
This nine-storey building on Via Ippolito Nievo 28/1 exhibits a massive volume interrupted vertically by the vents in the stairwells and the large windows of some living rooms.
The disposition of the façades and the use of glazed stoneware tiles, a material created for flooring but here used for the walls, inaugurates "a school that is undeclared but pratised"
in the years following its construction, as pointed out by Giacomo Polin. The impressive nature of this project is considered to be due to the grand, moderated stereometric strength of
its elevations. In the original layout, the numerous windows, mounted flush with the clinker cladding, were inserted according to the articulated internal distribution of the flats.
A blue-gray brick façade covers a the building's volume like a tensioned membrane. The lateral and longitudinal elevations are not explicitly differentiated. The various
window formats are grouped tightly strung like balls mounted on a counting frame. The various proportions of the windows appear like a mischievous comment on
Le Corbusier's classification of windows as strip window, punched windows or glass surfaces. Sliding shutters are hidden behind the mysterious appearing black opal glass.
The curtain wall glazings, extending over two floors and appearing as patches, constructed as a kind of bow windows, introduce a further order and complete
the free play of the opal glass. The façade overrides a continuous pillar structure. Opal glasses, located one above the other, refer indirectly to the position of the pillars.
However, this reference is obscured immediately due to the different formats, which are square, horizontally or vertically aligned. The structure is only really visible in
the area of the compressed basement or in the diagonally arranged bow windows. On the front sides the corner posts are retracted in relation to the longitudinal facade
and break clear the building corner. The second staircase, the rear one seen from Via Ippolito Nievo, is moved out of the order of the grid, which confirms the pragmatic attitude,
subordinating the structure in relation to the façade .
The access routes to the building are of a rational distribution, introducing a distinction between the driveway at the rear, the direct access to the garage and the main
access on the opposite side. The sinuous vertical connections are in an apparent contrast with the regularity of the orthogonal volume, and seem to play a significant
role in the composition of the whole work. In this compositon, the façades are elaborated to break down the massive character of the volume. In the interior, the careful
configuration of each apartment, where each space is accessed via corridors, is crucial. The apartments fit into the continuous structure. The floorplans are committed
to the upper-class residences and features a representative entrance vestibule, a privete hallway behind which are lined the bedrooms with the corresponding side rooms.
The irregular and asymmetric disposition of the windows is superimposed on the classic look of spatial structure of the apartments.
Luigi Caccia Dominioni erodes the basic rules of the orthodox modernism with this building, both at the structural as well as on the visual level.
The grid of pillars is stretched and compressed, the pillars themselves are wrapped up and robbed of their autonomy as Pilotis.
The façade is not a direct reflection of the interior. It appears denaturalized, removed from the context of functions and history.
It results a dynamic through the wanted infractions.