Inside out: observations on Terragni

Extract

Casa Rustici was a building I admired when I lived in Milan in the mid 1980s, so the opportunity to stay there for a week when it registered on a list of apartments for rent was appealing [1]. Before I undertook the visit I was well aware of the prestige of the building as an important Rationalist project, and after some initial research became intrigued by the divergent accounts of it given by different commentators. The best known critique of Terragni's work is Eisenman's investigation of its abstract composition. Patetta exposes the constraints on the design process imposed by the building codes, while others emphasise the historical precedents that underpinned the Rationalist project. Vitale and Bell provide an insight into the ambiguous character of the central court or lightwell of the building. What I hope to add to these is an account which addresses not just the abstract quality of the building, but also its phenomenal qualities, and its social and historical origins. My intention is that this material will present the building in a way which is relevant for current practice.