Semplici telai: la costruzione a telaio in Italia tra realismo e astrazione

(Simple frames. Frame Construction in Italy Between Realism and Abstraction.) Frame construction, which consists of a three-dimensional grid of (reinforced concrete or steel) columns and beams, is the most common structural type in 20th-century architecture. The essay looks at how Italian architectural culture explored this structural figure between the 30s and late 60s, through a sequence of crucial architectural works (from Terragni’s Casa del fascio to Figini-Pollini’s apartment building in Broletto street, Caccia-Dominioni’s architectural projects to the work of Aldo Rossi). With necessary distinctions between the pre- and post-war period, and parallel to contemporary investigation on the relationship between structure and form, between tectonics and language, Italian architects developed a wide taxonomy of formal solutions regarding frame construction. Experiments revolved around decisions which sought to either expose the frame or cover it, enhance its material expressiveness or transform it into an abstract element of volumetric composition – decisions strictly related to more general considerations on the linguistic status of structure in architecture.