Le opere di Gino Valle. Tra futuro e oblio / The works of Gino Valle. Between a future and oblivion

Gino Valle’s oeuvre, spanning a period of over fifty years, comprises a very large number of projects and works built both in Italy and abroad. It is an extremely complex and varied output, the result of architectural research conducted individually or with other architects, which always sought to respond to the social and cultural needs of those for whom they were conceived and designed. He interpreted the urgencies of society in the second half of the 20th century in a personal and refined way, combining specific features of the Italian context with a gaze turned on international developments and a unique openness to the architectural context of the age. With passion and determination, he explored the principal themes of the time: the urgency of catharsis after the war, the need for “homes for all” and the demands of the nascent social classes, from the local entrepreneurial class to the middle class. He designed and built single-family houses, condominiums, homes for the most disadvantaged sections of society in consolidated settings, for the providers of social housing, and in emergencies, as in the aftermath of the earthquake in Friuli in 1976. He interpreted the needs of the new way of working in the 1960s and 1970s, expressing it with different nuances: from the offices in the historic centre of towns to the factory as a living place undergoing continual transformation, and central business districts. Finally, he dealt with the theme of the school complex, reinterpreting it in a way that was innovative and singular on the Italian scene. In fact, his system based on the principles of modularity and seriality led to the construction of thirty schools in Northern Italy. His pragmatic and energetic outlook, typical of his homeland and his family, led to the creation of works of international importance, celebrated from an early date in the journalism of the time.