PERMEABLE
Didactic exercise Fall Semester 2010
Interiors worlds: permeable Main Editor Gennaro Postiglione Course of Interior Architecture Faculty of Architettura e SocietĂ Politecnico di Milano www.lablog.org.uk Editor Chiara Banfi
only for pedagogic purpose not for commercial use
INDEX 00_ Permeable by Penny Sparke ‘01_ Glass and mahogany door ‘02_ Decoration of dining room ‘02.01_ Hamburg vestibule ‘03_ Darwin D house ‘04_ Orient Express dining car ‘05_ Parlour of the Beaumont hotel ‘06_ Exhibition hall ‘07_ Trellis Restaurant ‘09_ Gamble house ‘10_ Gropius house ‘10.01_ Milà house ‘11_ Taliesin house ‘11.01_ Stoclet palace ‘13_ Sunken garden
Permeable by Chiara Banfi
‘14_ Wohn house
‘35_ Douglas airplane
‘15_ Villa Skywa-Primavesi
‘36_ Falling water house
‘16_ Erlanger House
‘36.01_ Finland pavilion
‘17_ Residential complex
‘37_ Falck apartament
‘18_ Villa Allegonda
‘38_ Malaparte house
‘22_ Maison Ozenfant
‘39_ Villa Mairea
‘22.01_ Ville contemporaine
‘40_ Dayroom for a villa
‘23_ Lobel conservatory
‘41_ Sofa
‘24_ Study for a residence
‘42_ Nesbitt House
‘25_ Esprit Nouveau pavilion
‘44_ Minola house
‘25.01_ Austrian pavilion
‘46_ Drake residence
‘26_ Talisien house
‘46.01_ Calculators’ shop
‘28_ Tugendhat house
‘47_ Green in the house
‘29_ Bern hospital
‘48_ Lunuganga
‘29.01_ Palmengarten restaurant
‘49_ Glass House
‘30_ Electric house
‘49.01_ Dome house
‘31_ Central Station waiting-room
‘50_ Walter residence
‘32_ Vdl research house
‘51_ Project for a cemetery
‘33_ Schminke House
‘52_ Curutchet house
‘53_ Las Canoas House
‘72.01_ Sheehy house
‘54_ Entrance area of Knoll showroom
‘74_ Salisbury centre for visual art
‘55_ Bavinger House
‘74.01_ Ottolenghi house
‘56_ House of the future
‘75_ East Wing national gallery
‘57_ Marin Civic Centre
‘76_ Nature house
‘58_ Canadian pavilion
‘78_ Megerle house
‘59_ Palazzo Portici
‘77_ Bateson building
‘60_ Stahl house
‘79_ Australian Embassy
‘61_ Gavina showroom
‘80_ Thorncrown Chapel
‘62_ Nordic pavilion
‘80.01_ Megamiyama house
‘62.01_ Finlandiatalo
‘81_ Sun house
‘63_ Mariners’ medical center
‘82_ Menil Council
‘64_ Itamarati palace
‘84_ Hexenhaus
‘65_ Kline Science centre
‘85_ Hilton hotel
‘67_ Ford foundation building
‘86_ Serramento Serra
‘68_ Elrod residence
‘88_ Winter garden atrium
‘69_ Loews Santa Monica Beach hotel
‘89_ Capita Center
‘71_ Holiday house
‘89.01_ KI building
‘72_ Goulding house
‘90_Ice hotel
‘91_ Grand Hyatt Hotel ‘92_ Hyatt Regency Roissy ‘93_Atocha railway station ‘93.01_Turtle creek house ‘94_ Hotel Kempinski ‘95_ Museum of popular art and tradition ‘96_ Museum of fruit ‘98_Chep Lap Kok airport ‘99_ Sony centre ‘100_ The essence of permeability
Permeable by Penny Sparke
Abstract Many of today’s shopping malls contain small oases of domesticity, characterised by a collection of sofas positioned on a patterned rug and surrounded by potted plants, where shoppers can rediscover their individuality in the context of mass consumption; numerous urban bookshops contain areas filled with comfy seats and coffee tables which function as “homes from home”; while, in sharp contrast, contemporary homes often display a stark minimalism that has its roots in non -cluttered, “uncomfortable” inside spaces found in the public arena. This paper will discuss the innate permeability of the boundary between the domestic and the nondomestic interior as it was configured in the industrial era and continues to be configured in the notion of the separate spheres, as
rent instability that separation that, in the second half of the nineteenth century, was manifested by the appearance of the “home” in the public spaces of, among others, railway carriages, tearooms and hotel lobbies, and, within the modern movement of the early twentieth century, the transference of the “rational interior” from the workplace of the factory and office back into the private dwelling (especially in the spaces of the kitchen and the laundry). The focus will be on the socio-cultural underpinnings of this phenomenon and on the way in which the permeability of the boundary between the spheres has influenced our understanding of the interior through the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century.
Paper The Compact Oxford English Dictionary defines “permeable” as “allowing liquids or gases to pass through; capable of being permeated”. In this paper I am using the word metaphorically to address the proposal that, in the physical boundaries which supposedly distinguish inside from outside spaces, and in the sociocultural and psychological ones (expressed through a visual, material and spatial language) that separate private, domestic interiors from public, non-domestic ones, a high level of permeability can often be found. In order to explore some of the ways in which this permeability reveals itself this paper will offer a number of 19th and 20th casestudies, both domestic and otherwise, with a particular emphasis on the role played by the inclusion of plants and flowers in the interior. Domestic conservatories, described by
Stefan Muthesius as “transitional spaces” have played a significant role in this area over a considerable period of time, acting as a powerful physical means of challenging the spatial boundary between the ideas of inside and outside in the domestic context. Most significantly, for this paper, the role of conservatories crossed the huge divide that separated 19th century eclecticism from 20th century modernism. In the second half of the 19th century the conservatory served to bring the garden into the home. Inasmuch as it extended the feminine private sphere of the home by providing a location in which the female accomplishment of growing and nurturing plants could take place, it was highly gendred. The conservatory built on to the house owned by S. J. Waring in Liverpool in
1896, is just one of the many examples of an additional domestic space created for sitting and relaxing in – an extension, that is, of the domestic parlour. By the early decades of the 20th century some modernist architects were also using conservatories, primarily, however, as a means of drawing the eye out of the dweing’s interior towards the garden outside. This was the case, for example, in Mies van der Rohe’s Tugendhat House, built in Brno in 1929, and in Piero Portaluppi’s Villa Necchi Campiglio, built in Milan between 1932 and 1935. Both houses featured glassenclosed winter gardens that blurred the boundaries separating the inside from the outside and created a buffer zone that was neither one nor the other. (The importance of new materials and technologies – from cast iron to glass – should not be overlooked in this discussion). One significant difference separates the roles of the conservatory in these two historical moments, however, the first embracing the idea of domesticity as a spiritual, educational and psychological necessity linked to middle-class family values and individual identity, and the latter seeking to reject those values and to imbue the modern dwelling with ones derived from the public sphere. In both instances – those of the 19th century domestic interior and the 20th century modernist dwelling – the conservatory, or winter garden, is used to render permeable the boundary between inside and outside spaces, however, whichever direction it looks in. The importation of nature into the mid 19th century home was an important component of the image of middle-class domesticity formed at that time. That continuity with the world of nature, albeit
in a tamed form, introduced a memory of the outside, linked to a pre-industrial, nonurban past, into this otherwise strongly inwardlooking interior. Thus, at a time when the “separation of the spheres” – an ideological programme that required a distinction between the masculine, public world of work and commerce and the feminised private sphere that focused on its role as a refuge or haven, and as a location for nurturing and educating, spirituality and a location identity formation – was being widely disseminated, efforts were being made to bring a pre industrial, nonurban outside into the home. Many modernist dwellings of the interwar years sought to model themselves on the public sphere, whether through references to the time and motion studies undertaken in factories and offices, by embracing new materials linked to industrial manufacture, or by defining their furnishings as items of equipment rather than as signs of middle-class comfort. Nevertheless many also continued to embrace nature in their interior spaces thereby recognising, on one level, the importance of the 19th century model of domesticity. Plants were used somewhat differently in that new context, however, less, that is, for cultural purposes (spirituality, education and nurturing) than as visual and formal elements within spatial compositions. Thus while, on one level, domesticity was being acknowledged inside the modernist dwelling, it was simultaneously being subverted. This was also demonstrated in the choice of plants, such as cacti and Swiss cheese plants, which, although they were not newcomers to the living room, were now being almost exclusively exploited for their strongly formal properties. Nevertheless the softer
ferns and palms that had dominated the 19th century domestic interior also made an appearance demonstrating the ambiguous relationship with domesticity that characterised many modernist dwellings. The important role played by plants and flowers in the 19th century model of the domestic interior, which has remained influential right up to the present day, can also be found in spaces which, although ostensibly public or semi-public, contain, nonetheless, a significant component of domesticity within them. While, today, the language of domesticity can be found on public and semipublic spaces, from hotels to railway station waiting rooms to bookshops and shopping malls, the 19th century lunatic asylum, for example, saw the domestic parlour, complete with plants and vases of flowers, as a therapeutic space that helped in the healing process of mental illness. In the second half of the 20th century the ambiguity between domestic (private) and non-domestic (public) was extended to many modern semi-public and public spaces in which plants continued to be used widely. A marked change in the way in which much public sphere, post-war modern architecture embraced domesticity (nature included) in its interior spaces was in the scale in which it was implemented. On one level, it could be argued, the way in which nature has been included in public buildings – from restaurants to office and hotel atria to shopping malls – from the second half of the 20th century up to the present, owes less to the requirement of 19th century domesticity’s to retain within itself a link with the pre-industrial world than to modernism’s own interpretation of its commitment to the world of nature.
This was demonstrated by architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier, whose dedication to what the former called “organic architecture” was demonstrated in many ways, including their respect for the nature that was destroyed on the sites on which their buildings were constructed by choosing to leave trees on sites – Frank Lloyd Wright in his own home in Oak Park, among others, and Le Corbusier in his Pavillon de L’Esprit Nouveau at the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationales des Arts Modernes Decoratifs et Industriels. This suggested, arguably, a respect for the natural world in its raw state rather than the tamed, domestic version so beloved by the Victorians. On another level, however, examples of trees growing through the middle of dining tables in 19th century domestic interiors can be found suggesting that there was less of a rupture than might be imagined. By the time Philip Johnson’s Four Seasons Restaurant was created within Mies’s Seagram Building in New York in the mid 1950s the idea of taking whole trees into public spaces had been established and, indeed, was soon to become widespread. From the 1950s up to the present the permeability of the boundary that divides domesticity from non-domesticity – the private interior, that is, from the public one – has been a marked feature of many large-scale, urban public interior spaces, often reinforced by the inclusion of plants and flowers within them. The work of the Atlantabased architect, John Portman has been particularly influential in this context. He described the atrium of his 1957 Hotel, the Regency Hyatt in Atlanta, for example, as both a “living room in a city” and
as a “Victorian parlour.” If the city could be viewed as a house, he maintained, then, inasmuch he encouraged visitors to enter into his inward-looking space that offered opportunities for comfort, refuge, pleasure, calm and relaxation, his atrium was its living-room. Metaphorical ambiguity abounded, however, as, while this vast covered inside space was a parlour on one level, with its cobble stoned floor, full size trees and eating places, it was also a village square or piazza. Portman claimed to have been influenced by the Tivoli pleasure gardens in Copenhagen, a fact that was reflected in the lights that adorned the exterior lifts and his inclusion of filigree metalwork. Outside and inside, domestic and nondomestic exist side by side in the complex space of the Regency Hyatt atrium stretching the notion of permeability to its limits. The inclusion of nature within it – an aviary of live birds, fountains, trees, plants and tubs of yellow chrysanthemums – played a key role in reinforcing ambiguity. In Portman’s own words, “Plants and trees can be used as an important way of forming spaces and modifying light in buildings (…) rows of trees can modify space, create and define separate areas. They can also provide places of solitude and privacy in the midst of the city’s crowds and confusion.” The Portman model has influenced many public inside/outside spaces over many decades and the inclusion of trees, plants and water has characterised the inside spaces of countless shopping malls, hotel and office atria and other public spaces. Indeed it has become a cliché that ensures that a
high level of outside/inside, domestic/ non-domestic ambiguity is maintned in the contemporary built environment and suggests that the notion of permeability needs to become central to all discussions about it.
References: Abernathy, Ann. 2009. The Oak Park Home and Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright. Chicago: Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust. Guyatt, Mary. 2004. A Semblance of Home: Mental Ayslum Interiors, 18801914. In Interior Design and Identity. Eds. Susie McKellar and Penny Sparke, 48-71. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Hammer-Tugendhat, Daniele, and Wolf Tegethoff. 2000. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe: The Tugendhat House. Vienna and New York: Springer. Horwood, Catherine. 2007. Potted History: The History of Plants in the Home. London: Frances Lincoln Ltd. Logan, Thad. 2001. The Victorian Parlour: A Cultural Study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Mariani, John, and Alex Von Bidder. 1999. The Four Seasons: A History of America’s Premier Restaurant. New York: Smithmark. Martin, Tovah. 1988. Once Upon a Window Sill: A History of Indoor Plants. Portland, Oregon: The Timber Press. Muthesius, Stefan. 2009. The Poetic Home: Designing the 19th Century Domestic Interior. London: Thames&Hudson. Portman, John, and Jonathan Barnett. 1976. The Architect as Developer. New York: McGraw Hill.
Sparke, Penny. 2008. The Modern Interior. London: Reaktion. Woods, May, and Arete Warren. 1990. Glasshouses: A History of Greenhouses, Orangeries and Conservatories. London: Aurum Press.
ATLAS
‘01/Permeable/Glass and Mahogany door
I choose to start my book with this photo because it expresses and identifies the main concept of the atlas: a collection of photo where architecture and its elements are open to the world outside and especially to nature, and they attempt to recreate a relationship with nature, in any way, to recreate a “permeable architecture”. As in this pictures where the door it’s does not close the view to the outside, as it often happen, but on contrary it’s open in the middle, where glass lets see what happens outside, in the garden where nature could live pristine.
‘02/Permeable/Decoration of dining room
Where the link with nature it’s not directly possible here we see appearing a painted wall, representing plants, flowers or animals. Paintings have the role to recreate nature where you can not have it real, to give a sense of openness and to reinforce the recall to nature, making the room permeable.
‘02.01/Permeable/Hamburg Vestibule
Behrens had made this pavilion permeable introducing plants all around the glass skylight that go to the floor as a green falling water. Bringing to life a vestibule that visitors defined a cavelike, dark and cool place.
‘03/Permeable/Conservatory
The conservatory of Darwin house was built for plants growing, with bricks walls and glass roof which lets sun light come inside. In this way plants grow inside the house as they do in the garden but under human control. That’s make you feeling as in a forest just looking outside of your room window.
‘04/Permeable/dining car
Looking at this photo your first impression is as you are watching a picture of a living room in a early ‘900 house and not at dining wagon as it is. This perception is given by the use of beautiful carpet and beautiful sofa and furniture; we can also appreciate the decoration on the roof and the curtain wall all around the wagon that give a perception of “domesticity”.
‘05/Permeable/Parlour
This two women are playing cards in a parlour of a hotel as they are comfortably seated in their living room whit a patterned carpet, heavy curtains, and floral upholstered furniture. In this way they could also facilitate both private interiority and public mass behaviour.
‘06/Permeable/Exhibition hall
In this hall, were are exhibit sculptures, quite important is given also to trees. If we look carefully in fact, we can see that the two tree on the right are placed on a marble base, as they are sculpture. So on one hand plants are treaty as they are piece of art and on other hand they are put on a base to be at the same high of the sculpture to frame them and to divide one by another.
‘07/Permeable/Trellis restaurant
This is one of the first examples in which nature is present also in public space, as in this restaurant in New York, and not only in private residence. From this moment and especially from the second half of 20th century nature starts to be used widely in public and semi-public space. The dining room of the Trellis Restaurant could be compared to a winter garden, with very big windows looking outside and plants growing on the walls, decorated to look like trellises. In this way architect reached a good level of permeable between nature outside and “garden� inside.
‘09/Permeable/Gamble house
Sometimes the concept of “permeable”, in city apartments, could be express by the use of stained glasses or trompe l’oeil. This two expedients are used when it’s not possible or difficult to include real plants, into the houses or when people want to recreate a natural landscape instead of blind walls. So, even if I’m in a city, I could have a beautiful panorama that recalled mountains, woods, country.
‘10/Permeable/Gropius house
The villa presents an open veranda that, as the conservatory saw earlier, is used to approach man to nature. The objective is to have a glass-room completely surrounded by trees to make people feeling closer to nature, even if it is outside, separated by a glass boundary.
‘10.01/Permeable/Milà house
The insertion of plants in Gaudì house it’s not random and this is the principal reason because we can say that Milà house is a permeable architecture. The architect projecting the stairs that from the inner court goes to the apartments choose to model in function of plant’s insert. Is clearly visible how the handrail is replaced by stone steps fill with plants and flower.
‘11/Permeable/Taliesin house
The house is credited with being one of the first examples of the "open plan�. Windows whenever possible are long, and low, allowing a connection between the interior and nature outside, that was new to western architecture. Besides the use of walls covered by stone and woods for furniture approaches further the connection between nature and house. World and nature outside are recalled not just with windows but also with the careful choice of material.
‘11.01/Permeable/Stoclet palace
Sometimes nature could be recalled also with abstract form as we can see in this dining room. Klimt in fact in his painting choose to represent a big tree on all wall but in a unusual form: golden and full or curls. However, in spite of his choice, the call to nature and its elements it’s strong and clearly visible.
‘13/Permeable/Sunken Garden
Conservatory was the first space that answered to concept of “permeability�: a close covered space that maintains the connection with nature tanks to the large use of glass and to the use of flowers and plants inside. If initially the conservatories were just in parks, so people had to go there specifically to visit them, with the begin of 20th century conservatories were built in house, as we have seen in the Darwin house of Wright. Today sunken garden is used to celebration and marriage, for people that are always looking for a contact with the world of nature.
‘14/Permeable/Wohn house
I think that this window could be definied permeable because riduces boundaries between inside and outside. This window, in fact, make more near garden to house: in fact it is big enough to hold plants and flower as a part of garden enters into the room, bringing freshness and nature in a close space.
‘15/Permeable/Villa Skywa - Primavesi
Often when we think to flowerpot in a house we believe that they were placed chasuble, just after the building construction but this sketch shows that not always it’s true. Before the house was built, in fact, Hoffmann thought already where put plants, as if the space could not exist without that green elements, becoming integral part of the ambient. It’s for that reason that I choose to insert also this sketch in my atlas, defining it permeable.
‘16/Permeable/Erlanger House
When you enter in this bedroom the first impression is that there are no barriers between you and the forest outside underline the permeability of the space. The only boundary is a big window that emphasize this aspect because of its frameless structure; the only visible structure is just a handrail that gives the aspect of an open balcony.
‘17/Permeable/Residential complex
I think that this building could be defined permeable in reference to his roof. If we see the least floor of the complex we could see how green and plants are present in it even if we are looking it from the outside. It seems as nature fills all the building and what we see from the street it’s just the top of the plants, that are overflowing from the roof to make sense of his permeability also from outside.
‘18/Permeable/Villa Allegonda
In a corner of the living-room there’s an area surmounted by a structure from which plants are free to fall down. The use of this structure and in particular of plants helped the architect to recreated a most intimate zone in a big living-room a sort of small nest where people could go to find tranquillity.
‘22/Permeable/Maison Ozenfant
With the use of three side by side windows Le Corbusier dematerialized a part of building, reducing boundaries between house and nature and making house permeable. The effect, when you are in that room’s corner, is like you are not in an interior but in a outside space, in contact with sky and plants.
‘22.01/Permeable/Ville contemporaine
In this project Le Corbusier has created a small niche, halfway between a room of a house and a balcony, where find place for everyone a big flowerpot with some different plants and flowers. In this way all the apartments have their small garden, a veranda, that founding in the middle between outside and inside world helps to reduce the gap between the two space, creating a permeable filter.
‘23/Permeable/Lobel conservatory
This conservatory, contrary to the on of 1903 takes place inside a room of the house. In this space, even if it’s inside and not a garden, plants could grow totally free, as the one on the fireplace or the one on the bottom wall. The conservatory, in this case, operates as a physical means of challenging the boundary between the idea and meaning of inside and outside space in a domestic context.
‘24/Permeable/Study for a residence
In this sketch pillars and all the structure of the house seems to be grown by the nature, and make a whole with it. Looking at the second pillar, in fact, we can see how it is covered by a plants, as in the future all the structure will be like it, not ditinguishing where house starts and where nature finishes or vice versa.
‘25/Permeable/Esprit Nouveau pavilion
Looking at this photograph we can see an example of “organic architecture” that means, in this case, the respect for nature and its elements. To build his pavilion Le Corbusier decided to open round hole in the roof instead of the cutting the tree growing on the ground, demonstrating great respect for nature.
‘25.01/Permeable/Austrian pavilion
The photo show us another conservatory, but in this case it is no more in a house but in a public space, a pavilion at the Paris Exhibition of 1925. This is a demonstration of how the presence of nature increasingly its importance not only in the private and domestic space but also in the public one.
‘26/Permeable/Ternisien house
Talisien house is another example of “organic architecture”. In this case we can see how the house was built all around a tree, which is the centre of the construction and identifies the entry.
‘28/Permeable/Tugendhat house
Tugendhat house has this particular kind of windows that allow to realize an interior garden that act like a screen between inside and outside. Standing in front of this windows I don’t know if I’m still in the garden or I’m already in the living room.
‘29/Permeable/Bern hospital
To make the step from outside to inside more gradual the architects decided to introduce a big flowerpot that runs all along the windows, as a direct recall to the garden outside.
‘29.01/Permeable/Palmengarten restaurant
In this restaurant every pillar has been included into a little conservatory, and a glass wall close the room. With the use of this conservatory architect can make permeable the line between inside and outside spaces.
‘30/Permeable/Electric house
Figini and Pollini have created in their electric house a winter garden (visible in the photo), just like a strip, into the window that looks outside the garden. Doing that they removed the boundaries between nature outside and house inside, making living room and the garden as they are a unique big room; so it’s not possible to clearly identify where house ends and garden starts and the vice versa.
‘31/Permeable/Waiting room
Since the 30’s also transitorial public space in railway stations, where furnished to make the visitors feeling as they were at home, in their own living-room. Increasing the ambiguity between domestic and non domestic space making the space more permeable: in fact we can use this word not only when nature is present in a room but also when in a public or semi-public space are used furniture typical of private space like rooms in a house. This is why in the waiting room of Stazione Centrale benches are like sofa, there’re wooden table as supports an all finishing were specifically thought.
‘32/Permeable/Vdl research house
This photo shows the second floor of Vdl house, that is build on the roof and surrounded by water, as it was raised on a lake, dominating the nature outside. To bring nature inside the living room Neutra decided to put a mirror all along a wall, that reflects water and woods, giving the impression that there is another window overlooking the garden.
‘33/Permeable/Schminke House
The characterize of Schminke house is the use of big windows that have replaced the walls to make the room permeable from the inside to the outside. The connection between outside and inside is also increased by the presence, in the living-room, of a winter garden with water fountain and different kind of plants.
‘35/Permeable/Douglas airplane
Again we find an example of the other aspect of permeability: no more boundaries between domestic spaces and non-domestic ones. In this case, in fact, the space looks really domestic: velvet sofa, lamp, upholstered chairs, curtains and even a telephone. All fornitures that suggest the idea of a house more than a plane, increasing in this way the ambiguity between domestic/non-domestic space as the use of plants increasing the ambiguity between inside/outside space.
‘36/Permeable/Fallingwater house
It was designed according to Wright's desire to place the occupants close to the natural surroundings, with a stream and waterfall running under part of the building. This is one of the greatest expression of the “PERMEABLE” concept.
‘36.01/Permeable/Finland pavilion
In his pavilion Aalto decided to recreate flowerbed including a tree like the ones that are all around the building. The roof is open in correspondence with the flowerbed to allow the tree growing. This recall the roman “impluvium” where the most important element (hat was water) is replaced by nature.
‘37/Permeable/Falck apartment
Albini was able to recreate a long and narrow conservatory between the two lines of windows in the corridor. By doing this he recalls to the eye and to the mind the natural world and the garden outside, even if not directly visible from the corridor, reducing the boundary between interior and external, making this building “permeable”.
‘38/Permeable/Malaparte house
Malaparte house could be considered permeable because it blends with nature, as it is grown from rocks, thank to its forms and to the presence nearby of trees and plants that cover all the rocks. So that, if it is not for its colour, from particulars view, we can’t recognize where house finishes and were nature starts or vice versa.
‘39/Permeable/Villa Mairea
The living room of Villa Mairea is characterized by plants: flowerpots run all around the sofa, and above them a plant follows the same movement. The presents of nature together with the use of large windows that contribute to recreate a permeable space inside the house.
‘40/Permeable/Dayroom for a villa
In his installation Albini has created big space for plants: a tree grows from the ground floor to the first floor, marking the space’s articulation. On the ground floor we can find the living room while on the first floor there is a more private space, like a little library, overlooking the room downstairs through the special effect made by the hole in the floor for the tree. Other plants are present duly in vase.
‘41/Permeable/Sofa
The idea of nature could be recalled in our mind also by the use of particular furniture. In this photo, for example, we can see a sofa on which are represented different kind of leaf, similar to the ones of the plants on the left of it. Sometimes is enough just a sign, a suggestion to imagine and enter in a different world, like in this case the wild world of nature.
‘42/Permeable/Nesbitt House
In this photo we can see a particular of the Nesbitt house: the flower container. After taken you all among the walk around the house, the flowerpot, at the entrance, becomes a basin of water, bringing outside nature into the house. The water tank runs all around the living-room ending near the fireplace where again becomes flower container. This solution with the presence of plants into the hall and living-room make this house permeable.
‘44/Permeable/Minola House
In this house the expression of nature is linked to this painting where is represented a falling water, behind a glass. This representation is the theme of all the house: furniture, lamps and other elements of the living-room resume lines and form generated by the falling water. Permeability of this space is already present, because even if nature it’s not materially present its presence can be felt in every corner of the room.
‘46/Permeable/Drake house
In this house is used a particular form of pivoting windows that when are open they leave a large open space one by the other. In this way nature is allowed to enter inside the room, recreating a unique permeable habitat without a clear separation between inside and outside.
‘46.01/Permeable/Calculators’ shop
Also in this shop where the space is limited and all the furniture are very simple and linear nature find its place. In fact under the shelf where calculator are displayed , there’s a strip with leafs and grass that attracts the attention of visitors on it and on the calculators. We find another aspect linked to the use of green and permeability: catch customers’ attention on this particular space of shop where are exposed objects to sell.
‘47/Permeable/Green in the house
After Albini one, here we have another installation at “Triennale di Milano” where is present green in the living-room of an house. This is another demonstration of how plants, flowers and green in general became a fundamental peculiarity of the house. In this installation we can observe how a little garden is recreated in a corner of a living-room, becoming a whole with it, as it visible in the floor where interior covering blends with the grass of the garden.
‘48/Permeable/Lunuganga
The importance that Bawa gives to nature it’s clearly visible from two elements: The big window on the bottom as there’s no boundaries between the room and the wild nature outside. The other characteristic that underline the importance that he give to nature’s present is that designing the space for the sofa he decide to leave well define space for planting plants, as they are inseparable elements of the house.
‘49/Permeable/Glass house
What is more permeable than a house where all the walls are replaced by glass? The glass house was build in a garden with a lot of trees and plants so that when you are inside you feel like been in direct contact with nature. The use of glass walls let the natural landscape outside becomes the wallpaper for all the house.
‘49.01/Permeable/Dome house
Probably looking at this photo it’s not clear the connection between dome house and permeability but it might be enough to say that it is recreated into nature. What we can see on the right is the kitchen where stone and rocks replaced classical furniture and walls while floor is made just by decoration in the rocks. This is a particular form of permeability where it’s however strong the link and relation ship with nature and its elements. In fact without stone and rock some part of the house could not exist.
‘50/Permeable/Walter residence
This is a good example of how nature can be part and integrated in a living room: plants growing from ground are free to expand all around the room, going up to the roof attracted to the light, source of their life, coming from the upper windows.
‘51/Permeable/Project for a cemetery
This project is included in the definition of “organic architecture” made by Sparke in her paper. The buildings that belong to this category are building that presents a great respect for nature and plants: during the construction phase, in fact, the architect choose to leave trees that were already present on site. We can see this concept in the centre of this photo, where the roof was cut to let the tree passes along.
‘52/Permeable/Curutchet house
Curuchet house is built around a tree which becomes the hub of all complex. The tree is used as a central column so when you take the ramp to access your apartment you have to walk up all around it. The architect has designed all the rooms with windows that look at the tree, to make it the centre of the building.
‘53/Permeable/Las Canoas house
The permeability of this house is represented not only by the large use of window but also from the presence of the nature inside: we can find grass and plants also around a column of the living room where they are free to grow in a natural way.
‘54/Permeable/Entrance area
We can define the entrance area of Knoll showroom permeable not for the use of plants, which are otherwise present in different form, but for the use of furniture. The large number of sofas, armchairs and carpets makes the space more similar to a living room than to a showroom. Who, in fact, could say that we are in a public space and not in a house before have read the work’s title?
‘55/Permeable/Bavinger house
Bavinger house is built all around rocks and stones, like it is a modern cave. In this house permeability find a paradox: it’s no longer nature that has to find its place through furniture but, contrary, space and their furnishings have to take place between rocks and water, stones and plants.
‘56/Permeable/House of the future
For the house of the future the Smithson architects has been designed an inner garden as the centre of the house and it is also the connection point between different rooms The project was realized in the middle 50’s and the Smithson designing it were thinking about the future giving to the house this permeable aspect.
‘57/Permeable/Marin Civic Centre
I think that we can define this space “permeable”, not just because of the presents of a flowerbox, for all the building long, but also for the roof that it’s made with curved glass which allows, seeing the sky, to be in contact with the world outside also when you are in the central part of the Marin civic centre that has no windows.
‘58/Permeable/Canadian Pavilion
In this pavilion we can see how the architects decided not only to preserve the tree but also to make it part of the exhibition. Putting it in a glass container is like it is like it belongs to the installations that are into the pavilion, as it is an installation itself. Something that visitors watch with amazement and curiosity.
‘59/Permeable/Palazzo Portici
What’s best, in a city like Milan, with a lot of palaces and not many green spaces, than a garden on a roof, to recover the space occupied by buildings? And what makes Palazzo Portici permeable is precisely the presents of a roof garden. Because permeable it’s not just something that gives hospitality to nature but also something that with the use of nature could recreate intimacy and a relaxing atmosphere in a big city where chaos and confusion reign.
‘60/Permeable/Stahl house
Stahl house rises on a hill and it’s made moreover by glass to nullify the presence of walls and to focus attention on the beautiful panorama. In my opinion we can define this house permeable for two principal reason: first one because it completely vanish to enter the nature and the city around. Second reason because the architect use natural materials to replace construction, as we can see in the fireplace.
‘61/Permeable/Gavina showroom
Even if it’s not really clear from the photo, in the left lower corner are present two tubs of water and a little green plant. Often water is introduced into public space because it gives a sense of calm and tranquility and otherwise to bring some natural element into a close, inside space as a recall of freshness of nature.
‘62/Permeable/Nordic pavilion
Inside the Nordic Pavilion connection between nature and domestic is made possible including three trees in the middle of space, and creating large windows and glass insert in the roof. To preserve this three trees (and the one on the outside corner of pavilion) means also to have a particular respect for nature and its elements: the pavilion in fact, has been built around this trees.
‘62.01/Permeable/Finlandiatalo
If we could have seen this photo some years later probably we couldn’t recognize anymore pillars because they will completely be covered by plants. So no more singular pillar but a green wall where the light of the windows could come trough making the space less cold and formal, a surrounding that we can define certainly permeable.
‘63/Permeable/Mariners’ medical center
The particular relationship between the building and nature and the importance that Neutra gives to them is not just linked to the fact that we can find inner garden, flowerbed or plants. But the link go over and it’s enough just a quick look to the roof to realize it. The architect, in fact, makes glass opening in the roof in correspondence of plants to let sun light enter and make possible their growing.
‘64/Permeable/Itamarati palace
In Itamarati palace the presence of nature it’s not just limited to plants and flowers but has been added the water element. We can find plants and green into pots as they are floating on the “little lake” recreated with the use of water and stones.
‘65/Permeable/Kline science centre
This photo show how two trees can bring nature inside a inner garden even if big walls make an impenetrable barrier to the outside. An example on how just a sign can make a space permeable.
‘67/Permeable/Ford foundation building
The architects choose to reserve the heart of building to a inside garden full of trees, plants and water. All the office looking to the court have the illusion to be into a park outside the building, good place in summer for refreshes and in winter to have a space for intimacy.
‘68/Permeable/Elrod residence
What we see in this photo is the entrance in the living-room from the garden and it would seem that it takes shame from the garden itself. In fact the hedge frames the door s it is a single thing giving the impression that you are entering in a natural cave.
‘69/Permeable/Loews Santa Monica Beach hotel
In this hotel the presence of nature, how we can see in this photo, is huge. In the big atrium, in fact, the architects choose to put palm–trees to remember to visitors the panorama and the nature outside that it’s visible from the large window at the end of the hall, from which you can also see sea, the beach and obviously palmstrees!
‘71/Permeable/Holiday house
This house is a real eye on nature and it’s suspended on the lake, attached to a rock. What is amazing of this house is the fact that it creates a link with nature, but in a different way respect to the other “permeable architecture” seen until now: it wants to have different approach with the world outside and to do this the architect decide to recreate different kind and position to see and admire nature all around. At first the house has glass on three sides, allowing an open field at 180°. At second it presents a big “oblò” in the centre of the room from which you can see treetops. And last but not least with a spiral staircase you can reach the roof of the house to look the panorama in all its beauty.
‘72/Permeable/Goulding house
The beauty of this house is that it seems to be suspended on the trees, as it is a part of the wood. If you are inside the glass room you have the impression to be on a tree, into its treetop. The permeability of this house goes over the simply presents of nature, in fact it researches not only the contact with nature all around but it also recreates a relationship between wood and man, trying to make he feel all one with nature.
‘72.01/Permeable/Sheehy house
I identify this house as a permeable one because of its windows. Using double-height windows, in fact, nature is requested to enter, if not physically at least by the view, as there’s no boundaries between the living-room and the big garden outside.
‘74/Permeable/Sainsbury centre for visual art
In this example trees have a double function: not only to bring nature inside but they are used also to recreate a soft barrier between the space for exhibition and the space for relax, with tables and chairs. As there is a boundaries between one and the other but easy to pass trough.
‘74.01/Permeable/Ottolenghi house
This photo immortalize the passage from the bedroom to the living room where Scarpa decided to introduce water and a papyrus plant. This decision, that make the house a “permeable house�, is probably linked to the fact that he wants to facilitate the transition from the living to the sleeping area or vice versa. Introducing natural elements he makes awakening less abrupt, because the plants
‘75/Permeable/East Wing national gallery
Contrary to some pavilion and building that we have seen until here, where there were trees just because they were already present at the moment of construction, so that architects decided to leave them as a form of nature’s respect, here the situation is different. The architect wanted personally this four trees, that have been planted after the building construction, as a sign of nature and world outside, and to make this museum a “permeable” architecture.
‘76/Permeable/Nature house
This house is completely deep into nature and use natural power for all its needs. Sun and wood provide head, water comes from the rain and a fan make the air circulating to keep the house fresh during summer. It’s also present a conservatory all around the perimeter of the house, filled with grass, flowers, exotic plants and fruit trees.
‘77/Permeable/Bateson building
As in Ford foundation also in this case the heart of the building is reserved to green and to public activities as a sort of plaza but inside the palace. In this particular case, however, trees are used to identify a particular space in this “plaza” where people could play, dance and acting as they are in a theatre. So again plants have also “architectural” function and not only aesthetic one.
‘78/Permeable/Megerle house
In this picture we can see a modern version of the traditional conservatory, diffused in the 10’s. What still remains is the glass roof, to let the sun light coming in, and obviously plants! The new element is water that we have seen appear more times close to plants and nature in general.
‘79/Permeable/Australian embassy
The building of Australian embassy in Bangkok is completely surrounded and hidden by water, plants, trees. In this way we have the impression that it burns from nature and it recreate a unique thing with it, as if pillars became trees, walls became plants and floor became water, reaching a high level of permeability.
‘80/Permeable/Thorncrown Chapel
In this building the link with nature is particularly important: the architect use a permeable structure because trough woods with its colour and light could enter into the chapel and at the same time visitors could feel more near God. So all walls are made with glass and small gray pillar to have no difficulty to look outside and maintain contact with nature and trough it with God. The presence of nature is also recalled with two big ferns putted in front of benches.
‘80.01/Permeable/Megamiyama house
The heart of Megamiyama house is a inner garden, typical of Japanese houses. This garden premises to this house, that it’s closed to outside, the possibility to be in contact with nature. So the garden became the crucial point of the house making it more permeable.
‘81/Permeable/Sun house
What is more permeable than a living-room designed as it is a conservatory? In this room, all made by glass, plants are free to grow everywhere as they are in a garden and not in a house.
‘82/Permeable/Menil Council
Renzo Piano in the Menil council has emptied in some areas of the factory to make “green room”, where are included different kind of trees and plants, to make the space more permeable, so that when you are visiting the building you don’t know anymore if you are inside or outside.
‘84/Permeable/Hexenhaus
To enlarge the living room of Hexenhaus Smithson have thought to build a veranda that enters into the woods. The use of the glass link to the use of wood beams for the roof make you feel as you are really in the woods. The beams, in fact, will be compared to still branches opposite to the real branches of the trees outside, moved by wind.
‘85/Permeable/Hilton hotel
Green has been the guide line that Hilton Hotel used for its common space: flowerpots with green medium-high plants are used to divided the hall from the restaurant , allowing eye-connection between the different space; rooms access is from corridors decorated with plants that looks like green falls which make guests look down to the hall. In the centre of the hall there are palms trees that bring to visitors minds the sea climax of the city.
‘86/Permeable/Serramento Serra
The “Serramento Serra” designed by Umberto Riva was made to make permeable boundaries between inside and outside. This window, in fact, make less hard the passage from garden to house: the “serramento serra” is big enough to hold plants and flower as a part of garden enters into the room.
‘88/Permeable/Winter garden atrium
Also in the New Yorker financial word was made a wide use of plants. Winter garden atrium was made to houses shops, bar and restaurants like in a big open plaza: the use of palm-trees, flower, glass roof and glass walls shall ensure that the space is felt as an outdoor space and not as an interior, always keeping visitors in contact with the nature.
‘89/Permeable/Capita center
To increase the permeability of the space and to give to the people the idea to be outside, the bar of capita centre, use not only trees but also outdoor furniture that we usually find outside of restaurants, as the architects want to create a space more similar to a square than to an area inside the skyscraper.
‘89.01/Permeable/KI building
The hall of this building is replaced with an “oasis”, a place where you can sit, stay and meet other people. The problem of intimacy (the hall is placed in the centre of KI, where everybody can look) is solved with the use of plants, trees and water that recreate different separate space. In the Kempinski hotel, the role of plants is no more decorative: it become practical and functional.
‘90/Permeable/Ice hotel
This hotel recreate a particular relationship with nature, not limited just to a present of trees or plants, it goes over: it is made by nature! In fact, using only frozen water from the Torne River, artists from all over the world, come here to create this incredible hotel. This building wants to interpret the three most important natural aspects of Jukkasjärvi: river Torne, the cold arctic climate and the northern light to assimilate them making a place between art and architecture, nature and interior space. So can we define this place permeable even if there is no plants inside? I think definitely yes!
‘91/Permeable/Grand Hyatt Hotel
In this hall, as in most other hotel, there is an area where you can sit, stay and wait. This area is design as a corner of your home, where you can feel as you are in your house. In this particular case carpet has been used to recreate an atmosphere of domesticity.
‘92/Permeable/Hyatt Regency
We can define the hall of Hyatt Regency a “ hall-square” because it is a space organized as an area of the city: the side of the rooms that looks into the hall are designated to look like fronts building outside. Furthermore the light coming from the glass roof, the use of plants and water zones in the hall make this place permeable because it gives you the sensation to be in a square looking the building around.
‘93/Permeable/Atocha railway station
This is a typical example of how a building, born with a specifically function, could became something totally different: in this case a railway station becomes a perfect permeable architecture. Abandoned for the new railway station, Atocha is been completely transformed: instead of tracks there are green oasis while timetables are replaced by bar, table and chairs: an incredible transformation!
‘93.01/Permeable/Turtle creek house
What make this house permeable is the particular contact that it wants to recreate with nature. Turtle creek house, in fact use different architectural expedient, depending on the different contact that house wants to have with nature, allowing people to perceive the natural world in a different way. This pictures, for example, show us a ramp suspended, built to go through treetops and have a beautiful view of the panorama all around and at the same time to be in direct contact with nature.
‘94/Permeable/Kempinski hotel
The public spaces of Kempinski hotel are designed as a unique big greenhouse, where flowers are replaced with furniture and plants that divided one space from another. So for example the hall is divided in two parts with a glass wall that contain red geranium and the bar is indicated with palm-trees. The permeability of this space is that green is used not only as a decoration but also as a design instrumental.
‘95/Permeable/Museum of popular art and tradition
Probably it’s an hazard define this space permeable: no plants, no trees, no furniture. But immediately when I saw this pictures I feel that there’s something permeable in it. A museum that recreate house’s room to show objects as they are in their own place, as the designer wants to create an illusion: Am I in a private space or in a public one? Isn’t that it gives the same sensation we felt many time looking at the spaces where the use of plant and trees makes us not able to understand if we are in a close or in an open space?
‘96/Permeable/fruit museum
If since now plants, trees and flowers has been used to recreated natural ambient in house, offices and factories this is an example on how a natural habitat has been used as a museum. The glass dome makes everything very similar to an uncontaminated location.
‘98/Permeable/chep lap kok airpory
In this big, cold and impersonal airport hall the presents of three palm tress bring warm and make themselves the centre of this big area. Demonstrating one times more the importance of nature.
‘99/Permeable/Sony center
In one of the most important new buildings in Berlin permeability was the key-project that has guided the architect: the roof has big panels that acting as sails let sunlight and air coming in and keep rain out when necessary. Thanks to this very technological roof trees inside can easy grow as in a forest.
‘100/Permeable/The essence of permeability
In this personal interpretation of the word permeable I would take to extremes the meaning of the word. The volume of the house is empty and it’s no more nature that have to find its place in the construction but on contrary it’s the house that has to adapt to nature. No wall, no floor, no roof just natural elements: grass, wood, and treetops making a unique elements.
REFERENCES
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J.P. Caracalla, Silvana editoriale, Milano 1984 p. 38 ‘05: Parlour of the Beaumont hotel, Ouray (Colorado) from: “The modern interior ” of P. Sparke, Reaktion, London 2008 p. 10 ‘06: Exhibition hall, International art and garden exhibition, Mannheim Peter Behrens from: “ Behrens and a new architecture for the 20th century ” S. Anderson, MIT, Cambridge 2000 p. 87 ‘07: Trellis Restaurant, Colony Club, NY Elsie de Wolfe from: “The modern interior” of P.Sparke, Reaktion, London 2008 p. 32
‘03: Darwin D Martin House, Buffalo Frank Lloyd Wright from:: “Frank Lloyd Wright, il repertorio ” by W.A Storrer, Zanichelli, Bologna 1997 p. 101
‘09: Gamble house, Pasadena (California) Green and Green from: http://www.homeworkshop.com/ wp-content/uploads/2009/03/art-glassentry-door.jpg
‘04: Orient Express dining-car from: “ L’ Orient Express: un secolo di avventure ferroviarie ” of J. Des Cars e
‘10: Gropius house, Dramburg (Poland) Walter Gropius from: “Walter Gropius, opera completa “
of W. Nerdinger, Electa, Milano 1988 p. 47
Long, University of Chicago press, Chicago, 1992 p. 12
‘10.01: Milà house, Barcelona Antoni Gaudì from: “ Il mondo organico di Gaudì ”, C. F. Fontana, Alinea Editore, Castenaso (BO) 1999 p. 238
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‘11: Taliesin house, Spring Green (Wisconsin) Frank Lloyd Wright from: http://www.greatbuildings.com/ buildings/Taliesin.html ‘11.01: Stoclet house, Brussels Josef Hofmann from: “ Behrens and a new architecture for the 20th century ” S. Anderson, MIT, Cambridge 2000 p. 21
‘16: Erlanger house, Berkley (California) Bernard Maybeck from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ kalantziscope/4672913607/ ‘17: Residential complex Michel de Klerk from: “ Michel de Klerk 1884-1923 ” M. Bock, S. Johannisse, V. Stissi, Electa, Milano 1997 p. 194
‘13: Sunken Garden, St. Paul (Minnesota) Frederick Nussbaumer from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ stets/3497659437/in/photostream/
‘18: Villa Allegonda Jacobus Oud from: “ J. J. P. Oud: poetic functionalist”, E. Taverre, C. Wagneaar, Nai publishers, Nai publishers, Rotterdam 2001 p. 132
‘14: Wohn house, Pernitz (Austria) Josef Frank from: “ Josef Frank life and work ”, C.
‘22: Maison Ozenfant, Paris Le Corbusier from: lesson “case atelier ” of Prof.ssa
Forino Laboratorio di progettazione architettonica 3
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‘22.01: Ville contemporaine (project) Le Corbusier from: “ Le Corbusier 1910-1929 ”, W. Boeslger, O. Stonarov, Les editions d’ architecture, Zurich 1964 p. 43
‘26: Talisien house, Boulogne (Paris) Le Corbusier from: lesson “ case atelier ” of Prof.ssa Forino Laboratorio di progettazione architettonica 3
‘23: Lobel Conservatory, Austria Josef Frank from: “ Josef Frank life and work ”, C. Long, University of Chicago press, Chicago, 1992 p. 93 ‘24: Study for a residence Josef Frank from: “ Josef Frank life and work ”, C. Long, University of Chicago press, Chicago, 1992 p. 183
‘28: Tugendhat house, Brno (Germany) Mies Van der Rohe from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ fvjole/29645308/ ‘29: Bern hospital Otto Salvisberg and Otto Brechbuhl from: Domus n. 48, 1931, p. 143
‘25: Esprit Nouveau pavilion, Paris Le Corbusier from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ ruamps/5178232742/
‘29.01: Palmengarten restaurant, Frankfurt Martin Elsaesser from: Domus n. 39, 1931, p. 112
‘25.01: Austrian pavilion, Paris Peter Behrens from: “ Behrens and a new architecture
‘30: Electric house, Triennale of Monza Figini e Pollini from: “ Figini e Pollini: opera completa”
of V. Gregotti e G. Marzari, Electa, Milano 1996 p. 325 ‘31: Central Station waiting room Milano Ulisse Stacchini from: http://web.tiscali.it/stcentrale/ notizie.htm ‘32: Vdl research house, Rotterdam (Germany) Richard Neutra from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ kenmccown/55114866/ ‘33: Schminke House, Lobau (Germany) Hans Scharoun from: http://www.architekturzeitung.eu/ titel/deutschland/377-stiftung-hausschminke-loebau-architekt-hansscharoun.html ‘35: Douglas airplane, New York Henry Dreyfuss from: Domus n. 91, July 1935, p. 314 ‘36: Fallingwater house, Pennsylvania Frank Lloyd Wright from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ mancio7b9/2378334669/
‘36.01: Finland Pavilion, Paris Alvar Aalto from: “ Alvar Aalto: 1898-1976 ”, by Peter Reed, Electa, Milano 1998 p. 196 ‘37: Falck apartment, Milan Franco Albini from: “ Franco Albini 1905-1977 “ of A. Piva, A. Prina, Electa, Milano 1998 p. 103 ‘38: Malaparte house, Capri (Italy) Adalberto Libera from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ thomasreichart/269426868/ ‘39: Villa Mairea, Noormarkku (Finland) Alvar Aalto from: Lotus n. 119, 2003, p. 22 Photographed by: Paolo Rosselli ‘40: Dayroom for a villa, Triennale of Milan Franco Albini from: www.fondazionefrancoalbini.com/ opere_principali_arch_block.pdf ‘41:
Sofa Banfi, Belgiojoso, Peresutti from: Domus n. 157, 1941, p. 83 ‘42: Nesbitt House, Los Angeles Richard Neutra from: lesson “ Margini: tra interno ed estrno ” of Prof.ssa Forino, Laboratorio di progettazione architettonica 3 ‘44: Minola House, Turin Carlo Mollino from: Domus n. 227, 1948, p. 419 ‘46: Drake house, Los Angeles Gordon Drake from: Domus n. 225, 1947, p. 401
Lunuganga, Bentota (Sri Lanka) Geoffrey Bawa from: “ Le cento case del secolo ” by Dominic Bradbury, Electa Milano 2009 p.117 ‘49: Glass House, New Canaan (Connecticut ) Philip Johnson from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/xray_delta_one/4149519484/ ‘49.01: Dome house, Cave Creek (Arizona) Mills Solderi from: Interni n. 428 del 1993 p.99
‘46.01: Calculators’ shop, Milan Marco Zanuso from: Domus n. 207, 1946, p. 126
‘50: Walter residence, Cedar rock (Iowa) Frank Lloyd Wright from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ rock_chalk_jhawk_ku/2195349730/
‘47: Green in a house, Triennale, Milan E. Berrone, V. Viganò from: “ Storia e cronaca della Triennale” of A. Pansera, Longanesi Milano 1972 p. 353
‘51: Project for a cemetery, Taarbaek (Denmark) Alvar Aalto from: “ Alvar Aalto: 1898-1976 ” by Peter Reed, Electa, Milano 1998 p. 238
‘48:
‘52:
Casa Curutchet, La Plata (Buenos Aires) Le Corbusier from: lesson “ margini: tra interno ed estrno ” of Prof.ssa Forino, Laboratorio di progettazione architettonica 3
‘57: Marin Civic Centre, San Rafael (California) Fran Lloyd Wright from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ chrisrodkey/3420202802/
‘53: Casa das Canoas, Canoas (Rio Grande, Brasil) Oscar Niemeyer from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ frei/2197254350/
‘58: Canadian Pavilion, Biennale of Venice BBPR from: “ I padiglioni della Biennale di Venezia ” of Marco Mulazzani, Electa, Milano 2004 p.111
‘54: Entrance area of the Knoll showroom, San Francisco Florence Knoll from: “ The modern interior ” of P. Sparke, Reaktion, London 2008 p. 193
‘59: Palazzo Portici, Milan Figini e Pollini from: “ Figini e Pollini: opera completa ” of V. Gregotti e G. Marzari, Electa, Milano 1996 p. 248
‘55: Bavinger House, Norman (Oklahoma) Bruce Goff from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ cmruark/3775701894/in/photostream/ ‘56: The house of the future, Daily Mail Ideal Home Show Alison and Peter Smithson from: http://designmuseum.org/design/ alison-peter smithson
‘60: Stahl house, Los Angeles Pierre Koenig from: http://en.urbarama.com/project/ case-study-house-no-22-stahl-house ‘61: Gavina showroom, Bologna Carlo Scarpa from: “ Carlo Scarpa ” by Y. Yoshida, A+V publishing, Tokyo 1985 p. 119
‘62: Nordic Pavilion, Venezia Sverre Fehn from: lesson “ Margini: tra interno ed estreno ” of Prof.ssa Forino, Laboratorio di progettazione architettonica 3
‘67: Ford foundation building, New York Roche & Dinkeloo Associetes from: http://www.flickr.com/ photos/32224170@N03/3218615596/in/ photostream/
‘62.01: Finlandiatalo, Helsinki Alvar Aalto from: “ Alvar Aalto: 1898-1976 ” by Peter Reed, Electa, Milano 1998 p. 321
‘68: Elrod residence, Palm Spring (California) John Lautner from: “ Le cento case del secolo ” by Dominic Bradbury, Electa Milano 2009 p. 182
‘63: Mariners’ medical center, Newport beach (California) Richard Neutra from: “ Richard Neutra: 1892-1970 ” of T.S Hines, Electa, Milano 1999 p. 309 ‘64: Itamarati palace, Brasilia Oscar Niemeyer fro m: htt p: // www .t hec oo l is t.c om/ brazilian-architecture-10-breathtakingmodern-monuments/view-of-thecovered-courtyard-designed ‘65: Kline science centre, Yale University (USA) Philip Johnson from: “ Philip Johnson ” by C. Noble, Thames and Hudson, London 1972 p. 82
‘69: Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, LA Hirsch Bedner Associates from:http://www.hbadesign.com/ portfolio/view/81 Photography by: Michael Kleinberg ‘71_ Holiday house, Michigan Harry Weese from: Domus n. 503, October 1971, p. 291 ‘72: Goulding house, Enniskerry (Ireland) Scott Tallon Walker from: “ Le cento case del secolo ” by Dominic Bradbury, Electa Milano 2009 p. 203
‘72.01: Sheehy house, New York Alfredo De Vido from: “ Alfredo De Vido, selected and current works ”, the Master architect series, Dobney Mulgrave 1998 p.105 ‘74: Sainsbury centre for visual art, Norwich (United Kingdom) Norman Foster from: http://www.fosterandpartners.com/ Projects/0188/Default.aspx ‘74.01: Ottolenghi house, Bardolino (Italy) Carlo Scarpa from: “ Carlo Scarpa ” by Y. Yoshida, A+V publishing, Tokyo 1985 p. 185 ‘75: East Wing National gallery, Washington DC I. M. Pei from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ hanneorla/75197162/ http:// www.flickr.com/photos/ hanneorla/75197162/ ‘76: Nature house, Saltsjöbaden (Stockholm) Bengt Warne
from: “ The natural house book ” of D. Person, Conran Octopus London 1989 p. 62 ‘77: Bateson building, Sacramento (California) Sim Van der Ryn from: http://www.greatbuildings.com/ buildings/Bateson_Building.html ‘78: Megerle house, New York Alfredo De Vido from: “ Alfredo De Vido, selected and current works ”, the Master architect series, Dobney Mulgrave 1998 p.229 ‘79: Australian Embassy, Bankok (Thailand) A. M. Wooley from: “ Water spaces of the world: a pictorial review of water spaces ” , the images publishing group, Melbourne 1999 p. 54 ‘80: Thorncrow Chapel Eureka Springs (Arkansas) Fay Jones from: http://www.thorncrown.com/
photogallery.htm ‘80.01: Megamiyama house, Nishinomiya (Japan) Osamu ishi’I from: The Japan Architect n. 299, 1982, p.17 Photographed by: Mitsuo Matsuoka ‘81: Sun house, Baden Baden (Germany) Seider Schempp from: Interni n. 319, 1982 ‘82: Menil Council, Houston (Texas) Renzo Piano from: lesson “stanza a cielo aperto” of Prof.ssa Forino, Laboratorio di progettazione architettonica 3 ‘84: Hexenhaus, Lauenforde (Germany) Peter and Alison Smithson from: lesson “margini: tra interno ed esterno ” of Prof.ssa Forino, Laboratorio di progettazione architettonica 3 ‘85: Hilton hotel, Brisbane (Queensland) Harry Seidler from: “The master architect series: HARRY SIDLER” of D.Sharp, IP, Victo
ria 1997 p. 176 ‘86: Serramento Serra, XVIII Triennale, Milano Umberto Riva from: lesson “margini: tra interno ed estrno” of Prof.ssa Forino, Laboratorio di progettazione architettonica 3 ‘88: Winter garden atrium (New York) Cesar Pelli from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ shotsbydaniel/47558444 75/ ‘89: Capita Centre, Sydney Harry Seidler from: “The master architect series: HARRY SIDLER” of D.Sharp, IP, Victoria 1997 p. 166 ‘89.01: KI building, Tokyo Kajima Corporation from:The Japan Architect n. 387, 1989, p.62 ‘90: Ice hotel, Jukkasjärvi (Sweden) Ice hotel art & design group from: http://www.google.it/imgres? imgurl=http://blog.ratestogo.com/wp-
content/uploads/icehoteljukkasjarvi.jpg&imgrefurl ‘91: Grand Hyatt Hotel, Berlin Rafael Moneo from: http://berlin.grand.hyatt.com ‘92: Hyatt Regency Roissy, Paris Murphy & Jahn from: “Murphy & Jahn: selected and current works”, the master architect series, Mulgrave, 1995 p.203 ‘93: Atocha railway station, Madrid Rafael Moneo from: http://danagardendsign. Blogspot. com/2008_11_01_archive.html ‘93.01: Turtle creek house, Dallas (Texas) Antoine Predock from: “ Le cento case del secolo ” by Dominic Bradbury, Electa Milano 2009 p. 268 ‘94: Hotel Kempinski Murphy & Jahn from: “Murphy & Jahn: selected and current works”, the master architect series, Mulgrave, 1995 p.180
‘95: Museum of art and popular tradition, Paris In-house design team from: “The best in exhibition design 2”, of Stafford Cliff, Batsford, London 1995 p. 58 ‘96: Fruit museum, Yamanashi (Japan) Itsuko Hasegawa from: http://www.postersguide.com/ posters/museum-of-fruit-yamanashiwes t-toky o-1996-interior-s howingplanting-architect ‘98: Chep Lap Kok airport, Hong Kong Norman Foster from: www.mostinterestingfacts.com/wp -content/uploads/2010/06/most-beautiful -airports-in-the-world-chek-lap-kokinternational-airport1.jpg ‘99: Sony Center, Berlin Helmut Jahn From: www.google.it/imgres? imgurl=http://image26.webshots.com/ 26/9/17/83/363191783LIePHa_fs.jpg&i mgrefurl=http://travel.webshots.com/ photo/1363191783066897053
INTERIOR WOR(L)DS: this work is part of a collection of books realized by the students of the curse of “ Interior Architecture�, of class 2010-2011 and edited by Professor Gennaro Postiglione. It takes origins from the participation in the Second Interiors Forum World on 4-5 October 2010, hosted by Politecnico di Milano. Every student selected a paper among the words presented at the IFW and chose 99 projects represented by just one image covering from 1901 to 2000. The 100th image had to be a personal interpretation of the word chosen. PERMEABLE: could be define in two main ways: first one is nature that enter into a house or became part of a building, second one is domesticity feeling taken into public areas or buildings.