Umberto Riva. Interiors and Exhibitions

CONTENTS

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PRELIMINARY NOTES

INTERIORS FOR VACATION HOMES

A CONCRETE PENTHOUSE

AN EXPRESSIONIST BAR DESIGNING WITHIN LIMITS: THREE RENOVATIONS IN MILAN

TWO WORKS IN PADUA UMBERTO RIVA AT THE TRIENNALE DI MILANO INSTALLATIONS IN THE PRESENCE OF PALLADIO

TWO MORE HOUSES IN MILAN ENDLESS INTERIORS: UMBERTO RIVA IN SALENTO

TWO INSTALLATIONS FOR CORBU

DAZZLEMENTS

PRELIMINARY NOTES

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UMBERTO RIVA INTERIORS AND EXHIBITIONS

A

nalyzing the long sequence of projects developed by Umberto Riva in almost sixty years of work, including urban plans, restorations, industrial design, residences, exhibition spaces, public buildings and much more, the design of interior space undoubtedly stands out as one of the most original and fertile areas of investigation, in which the multiple experiences of his career seem to converge and reinforce each other.

A student of Franco Albini and Carlo Scarpa, but also an autodidact enthralled by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Pierre Chareau and Antoni Gaudí rather than by a modernism that was slipping into crisis precisely during his university years1, Riva explored this design dimension in great depth, in which an exceptional part of Italian architectural culture of the 20th century flourished. Like his mentors, in interior architecture he found the perfect context for his wide-ranging curiosities, attracted by the imperative force of structures and the lightness of details, by the plasticity of form and the possibilities of color, pure spatiality and the revelations of light, craftsmanship and a certain vision of habitation.

This orientation is clearly visible even in the early works, especially the summer vacation homes, to which Riva always devoted a remarkable and far from predictable focus to the quality of internal space, formulated in relation to its container and to the natural or urban landscape, while also conducting more self-referential research on the architectural form and the figurative aspects. This was done each time in a different way: not interested in the possibility of an a priori theoretical strategy, Riva has always displayed a singular, empirical approach to design, aimed at challenging the present state of things as well as his own personal arsenal of already implemented analytical and creative exercises.

His spaces start from this basic assumption: design is not a process of deduction, but something that begins with a premonition, an intuition that has to be evaluated through continual approximations, conserving a suspicious gaze on his own operation and the results achieved. In this sense, his architecture – as his friend Giacomo Scarpini (1929-1993) emphasized in 1969 in the magazine Domus – stems from a resolute “distrust of the starting point,” a distrust “in reality as it presents itself,” which has always prompted him to “reach 1. See P. Nicolin, For Umberto Riva, in M. Zardini and P. Nicolin, Umberto Riva, Barcelona: Gustavo Gili, 1993, pp. 11-15.

PRELIMINARY NOTES

7

Grande tavolo, 1973.

Wax chalks on drawing paper, cm 69x104.

Rituale 1, 1978.

Oil chalks on paper, cm 68,5x68,5.

Grande aquilone, 1994.

Pastels on paper, cm 57x76.

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UMBERTO RIVA INTERIORS AND EXHIBITIONS

on the possibilities of light in relation to space, also on a small scale.16 The matter of furniture design is different but complementary, begun by Riva in the 1950s – while still a student – and later honed into an autonomous pursuit connected with industrial production but also to his architectural projects, for which he nevertheless often opted for “classics” (Thonet chairs, for example) instead of his own creations.

Getting a bit closer to the phenomenology of the interiors designed by Riva, we can notice certain recurring themes and figures. Starting in the mid-1960s, the tendency at the

level of the plan towards interrupted lines, asymmetry, nonright angles and disjunctions between surfaces represents, for example, a constant that almost stubbornly returns: an attitude derived – as the architect himself has said on many occasions – from an idiosyncratic avoidance of symmetry and immobility, a magnetic attraction to unstable and precarious space, and the impossibility of closing and concluding the form. Wary of the fixed stillness of the classical world, Riva has in fact always looked towards central European Expressionism, with its harsh, cutting angular character. It should be noted that in spite of constituting a constant, the refinement and exercise of this geometric lexicon has never led to mannered repetition, confirming his precarious, investigative outlook. Precisely this modus operandi has allowed Riva to cross the second half of the 20th century, keeping his own personal independence and freedom of maneuver intact. He has remained free, in a critical way, of all the isms of the period, venturing into a dimension that architectural criticism has often been incapable of framing in an exhaustive way.

The long, patient work on details is emblematic, again revealing the influence of his mentors, but also the desire

E63 lamp, 1963 (later re-edition)

16. See G. Neri, Umberto Riva designer, Siracusa: LetteraVentidue, 2021 (forthcoming).

PRELIMINARY NOTES

13

Di Palma houses, Stintino, 1971-72.

Above: detail of patio.

Right: side view.

Below: detail of floor.

Opposite: interior views.

(Photo Umberto Riva).

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UMBERTO RIVA INTERIORS AND EXHIBITIONS

that the layout also builds on the experience in Taino: the main structure, composed of portals in reinforced concrete linked crosswise by two high beams, functions in a way that is conceptually similar to the large framework of the Berrini house, offering a sort of gullwing tent below which to organize the living spaces. The presence of a patio for each of the cells reminds us, instead, of the typological choice of the first Di Palma house, but in much more extreme terms. In the attempt to make a connection between the vacation home typology and the Sardinian landscape22, Riva seems to exaggerate the character of closure, designing a perimeter wall like a maritime fortress, with a truncated pyramid cross-section 2.25 meters high, linking back to works by Scarpa and Frank Lloyd Wright. We are reminded, for example, of the perimeter wall of the Brion Tomb, under construction at the time, or the massive walls utilized at Taliesin. As a result, the patio is not an alternative, but the true, indispensable outlet towards the exterior – a dazzling sky – of an essential, rustic, Mediterranean, totally introverted living space.

At the center of the plan, the bedrooms and the living 22. U. Riva, in Umberto Riva. Album di disegni, cit., p. 26.

INTERIORS FOR VACATION HOMES

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A

CONCRETE PENTHOUSE

T

he opportunity to design a residential building with eight above-ground levels on the outskirts of Milan represented a major leap of scale for Umberto Riva, through which he could experiment with multiple situations in terms of plan, typology and construction, some of which were to become recurring features of his work.1 Formulated together with Bianca Bottero starting in 1965, and built in 1966-67, the building on Via Paravia – shortly prior to the second project for the Berrini house in Taino – constituted a decisive exercise for the study of the relationship between the architectural enclosure – now in dialogue with the urban landscape – and the space that contains it.

The conditions of the context were fundamental: the project was part of a phase of expansion and consolidation of the peripheral zones of Milan in the 1960s, which included countless housing initiatives with a very wide range of sizes and characteristics. Specifically, the building on Via Paravia should be considered in the light of the widespread cooperative housing projects of the period, where it was one of the few efforts capable of formulating an alternative to the pressures asserted by speculators on the theme of housing and its typological-formal definition.2 In this context, we should mention the cooperative experience of the “Collettivo di Architettura” in Milan, founded in 1949 within the “Ho Chi Minh” communist cell of the Department of Architecture of the Milan Polytechnic3, which was moving forward in those years with political and design action in which housing was interpreted as a social service. Riva, though not a member of that group, did work with some of them – as in the case of Fredi Drugman, for example, co-designer of the first Di Palma house – and partially shared the idea 1. See G. Scarpini, “Umberto Riva: due architetture”, Domus, no. 476, July 1969, pp. 6-13; “Cooperativa di abitazione a Milano 1966-1967”, Zodiac, no. 20, 1970; M. Bottero and G. Scarpini, Quattro interviste: Enzo Mari, Umberto Riva, Tobia Scarpa, Gino Valle, cit., pp. 9-115; R. Aloi, Case di abitazione, Milan: Hoepli, 1971; G. Muratore, A. Capuano, F. Garofalo and E. Pellegrini, Guida all'architettura moderna, Italia gli ultimi trent'anni, Bologna: Zanichelli, 1988; G. Gramigna and S. Mazza, Milano. Un secolo di architettura milanese dal Cordusio alla Bicocca, Milan: Hoepli, 2001, p. 391; Umberto Riva. Album di disegni, cit., pp. 18-19; M. Zardini and P. Nicolin, op. cit., pp. 20-25; M. Grandi and A. Pracchi, Milano. Guida all’architettura moderna, Bologna: Zanichelli, 2008 (I ed. 1980), p. 336; etc.

2. M. Grandi and A. Pracchi, op. cit., p. 336. See also V. Vercelloni, “Le cooperative edificatrici in Lombardia”, Casabella-continuità, no. 228, June 1959.

3. Founding members were Gae Aulenti, Fredi Drugman, Vincenzo Montaldo, Arturo Morelli, Giorgio Morpurgo, Giuliano Rizzi, Achille Sacconi, Novella Sansoni, Mario Silvani, Marialuisa Sormani and Alessandro Tutino.

A CONCRETE PENTHOUSE

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Frea house, Milan, 1980-82.

Right: view of ground floor from living room to kitchen.

Below: view from garden to veranda.

(Photo Umberto Riva).

Umberto Riva, Reliquia 2, 1984-86.

Oil pastels and pastels on paper, cm 42x56.

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UMBERTO RIVA INTERIORS AND EXHIBITIONS

Frea house, Milan, 1980-82.

Left: cross section of staircase.

Below: detail of staircase.

(Photo Umberto Riva).

View from dining to living room.

(Photo Umberto Riva).

DESIGNING WITHIN LIMITS: THREE RENOVATIONS IN MILAN

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UMBERTO RIVA AT THE

TRIENNALE DI

MILANO

IN

1994 Umberto Riva was asked by the Milan Triennale to rethink certain spaces on the entrance level of the Palazzo dell’Arte (its location), dealing with the large scale of the building designed by Giovanni Muzio, and its intense history. Working on the body of such a building meant coming to terms with one of the most distinctive sites of Italian architectural culture of the 20th century, one of its most visible and visited points, staging a dialogue with the many more or less temporary spatial interpretations that had been implemented there across previous decades. The commission arrived thanks to the admiration of Pierluigi Nicolin – involved in the activities of the Triennale at the time – for Riva’s work, which he had already published in the above-mentioned issue of the magazine Lotus.1 This was an important opportunity: Riva’s project was part of a wider-ranging reorganization of the cultural agenda of the Triennale, following legislative modifications in 1990, which transformed the institution into a structure for activities of research and documentation, widening the field of action to include disciplines like fashion design, audiovisual communication, etc.2 In that context, the board of directors chaired by Pierantonino Bertè (appointed for the period 1994-96) launched a sweeping program of functional renewal, including the renovation of many of the spaces in the building, including the Gallery on the first floor (north wing) for temporary exhibitions, designed by Gae Aulenti.3 Specifically, Riva was entrusted with the entrance lobby, defined by a large nave reaching into the building from Viale Alemagna; the area of the former impluvium and the raised concourse facing the garden: fundamental zones for the use of the building, which were to set its image for a number of years, prior to the dismantling – carried out, perhaps, with excessive nonchalance – required for the more recent projects by Michele De Lucchi.

The first zone was approached by Umberto Riva as a path capable of creating visual continuity from the entrance to the ticket desks. Past the Serlian window in Baveno stone and 1. From a conversation with the author, 10 January 2017.

2. See G. La Varra, “Programmi della Triennale”, Casabella, no. 615, September 1994, p. 46.

3. C. Baglione, “La nuova Galleria della Triennale”, Casabella, no. 615, September 1994, p. 47; R. Capezzuto, “Due interventi nel Palazzo della Triennale di Milano”, Domus, no. 767, January 1995, pp. 39-45.

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Installation for the exhibition “Paesaggio: la natura fra sito e artificio” at the XVII Triennale, Milan, 1988.

Plan, section and study sketches.

Opposite page: Installation for the section Paesaggio (la natura fra sito e artificio) of the exhibition Oltre la città, la Metropoli, XVII Triennale, Milan, 1988.

Above: entrance room. (Photo Paolo Rosselli – © Triennale Milano Archivio Fotografico).

Center (left): detail of The voyage to Tahiti by Lucius and Anne Marie Burckhardt. (Photo Matteo Piazza – © Triennale Milano - Archivio Fotografico) Center (right) and below (left): view of the room with the work Signs and messages by Stephen Willats (Photo Matteo Piazza – © Triennale Milano - Archivio Fotografico) Below (right): view of the room with the work The Present Order is the Disorder of the Future by Ian Hamilton Finlay. (Photo Matteo Piazza – © Triennale Milano - Archivio Fotografico) 130

UMBERTO RIVA INTERIORS AND EXHIBITIONS

UMBERTO RIVA AT THE TRIENNALE DI MILANO

131

Pierre Bonnard, Salle à manger à la campagne, 1913.

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UMBERTO RIVA INTERIORS AND EXHIBITIONS

DAZZLEMENTS

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