Gio Ponti and the Transparency of Domestic Space

Abstract:

The Italian architect Gio Ponti (Milan, 1891-1979) summarised his research into the transparency of domestic space in his apartment in via Dezza 49 (Milan, 1956-1957). The incorporation of modern technology and functionality into the home, without forgetting its identification with the inhabitant, present since the definition of casa all’italiana in 1928, brings a ‘transparent’ and ‘crystalline’ architecture, which he synthesises in the statement l’architettura è un cristallo (architecture is a crystal). He defines the transparency of the unitary and dynamic domestic space, based on the graphic experiments carried out for the representation of the alloggio uniambientale presented at the X Triennale in Milan in 1954, which shows the visual prolongation of the floor plan through the free façade, the so-called ‘finestra arredata’, and the alloggio uniambientale per quattro persone of 1956, which provides the spatial continuity of the free floor plan. This article studies Ponti’s spatial orientation development in both directions, favouring transparency in its different levels of significance, as contributed by Colin Rowe and Robert Slutzky: literal transparency as a real quality of matter, and phenomenal transparency as an apparent attribute inherent to the organisation. This reading of transparency allows us to analyse objectively how Ponti aspires to achieve maximum living space and the purest sense of freedom in the modern house.

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