The Olivetti of Zanuso among project, process, and product

Giuliana Di Mari; Emilia Garda

doi:10.4995/vitruvio-ijats.2023.18586

Authors

Giuliana Di Mari Polytechnic University of Turin https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0840-0095
Emilia Garda Polytechnic University of Turin

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4995/vitruvio-ijats.2023.18586

Keywords:

Olivetti, Zanuso, Brazil, Industrial Heritage, Modern Architecture

Abstract

During the years of post-war reconstruction in Italy, the project represented an instrument of revenge on the ruins inherited from the war and industry seemed to be the answer to the needs of a society that was rebuilding itself. The bond between project and industry thus spreads to all sectors of artistic production and the common thread is the use of words borrowed from the world of industry, thus raising the phenomenon of industrialisation.

Olivetti’s experience is placed in this scenario, characterised by his interest beyond the factory, aimed at architectural, urban planning, cultural, publishing, and political issues. The Olivetti ideal focuses on aspects ranging from the typewriter to the city. The best architects work for Olivetti, and among them is Marco Zanuso. The factory is the topos of the project, in which theories of building industrialisation are synthesised. Zanuso experiments with the material’s potential to address issues related to the factory; in the reinforced concrete, he discovers the possibility of rationalising the composition process. Thus, the structure finds the perfect balance between technique and expressive language, generating space, light, form, and function. The beam-pillar system, an ideal synthesis of the architecture for Olivetti in Argentina and Brazil, discloses the capacity to conceive space as a single entity, in which the recognisability of the construction system becomes the identifying key of the factory itself.

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Author Biographies

Giuliana Di Mari, Polytechnic University of Turin

Giuliana Di Mari is architect, PhD student in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Politecnico di Torino, and in Teoria e História da Arquitetura e do Urbanismo at the Instituto de Arquitetura e Urbanismo - Universidade de São Paulo in São Carlos. She graduated in Architecture for Sustainable Design at the Politecnico di Torino (2018), and worked as a research fellow at the Politecnico di Torino (2019). Qualified as Architect - section A (2020). She was assistant to the European project "MoMoWo - Women's creativity since the Modern Movement", is a member of AIDIA - Associazione Italiana Donne Ingegnere e Architetto, AIPAI - Associazione Italiana per il Patrimonio Archeologico Industriale, Do.Co.Mo.Mo. Italia - Associazione italiana per la documentazione e la conservazione degli edifici e dei complessi urbani moderni.
Research interests include the history of 20th century construction, the conservation and restoration of the architectural heritage of the Modern Movement and gender studies in architecture and engineering.

Emilia Garda, Polytechnic University of Turin

Emilia Garda is an architect, Associate Professor in Building Technology and Details ICAR/10, qualified as Full Professor in Building Technology and Integrated Building Design ICAR/08C1, and member of the Teaching Board of the Doctorate in Architectural and Urban Planning Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza.

Ph.D. degree in Building Engineering; master’s degree in Culture technologique des ingénieurs et des architectes du XXe siècle at IFA Institut Français d’Architecture Paris.

Her research interests include the history of the construction of the twentieth century, the conservation and restoration of the architectural heritage of the Modern Movement and gender studies in the field of architecture, engineering and design. She is the Project Leader of the European project Women’s creativity since the Modern Movement – MoMoWo.

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