La Casa Telematica Milan (IT)

Ugo La Pietra

Authors

  • Hans Teerds TU Delft, Architecture and the Built Environment

Abstract

In 1971, Italian architect and artist Ugo La Pietra had already developed a first draft of the Casa Telematica for the exhibition ‘Italy: The New Domestic Landscape’, which took place in 1972 at the MoMa in New York. The concept included a house with a triangular cross section, which La Pietra used to examine the potential impact of engineering and technology on the home, and on domestic life. Using images reminiscent of Superstudio’s The Continuous Landscape, La Pietra presented the house as a space where people come together, but also one in which a variety of information-processing equipment has been included, which allowed for communication with the outside world.

In the framework of the International Trade Fair of Milan that was held in 1982, La Pietra again addressed the issue of technology and the domestic environment, and redeveloped the Casa Telematica. Instead of the single triangular space, there was now a simple square floor plan with a rectangular cross section, more or less traditionally divided into living room, kitchen, bedrooms, etcetera. In this arrangement, the Italian avant-gardist appearance made room for a postmodern idiom: primary shapes, neon lights and bold colours. Precisely by choosing a traditional layout of the house, La Pietra was able to question various domestic rituals.

Author Biography

Hans Teerds, TU Delft, Architecture and the Built Environment

Hans Teerds works as an assistant at the Chair for the History and Theory of Urban Design at the Institute for History and Theory of Architecture (GTA) of the ETH Zürich. He wrote a dissertation at the Delft University of Technology, discussing the public aspects of architecture as seen through the lens of the writings of philosopher Hannah Arendt. Together with Tom Avermaete and Klaske Havik, he edited the anthology Architectural Positions: Architecture, Modernity and the Public Sphere (2009), and published together with Johan van der Zwart, Levend Landschap: Manifest voor stad en land (2012). Teerds is a member of the editorial boards of the architectural journals OASE and DASH.

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Published

2018-06-01

How to Cite

Teerds, H. (2018). La Casa Telematica Milan (IT): Ugo La Pietra. DASH | Delft Architectural Studies on Housing, 7(11), 136–141. Retrieved from https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/dash/article/view/4977

Issue

Section

Case Studies