877 TRE SCUOLE NORVEGIA ROSENBAUM+ALEPH ZERO MAVAA–VEZZOSI TYIN TEGNESTUE CASA BUNSHAFT, 1962–63 GRAY ORGANSCHI +RINTALA EGGERTSSON STUDIO PONSI WERNER TSCHOLL

DAL 1928

ITALIAN+ENGLISH EDITION ANNO LXXXI N.9 – 8 SET 2017 ITALIA €12,00 AUT €22,50. BEL €21,70. CAN $37,00. CHE IT CHF27,00. CHE DE CHF27,50. DEU €28,00. ESP €21,40. FIN €22,00. FRA €20,00. GBR £17,00. PRT CONT €20,10. USA $31,50. 877 1 casabella 877 1996–2016 indici nuova edizione indices 632–869 new edition settembre 2017 in consultazione esclusiva su: available for reference only at: casabellaweb.eu

3—13 26—55 56—89 Nicholas Adams Gordon Bunshaft la scuola non è come Tra le rughe a cura di Chiara Baglione In cinque puntate le opere la porta di duchamp del paesaggio del progettista che ha portato 27 57 a SOM il Pritzker Prize John Hejduk sbarca in Norvegia: a cura di Chiara Baglione Rosenbaum+Aleph Zero Collegio Fondazione Bradesco, archetipi in punta di piedi 5 Francesca Chiorino Gordon Bunshaft Fazenda Canuanã, Formoso do 58 3/5 Araguaia, Tocantins, Brasile Gordon Bunshaft privato: 27 Peter Zumthor Travertine House a East Hampton Collegio Fondazione Centro di accoglienza e Bradesco – Fazenda Canuanã museo delle miniere di zinco Nicholas Adams Camillo Magni Allmannajuvet, Sauda, Norvegia 14—25 37 60 MAVA A arquitectos, atmosfere, tra ghost town due case e castelli medievali vezzosi 14 Francesca Chiorino Scuola elementare e materna, Studio Ponsi 76 Sant’Albino, Montepulciano, Casa in Maremma, magliano, siena Tyin Tegnestue + grosseto 37 Rintala Eggertsson, 15 In Italia, una scuola da Porto Fordypningsrommet Fleinvær, Due padri e un suggeritore Marco Mulazzani Gildeskål, Norvegia non ingombrante Jean-Marie Martin 43 78 Gray Organschi Note nel paesaggio 20 Marco Biagi Werner Tscholl Architecture Casa Gamper, Velturno, Bolzano Common Ground High School, 90—96 New Haven, Connecticut, 21 BIBLIOTECA una casa è una casa... Stati Uniti Marco Mulazzani 43 90 Gray Organschi Architecture recensioni Ted Whitten 92 Venezia 1980. La Biennale del Post-modern e la "fine del proibizionismo" Massimiliano Savorra

97—99 ENGLISH TEXTS 97 English texts

in copertina Peter Zumthor, Centro di accoglienza e museo delle miniere di zinco Allmannajuvet, Sauda, Norvegia: schizzo di studio della Mining Gallery Peter Zumthor, Visitors’ center and museum of the Allmannajuvet zinc mines, Sauda, Norway: study sketch of the

Mining Gallery ESTO

SOMMARIO casabella 877 3 2 Gordon Bunshaft 3 5

Gordon Bunshaft privato: Travertine House a East Hampton Nicholas Adams

Gordon Bunshaft si sentiva a casa quando era circondato strada con una fitta cortina di case a due piani costruite dall’arte. I modi eccentrici e bruschi, gli scatti talvolta inop- nel primo Novecento3. Si trattava di un sobborgo rispet- portuni –che forse oggi verrebbero riconosciuti come una tabile di piccoli commercianti, impiegati e dirigenti di me- forma di autismo– svanivano o erano comunque accet- dio livello: un quartiere borghese, servito dal tram, in una tati nell’ambiente artistico. «La cosa più bella che ci è ca- città a forte vocazione operaia. Per un ragazzo che non an- pitata entrando in contatto con il mondo dell’arte è stata dava bene a scuola, aveva difficoltà a leggere e problemi trovare […] due grandi amici: Henry Moore e Jean Dubuf- di socializzazione («Non credo di aver baciato una ragazza fet. La loro gentilezza nei miei confronti è prima dei ventidue anni»), il mondo della forma e dell’at- stato il complimento più lusinghiero che tività manuale era un rifugio che lo rendeva più sereno. ESTO abbia mai ricevuto, considerando che Il giovane Bunshaft allestì un piccolo laboratorio nello 3 1 —Gordon Bunshaft, Casa Bunshaft, io non sono un intellettuale, sono sem- scantinato di casa, dove «la sera e nei fine settimana» si East Hampton, Long Island, NY, plicemente schietto». Bunshaft aveva le dedicava alla sua passione: costruire mobili4. 1962–63 (demolita). Dettaglio del idee chiare riguardo a ciò che gli piaceva Pur essendo un architetto che in genere non proget- fronte nord con l’ingresso principale —Gordon Bunshaft, The Bunshaft (Miró, Léger) e ciò che non gli piaceva tava abitazioni, Bunshaft dava molto importanza alla pro- Residence, East Hampton, Long (Pollock), e quando si trattava di arte tro- pria. Così come aveva costruito armadi e letti nello scanti- Island, NY, 1962–63 (demolished). vava una valida collaboratrice nella mo- nato della casa dei genitori a Manchester Place, riconfigu- Detail of the north façade with the main entrance glie Nina: «Non compriamo mai niente rando secondo il proprio gusto varie parti dell’abitazione, 2 se non siamo completamente d’accordo anche le case in cui visse da adulto diventarono espres- —veduta del muro d’ingresso da sull’acquisto»1. Promuovere la presenza sione del suo mondo di immagini. Come nel caso di tanti ar- nord. L’entrata è nascosta a sinistra; dell’arte negli edifici che progettava era chitetti prima di lui, le sue residenze rispecchiavano il suo a destra si vede lo schermo che copriva un volume di servizio fuori la naturale conseguenza di questa pas- gusto artistico raffinato ed erano una buona pubblicità per dalla cucina sione, oltre che un buon affare. Bunshaft la sua architettura. A , Gordon e Nina lasciarono —view of the entry wall from the non si limitava a riconoscere la qualità di il Greenwich Village per trasferirsi nella Manhattan House north. The entrance is hidden to th the left; to the right is the shield un’opera, sapeva anche dove collocarla (1947–51) al 200 di East 66 Street, il moderno edificio di protecting the garbage area per ottenere il massimo effetto2. appartamenti in laterizi bianchi che lui aveva contribuito a outside of the kitchen Nato nel 1909, Gordon Bunshaft progettare. Da lì, con una breve passeggiata, poteva rag- 3 th —veduta della casa da sud crebbe a Buffalo, vicino al lago Erie, in giungere lo studio di SOM, all’angolo tra e 56 —view of the house from the south un’epoca in cui la città industriale era an- Street. Nel 1958, sette anni dopo il trasferimento (e quattro che un fiorente centro commerciale. Suo anni dopo il trasloco in un altro appartamento dello stesso padre vendeva uova all’ingrosso e sua palazzo) chiese a Ezra Stoller di fotografare la casa e la col- madre faceva la casalinga. La famiglia, lezione d’arte. Le luci nascoste illuminavano le pareti, ricre- che comprendeva anche la sorella Pau- ando nell’appartamento bianco l’atmosfera di una galleria line, viveva al 55 di Manchester Place, una o di un museo. Bunshaft mescolava opere d’arte moderna ESTO

4 Gordon Bunshaft 3/5 casabella 877 5 4 5 4 Nina Bunshaft’s marker. It was, 6 —la casa in cui viveva la famiglia in all likelihood, moved to allow the Bunshaft al 55 di Manchester Place, lawnmowers to cut the grass more a Buffalo (2015). Il laboratorio di easily. The stone, placed on the Bunshaft doveva essere nello marker, is a Jewish custom shows scantinato that a visitor has remembered the —the Bunshaft Family home at 55 deceased Manchester Place, Buffalo (2015). 6 Bunshaft’s workshop would have —Gordon Bunshaft, Manhattan been in the basement House, New York, 1947-1951. Il 5 secondo appartamento acquistato —il lotto della famiglia Bunshaft al dai Bunshaft, qui fotografato da NICHOLAS ADAMS NICHOLAS Temple Beth-El Cemetery di Ezra Stoller nel 1958, ospitò la loro collezione d’arte. Per effetto NICHOLAS ADAMS NICHOLAS Cheektowoga, NY (2015). I genitori ESTO David e Yetta Bunshaft sono sepolti dell’illuminazione nascosta, i dipinti a destra; Nina e Gordon Bunshaft a sembravano distaccarsi dalle sinistra. È possibile che in origine nicchie. Il pavimento, come nella l’urna tra le due sepolture fosse successiva residenza di East collocata a sinistra della lapide di Hampton, era di travertino. Le Nina Bunshaft. Con tutta probabilità poltrone su disegno di Mies van fu spostata per consentire ai der Rohe sono prodotte da occidentale (Léger, Miró, Giacometti, Dubuffet, Nicholson, Qualche tempo dopo, nell’inverno giardinieri di tagliare il prato più —Gordon Bunshaft, Manhattan terrazze. Le pareti interne erano intona- Johnson a New Canaan, in Connecticut (1949), e dalle ville facilmente. Secondo l’usanza House, New York, 1947–51. The Bertoia, Calder) con manufatti africani, giapponesi, messi- del 1962, Bunshaft cominciò a proget- ebraica, il sasso lasciato sulla lapide second apartment owned by the cate di bianco per riecheggiare il traver- di Frank Lloyd Wright nella regione occidentale e sudoc- cani ed etruschi nello stile eclettico poi adottato da SOM tare una casa per il fine settimana a East indica che un visitatore ha ricordato Bunshafts, here photographed tino dei pavimenti posato sopra una pia- cidentale degli Stati Uniti? Sembrerebbe di no. È piutto- per i propri uffici. Quanto agli arredi, scelse Mies van der Hampton sull’isola di Long Island, uno i defunti by Ezra Stoller in 1958, became stra di fondazione di calcestruzzo get- sto la profonda consapevolezza delle scelte in fatto di arte —the Bunshaft Family plot at the the site for their art collection. Rohe (poltrone realizzate da Knoll a partire da disegni, an- spazio che sviluppò a partire dalla più Temple Beth-El Cemetery, The use of hidden lighting allowed tato in situ. e architettura a renderla tanto particolare. Mentre Mies e cor prima che entrassero in produzione), Ward Bennett, modesta espressione di gusto artistico Cheektowoga, NY (2015). Parents the paintings to stand forward La parete d’ingresso sul fronte nord Johnson, idealizzando la scatola di vetro moderna, face- Marcel Breuer ed Eero Saarinen; c’era anche una lampada della Manhattan House. La casa per il David and Yetta Bunshaft are to from the alcoves. The floor, as in era poco invitante. Il critico d’architettura vano sparire i muri ed eliminavano così lo spazio per l’arte, the right; Nina and Gordon the later East Hampton Residence, da terra che avrebbe potuto apparire in un film di Jacques weekend diventò una vera e propria gal- Bunshaft to the left. The urn was travertine. The Mies van der Paul Goldberger visitò la casa poco dopo Bunshaft affrontò il tema in modo diverso. Per lui l’arte era Tati, bilanciata in modo da ottenere i migliori effetti di luce5. leria d’arte, nota soprattutto grazie al between husband and wife may Rohe armchairs are produced la morte di Nina Bunshaft nel 1994. «Chi un complemento essenziale dell’architettura; le pareti non Quello era il momento giusto per mettere in risalto la reportage fotografico di Ezra Stoller10. originally have been to the left of by Knoll altri se non Bunshaft», scrisse sul «New erano soltanto qualcosa attraverso cui vedere o da idea- collezione. Lo studio SOM era noto per la capacità di for- In questo ambiente speciale, Bunshaft e York Times», «poteva costruirsi una casa lizzare, la loro funzione era unire arte e natura. Bunshaft nire la giusta ambientazione alle opere d’arte sin dall’e- Nina potevano continuare a lavorare, in- di campagna con la facciata di solido tra- rifiutava anche l’illusione di Wright secondo cui un edi- poca del progetto per il Terrace Plaza Hotel di Cincin- trattenere gli ospiti e recuperare le proprie energie spi- vertino e senza finestre?»11. La casa, osservava Goldberger, ficio poteva essere indistinguibile dalla natura (quando nati (1948), quando aveva affidato la decorazione degli rituali. La casa fu chiamata con nomi diversi: la casa di rappresentava il «mondo perfetto» di Bunshaft e non aveva tutti sanno che architettura e natura non sono la stessa spazi pubblici a Joan Miró, Saul Steinberg e Alexander Georgica Pond, la Travertine House o semplicemente la elementi che dessero il benvenuto ai visitatori. Infatti, ol- cosa). L’architettura è l’architettura. L’arte è l’arte. La na- Calder6. Secondo lo storico dell’architettura Henry-Rus- Bunshaft Residence. trepassata questa pelle di travertino, si entrava nel mondo tura è la natura. Solo un grande architetto poteva dare a sell Hitchcock in quel caso l’integrazione di arte e archi- Aveva una forma semplice: una scatola di 30,48 me- privato dell’immaginazione di Bunshaft, un ambiente che ciascuna la sua prospettiva e riuscire comunque a com- tettura aveva dato risultati persino migliori di quelli otte- tri (100 piedi) x 7,92 metri (26 piedi). All’interno lo spazio coniugava in modo brillante architettura, arte e natura. binarle in una composizione che era qualcosa di più della nuti da nel Pavillon Suisse di Parigi (1932) o era suddiviso in un soggiorno centrale, che occupava tutta La casa, proseguiva Goldberger, era un «omaggio all’arte somma delle parti. Bunshaft non voleva soltanto «control- a Ronchamp (1955)7. Durante la costruzione della Lever la profondità del volume (si estendeva da nord a sud), la della composizione»12. Bunshaft ritardò ulteriormente l’ac- lare ogni dettaglio», come scrisse Goldberg (quale archi- House di New York (1952), Bunshaft si era adoperato af- camera padronale e un bagno a un’estremità (est), la cu- cesso a quella visione collocando l’ingresso fuori asse, in tetto non lo vuole?), voleva coniugare arte, architettura e finché il cliente comprasse opere di per cina, una camera per gli ospiti e uno studio all’altra (ovest). modo che i visitatori dovessero cambiare direzione per en- natura, rispettandone le identità e al tempo stesso legan- decorare il cortile (un progetto poi fallito); per la sede Verso sud il salotto si affacciava sul Georgica Pond e l’in- trare nel salone con le vetrate a tutta altezza rivolte a sud13. dole in un’interazione simbiotica. In quale altro modo la della Manufacturers Trust, sempre a New York (1954), ot- tero volume era poggiato su uno stilobate artificiale, un In questa casa ogni veduta era studiata, mentre i dipinti casa poteva diventare un luogo d’evasione immaginativa? tenne opere di e Calder, ispirando i colle- basamento di terra di circa 180 centimetri che sollevava e le sculture sembravano essere in stretta relazione con Questa triplice enfasi (arte, architettura, natura) fu anche ghi di SOM a impreziosire la loro architettura con l’arte. delicatamente la casa, proteggendola dal rischio degli al- l’architettura e la natura: gli esili alberi sparsi sulla spiag- –e qui entrava in gioco un altro aspetto della sua persona- Nel 1957 Bunshaft iniziò a lavorare al progetto per il grat- lagamenti. La struttura della copertura era realizzata con gia, visibili dalla vetrata, simili a statue di Giacometti; l’erba lità complessa– una brillante opportunità progettuale da tacielo della Chase Manhattan Bank (1961), dove ebbe travi di calcestruzzo precompresso che, lasciate a vista come una pennellata di colore di Jean Dubuffet; il perfetto lui abilmente sfruttata nella Chase Manhattan Bank, nella un ruolo cruciale, forse “il” ruolo cruciale, nel convincere all’interno, incontravano le vetrate a nastro, formando un equilibrio dell’astrazione che ricordava Alexander Calder. Banque Lambert di Bruxelles (1962) e ovunque trovasse David Rockefeller ad arredare gli uffici con una combina- bordo esterno merlato. Ovviamente, le travi a vista davano Ma la scatola di Bunshaft aggiungeva qualcosa alla clienti simpatetici. zione di astrattismo moderno e arte primitiva8. La Chase il tocco rustico tipico di una casa per i fine settimana, ma in tradizione modernista della casa per i fine settimana, Bunshaft fu una fonte importante per l’articolo pubbli- Tower fu l’esempio più importante e più pubblicizzato del questo caso l’effetto era più industriale che rurale. A ogni esemplificata dalla Farnsworth House di Mies van der cato dal «New York Times» alla fine del 1962, in cui si ana- modo in cui SOM utilizzava l’arte9. estremità della casa il tetto aggettava per dare ombra alle Rohe a Plano, in Illinois (1951), dalla Glass House di Philip lizzava l’interesse del mondo degli affari per l’arte14. Le sue

6 Gordon Bunshaft 3/5 casabella 877 7 7 8

case (opere d’arte incluse) diventa- Lui e Nina non ebbero figli e benché fosse affezionato alla rono un mezzo efficace per vendere sorella Pauline e alle nipoti lasciò la collezione d’arte e la 7 la sua visione dell’architettura anche casa al MoMA senza un vincolo che impedisse al museo di —pianta sintetica della casa a quei clienti che all’inizio non sem- usarle per acquistare altre opere d’arte. All’epoca si trattò con l’indicazione dell’acqua a sud —plan of the house with water bravano disposti a seguirlo. Nel caso di uno dei lasciti più cospicui che il MoMA avesse mai rice- indication to the south del quartier generale dell’American vuto e il museo ringraziò svendendone una gran parte. Mal-

8 Republic Insurance di Des Moines grado le preoccupazioni espresse al momento della morte university —pianta, giugno 1962 (1965), Bunshaft riuscì persino a con- di Nina Bunshaft, avvenuta nel 1994, il museo non aveva le

—floor plan, June 1962 columbia , vincere Watson Powell Jr., presidente risorse, né interesse a tenere la casa, che fu venduta alla

dell’azienda, a diventare un collezio- guru delle casalinghe per 3,2 milioni di dol- library arts nista d’arte. Quando, tre anni dopo, lari. La Stewart affidò all’architetto britannico John Pawson & fine & «Architectural Record» pubblicò un l’incarico di ristrutturare la casa ampliandola. I lavori non servizio sulla casa di Bunshaft a East Hampton, presen- furono mai portati a termine e quando sorsero problemi di architectural tandola come una delle sue “Record Houses”, mise in ri- ostruzione della visuale e di accesso all’acqua, la proprietà salto soprattutto la collezione d’arte. «Casa Bunshaft […] è dell’immobile fu trasferita alla figlia della Stewart, che alla avery l’ambientazione perfetta per dipinti e sculture e ogni opera fine lo vendette al magnate dell’industria tessile Donald 15 della collezione è valorizzata al massimo». Le fotografie di Maharam per 9,4 milioni di dollari . Maharam fece demo- Note il Blue Shield e tutti quei benefit [cioè, 1 Oral History of Gordon Bunshaft, intervista di Betty assicurazioni sanitarie], pensavo che sarebbe Ezra Stoller coglievano brillantemente questo aspetto. lire la casa nel luglio del 2004. L’appartamento della Man- J. Blum, Art Institute, 1990, p. 209 e p. 208. stato bello fornire loro anche qualche nozione Sui rapporti con gli artisti, vedi Nicholas Adams, d’arte, d’estetica». Oral History of Gordon Bunshaft, In ogni caso, come l’autore dell’articolo precisava con il ba- hattan House, ovviamente, era stato smontato da tempo e Gordon Bunshaft: What Convinces is Conviction, cit., p. 180. nale linguaggio giornalistico, la casa era anche «un’abita- il suo contenuto era andato disperso. in «SOM Journal», 9, 2014, pp. 8-19. 9 Vedi per esempio: Chase, portrait of a giant; 2 Sui tentativi di umanizzare le aziende attraverso report on the biggest office building in Manhattan zione comoda e accogliente» con poltrone e divani che in- Oggi, tutto ciò che resta delle residenze di Bunshaft l’arte, vedi Roland Marchand, Creating the Corporate in 25 years, in «Architectural Forum», 115, luglio Soul: The Rise of Public Relations and Corporate 1961, pp. 66-95. vitavano a piacevoli conversazioni tra amici. Era, inoltre, un è la vecchia casa di famiglia di Manchester Place a Buf- Imagery in American Big Business, University of 10 La casa fu pubblicata su «Architectural Record: California Press, Berkeley 1998. Record Houses», maggio 1966, pp. 40-45. altro elemento del manifesto architettonico di Bunshaft. falo, il cui scantinato accolse il laboratorio di falegname- 3 Ringrazio Catherine F. Schweitzer, direttrice 11 Paul Goldberger, Design Notebook: Rare esecutiva della Baird Foundation di Buffalo, Glimpse of a Private Sanctum, in «New York La demolizione di questa visione architettonica pri- ria dove egli iniziò a creare il suo mondo di immagini uti- che mi ha aiutato a comprendere Bunshaft nella Times», 30 giugno 1994. vata di Bunshaft è stata una delle perdite più significative lizzando materiali solidi, e la tomba nel cimitero Temple sua città natale e mi ha accompagnato a visitare 12 Ibidem. i luoghi della sua giovinezza e la sua tomba. 13 In seguito i Bunshaft aggiunsero altre sculture dell’ultima parte del Novecento. Un’altra vittima della spe- Beth-El di Cheektowoga, non lontano da Buffalo, dove 4 Oral History of Gordon Bunshaft, cit., p. 20. tra cui Moonbird di Joan Miró e Reclining Figure: 5 B. Darrach, For epicureans, fine art, immaculate Arch Leg di Henry Moore. Quest’ultima, racchiusa culazione è stata la casa di East Hampton del pittore Ro- Bunshaft riposa insieme ai suoi parenti più stretti. L’inci- forms: an architect and his wife life among beautiful tra siepi, creava una sorta di stanza all’aperto possessions in a chaste setting, in «Interiors», 117, al di là della camera padronale. bert Motherwell, progettata da Pierre Chareau (1945) e de- sione in ebraico recita semplicemente: «Gordon ben Da- maggio 1958, pp. 124-127; L’appartement de 14 William M. Freeman, Business and Financial l’architecte G. Bunshaft, à New York, in World Shows a Rising Interest in Approach to Art, molita nel 1985. La House III di Peter Eisenman a Lakeville, vid» (Gordon figlio di David). Sormontata da un semplice «L’architecture d’aujourd’hui», 6, dicembre 1961, in «New York Times», 29 dicembre 1963. pp. 94-95. 15 Martha Stewart riutilizzò la pavimentazione in Connecticut (1971), fu distrutta nel 2000 dopo essere ri- monolito di pietra squadrato, probabilmente progettato da 6 Joan Ockman, Art, Soul of the Corporation: della casa di Bunshaft per la nuova cucina della masta in stato di abbandono per molti anni. È indubbio che lui stesso (non ce n’è un’altra simile in tutto il cimitero), è Patronage, Public Relations, and the Interrelations sua residenza di Bedford, New York. La precisa of Architecture and Art after World War II, in «SOM natura degli scambi intercorsi tra Bunshaft e il Bunshaft non fosse un sentimentale, viveva e lavorava si- un’inquietante memoria dei tanti principi per i quali com- Journal», 5, 2008, pp. 170-185. museo (si aspettava che la casa fosse preservata?) 7 Henry-Russell Hitchcock, introduzione di e tra il museo e la Stewart (a quanto pare esisteva curo nel presente, senza preoccuparsi troppo dell’eredità. batté nella sua vita. Architecture of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 1950- un accordo informale che prevedeva la 1962, Frederick A. Praeger, New York 1962, p. 13. conservazione della casa) non è stata mai resa 8 Bunshaft sosteneva che l’idea di comprare opere pubblica. È indubbio che, privata delle opere d’arte da sistemare in tutto l’edificio era stata sua: d’arte, la casa avrebbe perso gran parte del Traduzione italiana di Irene Inserra per Scriptum, Roma. «Visto che gli impiegati avevano già la Blue Cross, suo fascino.

8 Gordon Bunshaft 3/5 casabella 877 9 9 10 university university , columbia , columbia , library library arts arts

& fine & fine & architectural architectural

avery avery 9 —dettagli esterni, giugno 1962 —exterior details, June 1962 10 —dettagli esterni, camino, giugno 1962 —exterior details, fireplace, June 1962

10 Gordon Bunshaft 3/5 casabella 877 11 11 14 11 15 —il fonte est con la camera padronale —the east façade with the master bedroom 12 —la terrazza a sud con l’ingresso del salone e gli arredi da esterno di Harry Bertoia prodotti da Knoll —patio to the south with the entry to the living room and the Harry Bertoia wire patio furniture produced by Knoll 13 —la parete ovest del salone su cui è appeso l’arazzo di Picasso, realizzato appositamente per i Bunshaft. Accanto si vede la scultura Reclining Figure di Henry Moore —a Picasso tapestry,

ESTO commissioned by the Bunshafts, 12 hung along the west wall of the living room. Next to it is the two piece Reclining Figure of Henry Moore 14 ESTO —il corridoio sul lato nord che attraversa longitudinalmente tutta la casa —the corridor on the north side crossing longitudinally the house 15 —il salone rivolto a sud verso il Georgica Pond. Le travi del tetto fungono da linee di prospettiva che indirizzano lo sguardo verso la veduta esterna. Le vetrate sotto la copertura illuminano le travi. Si noti il cannocchiale di ottone sulla scrivania —the living looking south towards Georgica Pond. The roof beams serve as perspective lines leading ESTO 13 out to the view beyond. The clerestory windows also illuminate the beams. Note the standing brass telescope on the desk ESTO ESTO

12 Gordon Bunshaft 3/5 casabella 877 13 carefully for maximum light effect.5 winding them back and forth before allow- and was demolished in 2000 after many page 5 It was propitious moment to highlight his art ing entry to the living room with its south- years as a ruin. Bunshaft was assuredly an collection. SOM had been known for its abil- facing floor to ceiling plate glass window.13 unsentimental man, operating securely in Gordon Bunshaft At Home: The Travertine ity to provide settings for art going back to This is a house of considered views, of paint- the present and with little commitment to House, East Hampton, Long Island, NY tanto da riconoscere in tale obiettivo perfino il «senso del Hans Ruijssenaars) fino alle case monofamiliari di Euge- the Terrace Plaza Hotel in Cincinnati (1948) ings and sculpture that seem to sit in inti- legacy. He and Nina had no children and Nicholas Adams futuro delle battaglie di emancipazione dell’umanità», vi- ne Kupper, di William Turnbull e di Heinz Hilmer e Christo- when they had hired Joan Miró, Saul Stein- mate contact with architecture and nature. though he had an affectionate relationship Surrounded by art Gordon Bunshaft felt berg, and Alexander Calder to create spec- The thin straggling seaside trees outside the with his sister Pauline and her daughters, he sto il frantumarsi delle illusioni di rendere “umano” il volto ph Sattler. at home. His eccentric gruffness, his oc- tacular public spaces.6 The architectural plate glass, like figures by Giacometti; the left his art collection and the house to MoMA 13 del potere . Espressione massima del disagio nei con- Piuttosto che soffermarsi su analisi cronotopiche (il casionally impolitic outbursts –perhaps historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock had even grass a stroke of paint from Jean Dubuffet; without restriction intending the receipts fronti di quell’insieme eterogeneo «che andava sotto il cosiddetto Riflusso, l’ascesa di Craxi e del partito sociali- something we would recognize today as thought the integration of art and architec- the perfect balance of abstraction recalls to allow the Museum to buy more art. At nome di modernità», il Postmodern –parola divenuta per sta, il delitto Moro e la società che cambiava, le estati ro- a form of autism– either melted away or ture there superior to Le Corbusier’s efforts Alexander Calder. the time it was one of the largest bequests found acceptance among artists. “The best at the Pavilion Suisse, Paris (1932) or Ron- What did Bunshaft’s box have to say to the the museum had received and the museum Portoghesi “paradossale e irritante”, per Koolhaas il vero mane e la stagione storica dell’effimero che prendeva il thing that happened to us in the art world champ (1955).7 At in New York modern tradition of the weekend house, obliged by selling off much of the collection. «stile dell’economia di mercato»– andava dunque inter- sopravvento dai Luna Park alle discoteche, e altro ancora) was we ended up with… two great friends: City (1952), Bunshaft worked to have the cli- Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House in Though anxious voices were raised at the pretato rinunciando a etichette che designavano visioni che non aggiungono nulla di nuovo, Szacka avrebbe po- Henry Moore and Jean Dubuffet. That was ent pay for works by Isamu Noguchi for the Plano, Illinois (1951), ’s Glass time of Nina Bunshaft’s death in 1994 there the most flattering compliment I’ve ever re- courtyard (a plan that ultimately failed); at House in New Canaan, Connecticut (1949) were neither means nor a committed inter- omogenee e convergenti. tuto spiegare in che modo, in una mostra dai tanti, forse ceived in my life –those men feeling kind to Manufacturers Trust in (1954), or Frank Lloyd Wright’s western and south- est in keeping the house and it was sold to All’epoca le critiche all’impostazione della mostra fu- troppi, obiettivi disomogenei, convivevano visioni assai me, considering I’m not an intellectual. I’m he obtained works by Harry Bertoia and Cal- western villas? Nothing very much, it would the decorating guru Martha Stewart for $3.2 rono molte, alcune assai feroci. Come racconta Szacka, le divergenti di alcuni architetti colti, impegnati a cambiare il just straightforward.” He knew what he liked der and he inspired his colleagues at SOM seem. Bunshaft’s deep artistic and architec- million. She commissioned a restoration and accuse erano rivolte soprattutto a chi, per differenziarsi modo di progettare, come per esempio Francesco Vene- (Mirò, Leger) and what he didn’t like (Pol- to add warmth to their architecture through tural self-consciousness renders his house addition by the British architect John Paw- lock) and it was one area where he and his art. By 1957 Bunshaft had begun work on distinctive. For while Mies and Johnson ide- son, never completed, but when questions dai padri e dai fratelli maggiori, faceva un uso indiscrimi- zia con gli eleganti interventi urbani per la piazza di Lauro wife, Nina, collaborated. “My wife and I never designs for the downtown tower for Chase alized the modern glass box, made walls to of sightlines and access to the water turned nato della memoria storica, un processo visto come «in- e Oswald Mathias Ungers con le ricerche sull’autonomia buy anything without both of us agreeing Manhattan (1961) where he played a key role disappear (or reflect nature) and effectively ugly, Stewart transferred ownership to her tenzionalmente negato al progresso». Il dibattito che del linguaggio nei progetti per il museo del Castello we should have it.”1 Advocating for art in the –perhaps the key role– in convincing Da- eliminated the place of art, Bunshaft’s way daughter who ultimately sold the house to coinvolse i maggiori intellettuali e architetti italiani –tra Morsbroich a Leverkusen o per la Karlsburg Hochschule buildings he designed was a natural exten- vid Rockefeller to mix modern abstract and was different. For him, art was a an essential the textile magnate, Donald Maharam for sion of that personal love –and it was good primitive art in the offices.8 The Chase Tower partner for architecture; the walls not just $9.4 million.15 Maharam demolished the questi Vittorio Gregotti e Luciano Semerani su «La Re- a Brema; oppure come dialogavano le raffinate citazioni business as well. He not only knew good art, formed the greatest and most heavily publi- something to be seen-through or idealized, house in July 2004. The Manhattan House pubblica», Manfredo Tafuri e Cesare de Seta su «Paese del funzionalismo russo di Koolhaas e Zenghelis nel pro- he knew where to put it for the greatest ef- cized of SOM’s uses of art.9 but something to bring together art and na- apartment, of course, had long been disas- Sera», Francesco Dal Co su «Il Manifesto», Renato De Fu- getto per l’ampliamento della Camera dei deputati a L’Aja, fect.2 Shortly thereafter, in the winter of 1962, ture. Bunshaft also rejected Wright’s delu- sembled, its contents dispersed. Born in 1909, Gordon Bunshaft grew up Bunshaft began the design of a weekend sion that building could be indistinguishable All that remains today of Bunshaft’s resi- sco su «Il Messaggero», Marzo Dezzi Bardeschi su «Do- con le dissacranti proposte di per alcuni ne- along Lake Erie, in the industrial town of house at East Hampton on Long Island, from nature (whereas everyone knows that dences is the old family house on Man- mus», Andrea Branzi su «Modo» e molti altri– riguardò an- gozi di Vienna, o di Allan Greenberg e di Robert Stern per Buffalo, New York, when the city was a thriv- a space that elaborated on the modest architecture and nature are not the same chester Place in Buffalo, NY where he built che il processo di crisi del pensiero, soprattutto politico, i supermercati Best. ing commercial center. His father was an expression of artistic taste at Manhattan thing). Architecture was architecture. Art his basement woodshop creating there his delle nuove generazioni. Bruno Zevi, il più appassionato Ma più di ogni altra cosa, Szacka avrebbe potuto egg wholesaler and his mother a housewife. House. This weekend house was a true resi- was art. Nature was nature. Only the most first imaginative world out of solid materials Together with his sister Pauline they lived dential gallery, known especially through the talented designer could give them their –and his grave in the Temple Beth-El Cem- dei critici, si scagliò –non solo dalle pagine de «L’Espres- meglio evidenziare la complessità di un momento storico on 55 Manchester Place, a tightly packed portfolio of photographs by Ezra Stoller.10 It own properties and yet still combine them etery in Cheektowoga, NY, outside of Buf- so»– contro la simmetria, “cancro insopportabile”, di un’e- in cui si affermava la policromia come linguaggio (nei ri- street of two-and-a-half story early twen- was a place where he and Nina worked over together making a composition that was falo, where Bunshaft is buried along with his sperienza «retriva, vile e scandalosa», frutto delle «distor- cordi di molti visitatori il predominio dei colori fu folgo- english tieth century houses.3 It was a respectable weekends and where they could entertain truly more than the sum of its parts. It is not immediate family. The Hebrew reads simply: sioni di una decina di persone psicotiche o depravate», rante), l’ornamento non più bollato come anti-moderno, neighborhood of small businessmen, white- visitors and revive their own spirits. It was a just that Bunshaft wanted “to control every “Gordon ben David.” (Gordon Son of David.) texts collar workers, and mid-level managers –a house of many names –the house at Geor- detail,” as Goldberger wrote (where is the ar- Topped with a modernist stone, presumably nonché contro il post-modern, «infezione repellente nata- il citazionismo considerato non più unicamente un gioco middle class streetcar suburb in a city that gica Pond, Travertine House, or just simply, chitect who doesn’t?), it is that he wanted to of his own design (since there is no other morta, riemersa nella sciagurata Strada “senilissima”»14. intellettualistico, e soprattutto l’ironia e la metafora qua- was predominately working class. For some- the Bunshaft Residence. combine art, architecture, and nature giving stone like it in the cemetery), it is a haunt- Tuttavia, Portoghesi considerò più duro l’attacco prove- li figure retoriche utili non solo all’interpretazione critica one poor at school, who had difficulty read- The house was simple in form: a box 30.48 each its identity and yet have them interact ing recollection of many of the principles for ing, and trouble socializing (“I don’t think I meters (100 feet) x 7.92 meters (26 feet). symbiotically. How else could the home be which he fought during his lifetime. niente dagli esponenti del Gruppo 63, pur ritenendoli pre- ma come elementi decifrabili in luoghi quotidiani e in og- kissed a girl until I was about twenty-two”), There was a central living room running the a place for imaginative refuge? This triple cursori del post-modernismo, e che ora rifiutavano i pro- getti banali. In tal senso, la presenza impeccabile dell’“e- the world of form and craft was a happier depth of the house (from north to south) and emphasis (art, architecture, and nature) was Notes dotti post-moderni o iper-moderni con l’arma dell’ironia. logio del banale”, con il design irriverente e geniale di place. In the basement of his parents’ house with a master bedroom and bathroom at one also –and here was the other side of this 1 Oral History of Gordon Bunshaft, inter- Purtroppo, il volume di Szacka chiarisce solo in parte Alessandro Mendini e di Paola Navone, Daniela Puppa, the young Bunshaft set up a workshop and end (east) and a kitchen, guest bedroom and complex personality– a shrewd design op- viewed by Betty J. Blum, Chicago: Art Insti- made furniture “evenings and weekends.”4 It studio at the other (west). The living room portunity that he exploited at Chase, at the tute, 1990, p. 209 and p. 208. On Bunshaft’s questi aspetti, sintetizzando scolasticamente le posizioni Franco Raggi, con lo Studio Alchymia, va letta non tanto was his passion. faced south out towards Georgica Pond and Banque Lambert, (1962), and else- congenial relations with artists, see Nicholas culturali e le dinamiche che innescarono tali dibattiti, che come volontà di edonismo mescolato con il gusto della For an architect who did not generally de- the entire house was raised on an artificial where where he had sympathetic patrons. At Adams, “Gordon Bunshaft: What Convinces avevano al centro della discussione l’architettura come citazione, quanto piuttosto come esigenza di creatività e sign houses, his own mattered a great deal stylobate, a six-foot earthen foundation that the end of 1962, when is Conviction,” SOM Journal 9 (2014), 8–19. to him. Just as he had made cabinets and gently lifted the house above the hazards profiled the interest of business in using 2 On efforts to humanize the corporation linguaggio, nonché la necessità di “teorie del moderno” e immaginazione. E a ben vedere, la cosiddetta estetica beds in the basement of the family home on of flooding. The roof structure was made art, Bunshaft was an important source.14 His through art, see Roland Marchand, Creating di “significati in architettura”, oltre che i procedimenti ba- del banale come “presa di coscienza” del quotidiano –ri- Manchester Place, reconfiguring sections from pre-stressed concrete beams form- houses (with their art) became an effective the Corporate Soul: The Rise of Public Rela- silari dell’arte contemporanea, riconducibili alle cosiddet- scontrabile anche nel dipinto La città banale di Arduino of the house to reflect his taste, the houses ing a double T under the roof. The structural way to sell his vision of architecture even tions and Corporate Imagery in American Big te distorsioni formali (per intenderci alla “mossa del ca- Cantafora posto all’ingresso della mostra– fu davvero he inhabited as an adult became stage beams were exposed on the inside and met to clients who were not initially disposed to Business (Berkeley: University of California ˇ sets for his own imaginative world. Like so plate glass clerestory windows forming a follow him. At the American Republic Insur- Press, 1998). vallo” di Sklovskij). Inoltre, Szacka trascura di sottolineare una “questione sociale” (un “fatto politico”, si diceva all’e- many architects before him, his homes were crenellated exterior edge. Exposed beams ance Headquarters in Des Moines (1965) 3 I am grateful to Catherine F. Schweitzer, che, dopo la nota Biennale del dissenso del 1977, e so- poca), direttamente legata alla classe media e alla con- demonstrations of his refined artistic taste are, of course, a natural rustic touch in he even persuaded Watson Powell Jr., the executive director of the Baird Foundation, prattutto dopo le visionarie immaginazioni megastruttu- statazione della “non esistenza del proletariato”. Più di –and advertisements for his architecture. weekend house, but these were more in- president of the company to take up collect- Buffalo, NY, who helped me understand In New York City he and Nina moved from dustrial than rural. At either end of the house ing. When Architectural Record published Bunshaft in Buffalo and brought me to visit rali, le proposte a scala territoriale e le “topologie e mor- altri, Mendini e Cantafora capirono che la vera forza Greenwich Village into Manhattan House an extended roof provided shade for private Bunshaft’s East Hampton residence three the sites of his youth as well as to his grave. fogenesi” delle mostre del 1978, dedicate all’Utopia e dell’epoca contemporanea non stava nell’architettura- (1947–51) at 200 East 66th Street, the mod- patios. The interior walls were white-painted years later, profiled as one of its “Record 4 Oral History of Gordon Bunshaft, p. 20. crisi dell’antinatura, apparivano ora in laguna i piccoli pa- fiction, né nel rapporto tra nichilismo e progetto, né tanto ern white brick apartment house he helped plaster echoing the travertine and the floors Houses,” what the editors highlighted was 5 Brad Darrach, “For epicureans, fine art, diglioni, le casette unifamiliari, i complessi residenziali e i meno nella novitas di oggetti eccentrici che rievocavano design. It was a short walk from there to the were sheathed in travertine over a poured- the art collection. “The Bunshaft house is… immaculate forms: an architect and his SOM office on Park Avenue at 56th Street. In in-place concrete slab foundation. a perfect setting for paintings and sculpture wife life among beautiful possessions in a centri commerciali, presenti nei pannelli degli “architetti il passato, ma era per l’appunto nella banalità, da consi- 1958, seven years after moving in (and four The entrance wall on the north face was for- and each piece in the collection is seen to its chaste setting,” –127 117 (1958), pp. 124–127; espositori” allestiti nel mezzanino delle Corderie. Infatti, derarsi come un cavallo di Troia per riappropriarsi sia years after moving to a new apartment in bidding. The architectural critic Paul Gold- full advantage.” Ezra Stoller’s photographs “L’appartement de l’architecte G. Bunshaft, se l’autrice dedica, a ragione, pagine agli architetti della dello spazio sia delle arti. L’evidente «annullamento della the same building), he hired Ezra Stoller to berger visited the house shortly after the captured these effects brilliantly. Still, as the à New York,” L’architecture d’aujourd’hui 6 Strada e alle loro facciate, non riserva però alcuno spazio storia grazie alla sua riduzione a campo di scorrerie visi- photograph the apartment and his growing death of Nina Bunshaft in 1994. “Who but editors of Record put it in their banal journal- (December 1961), pp. 94–95. art collection. Hidden lighting washed the Bunshaft,” he wrote in The New York Times, istic way, the house was also a “comfortable 6 Joan Ockman, “Art, Soul of the Corpora- ai giovani e meno giovani progettisti, appartenenti a dodi- ve», filo rosso dell’intera manifestazione, altro non era walls giving the white apartment something “would build himself a country house with and pleasant home,” with sofas and chairs tion: Patronage, Public Relations, and the ci Paesi differenti, che proponevano soluzioni e casi inte- dunque che parte dell’universo del banale che chiedeva, of the character of a gallery or a museum. a windowless front façade of solid traver- in conversational groupings. It was also Interrelations of Architecture and Art after ressanti, a partire dagli esperimenti sociali degli olandesi almeno per un decennio, solo di ri-disegnare e ri-signifi- He mixed together modern western works tine?”11 The house represented, Goldberger another piece of Bunshaft’s architectural World War II,” SOM Journal 5 (2008), pp. 15 (Léger, Mirò, Giacometti, Dubuffet, Nichol- observed, Bunshaft’s “perfect world” and manifesto. 170–185. Architektengroep VDL (Ben Loerakker, Kees Rijnboutt e care il mondo . son, Bertoia, Calder), with African, Japanese, there was nothing welcoming in the address The dismantling of Bunshaft’s private ar- 7 Henry-Russell Hitchcock, introduction to Mexican, and Etruscan works in an eclectic to the visitor. Indeed not, for past this traver- chitectural vision is one of the many sig- Architecture of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 15 Si veda Elogio del banale, catalogo della mostra L’oggetto manner that SOM adopted later for its office tine skin was the private world of Bunshaft’s nificant losses of the latter part of the 20th 1950-1962 (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 13 P. Portoghesi, Postmodern, cit., p. 48 banale, curato da Barbara Radice con la consulenza per la buildings. For furniture he chose Mies van imagination, a place that brilliantly mixed the century. The painter Robert Motherwell’s 1962), p. 13. 14 B. Zevi, Linguaggi dell’architettura contemporanea, grafica e l’immagine di Michele De Lucchi, Lo studio forma- der Rohe (made from drawings at Knoll be- architectural, the artistic and the natural. home designed by Pierre Chareau (1945), 8 Bunshaft claimed that the idea of purchas- fore the chair was in production), Ward Ben- The house was, as Goldberger went on, an also in East Hampton, was another victim of ing art to place throughout the building was EtasLibri, Torino 1993, p. 8. Alchymia, Torino-Milano 1980. nett, Marcel Breuer, and Eero Saarinen –and “homage to the art of composition.”12 Bun- speculation, demolished in 1985. Peter Ei- his: «My thesis was that employees had Blue there is a standing lamp that might have es- shaft delayed access to that vision further by senman’s House III in Lakeville, Connecticut Cross, Blue Shield, and all those benefits caped from a film by Jacques Tati, balanced bringing visitors into the house off axis and (1971), never made it to the next generation [i.e., health insurance], that it would be nice

96 Biblioteca casabella 877 97 if they had some education on art, aesthet- ition, and philanthropy. The buildings In the new building, Gray Organschi ab- volume over a more conventional archi- ject of study for the school’s sustainabil- care applied by Zumthor, stepping back place and its meaning in the collective wegian village of Roros is one of the best- As on previous occasions, Gjertsen and ics.» Oral History of Gordon Bunshaft, p. 180. they were able to erect over the next dec- sorbed this path into their design and tecture of planes, columns, and punched ity class –a laboratory for learning green from it at times and generally demon- imagination. The mines were discov- conserved examples from the 1600s– the Hanstad called on their friend and men- 9 See, for example: “Chase, portrait of a gi- ade were ad hoc and utilitarian: an ex- shaped it, and this is palpable in the ar- openings. design. strating great respect for nature. Like the ered in 1881 and one year later the Sau- building on stilts has been used in dif- tor Sami Rintala, partner of the studio ant; report on the biggest office building in isting farmhouse adapted for use as an chitecture. From the parking lot, visi- As Gray and Organschi started out in It is suddenly hard not to see a building njalla, the traditional building raised on da Mining Company was already remov- ferent ways in the history of architec- Rintala Eggertsson Architects. Their pro- Manhattan in 25 years,” Architectural Forum educational building, an inexpensive tors pass under a low eave into an airy the 1980s and 1990s, Kenneth Framp- like Common Ground in light of Ameri- a log, or the pile dwellings of fishermen ing ore particularly rich in zinc; starting ture, including experiments in the 20th fessor in the past and collegue today 115 (July 1961), pp. 66-95. classroom building, and a smattering gymnasium. They are then drawn across ton’s framing of postmodern criticality ca’s recent discouraging political trans- typical of the Lofoten islands, raised over in 1884, a road reached the mines to sim- century. One of the authors who inter- on the faculty of Norges Teknisk-Natur- 10 The house was published in Architectural of other structures surrounding the gar- the space, up an open stair, turned, and as something autochthonous, grounded, formations. The project was finished the terrain “on tiptoe,” almost as if to plify transport. Several hundred people preted this typology with the most orig- vitenskapelige Universitet in Trond- Record: Record Houses (Mid-May 1966), pp. dens that students and volunteers eked led across an outdoor bridge to the old and tectonic was in the air. At the Yale before the 2016 election and the new ad- avoid altering its balance, both the pro- worked here over a period of 15 years of inal results is John Hejduk, one of the heim, Rintala was the first to introduce 40–45 out of the woods by felling trees and re- classroom building, whose entrance School of Architecture, where they both ministration’s withdrawal from the Par- jects shown here share a sober, discreet activity, until the closing in 1899. They “Texas Rangers” of the University of Tex- at the school, where he has taught since 11 Paul Goldberger, “Design Notebook: Rare moving several tons of illegally dumped was adapted to address the new path- studied, there was a commitment to is Agreement, so it was not conceived in approach, which while clearly belonging mined a total of 12,000 tons of zinc. as School of Architecture in Austin, em- 2005, the practice of traveling workshops Glimpse of a Private Sanctum,” New York refuse. The campus’s architectural quali- way. In this way, the architecture has a hands-on learning, especially in the Yale response to these sorts of events. It feels to the present creates an indelible path of Though the mine and its workers, also ployed at Cooper Union in the 1960s, the of design and construction, education- Times, 30 June 1994. ty was not a priority; students and camp- spatial infrastructure: the materials and Building Project, a program in which unfair to link, even rhetorically, a hope- continuity with the past. from distant regions, were never real- period in which Peter Zumthor was also al activities like seminars that have pro- 12 Goldberger, “Design Notebook,” New ers spent most of their time outdoors program are organized by the path that first-year students design and build a ful institution like Common Ground ly connected with the life of the inhabit- in New York, at Pratt Institute. The ac- duced and produce works of limited size York Times, 30 June 1994. cultivating the land, hiking up West flows up and through the building and project in New Haven. This approach to with Washington’s ugly and fraught dis- ants of the nearby villages, the place still cess staircase of the buildings at Sau- but far from banal in nature, like the li- 13 Later the Bunshafts added other sculp- Rock, and caring for chickens, pigs, and across the bridge. The building draws teaching architecture produced many course. But Common Ground, which page 60 has a strong meaning for the local resi- da takes advantage of this familiarity, brary for the Safe Haven orphanage in ture including Joan Miró’s Moonbird and goats. its surroundings into itself, in a fash- graduates interested in working in small grew from the persistent work of a few Visitors’ center and museum of the dents, partly due to the landscape con- with a massive character that reminds Thailand (2009). These are site-specif- Henry Moore’s “Reclining Figure: Arch Leg,” Into this cultural, historical, and physi- ion reminiscent of Martin Heidegger’s design/build practices rather than larger, local citizens in one small American city, Allmannajuvet zinc mines, Sauda, text, and partly due to the difficult, risky us of certain experiments of the Ameri- ic projects where the design process is the latter, enclosed by hedges created an cal context came Gray Organschi Archi- writing about the bridge over the Riv- more corporate firms. Gray and Organ- shows that when people care to exercise Norway 2016 existence of the miners on these moun- can architect in his books Mask of Medu- closely intertwined with the implemen- outdoor room beyond the master bedroom. tecture, a New Haven-based practice led er Neckar in Heidelberg: “… the place schi are also natives of New England, the it, political and cultural power still re- Francesca Chiorino tains. All this led the National Routes sa (New York, 1987) and Vladivostok (New tation, in which knowledge and tradi- 14 William M. Freeman, “Business and Fi- by Lisa Gray and Alan Organschi. Re- comes into existence only by virtue of oldest region of the United States. It is a sides with them. It is surely a hopeful commission to consider, from the end York, 1989). tions establish a dialogue, and the re- nancial World Shows a Rising Interest in Ap- sponding to a public call for architects, the bridge.” Gray Organschi’s building place filled with wood buildings, and one sign that Common Ground sees vision- In the space containing the Mining Café of the last century, inclusion of the old Apart from similarities, what we should sources utilized are almost always local. proach to Art, New York Times, 29 Decem- they found themselves in competition has the same sort of impact on Com- that maintains a commitment to craft ary architecture as a meaningful way to –part of the project by Peter Zumthor for mines and the road in the program of emphasize in this article is the outcome With the help of a large group of stu- ber 1963. with a series of well-meaning but con- mon Ground’s campus –it defines and unique in America, especially woodwork- embody their values. the museum of the zinc mines of Sauda, national projects. Peter Zumthor, one of an overall project that sets out to pro- dents of NTNU, the job began with a pre- 15 Stewart evidently reused the flooring ventional proposals for the new school organizes it. ing. (The popular television series This to the southwest of the Norwegian coast– of the few foreign architects involved in vide effective solutions on different lev- liminary survey of the terrain with a la- from Bunshaft’s house for her new kitchen building, which was to house a gymna- While the circulation pathway is the Old House, which focuses on renovating visitors can purchase simple meals in the program, who had already done a els. The project for Sauda, unlike many ser scanner. The resulting 3d model was at her estate in Bedford, New York. The sium, science and art classrooms, and building’s spatial structure, access to nineteenth-century houses, is based in page 57 tune with the diet of the minors, but project for the Varanger route in the ex- of those for the national routes of Nor- used to devise a strategy of division and precise nature of the exchanges between staff offices. light and air give it volume and form. New England. In fact, they once devoted Among the wrinkles of the landscape also hats, scarves, footwear, very nice- treme north of the nation, was chosen way, provides a tourist attraction while arrangement of the volumes in a log- Bunshaft and the Museum (could he have In a limited way, the competitors’ From the street, the building has the an episode to the Yale Building Project, Francesca Chiorino ly made, simultaneously rugged and re- for the job. at the same time managing to bring out ic of practically monofunctional sepa- expected the house to be preserved?) and schemes’ lack of vision was reasonable. saw-tooth forms common to nineteenth- for which Organschi serves as Studio Co- fined. It appears that some of the local About six hours by car from Oslo, Sau- and conserve the culture and therefore ration, to preserve the site and the view. the Museum and Stewart (where there was, Common Ground had a modest budg- century industrial buildings: three an- ordinator.) The attempt to compare the projects women, inspired by a legendary woman da is located at the bottom of a fjord and the memory of those who worked here, The residential program was broken apparently, an understanding that the house et, and the American construction mar- gled skylights open to the north, provid- But while they are products of their im- of Peter Zumthor and TYIN tegnestue/ miner famous for her physical strength, can also be reached by ship from Stavan- at times losing their lives in the process. down into a cluster of nine small pavil- would be preserved) have never been pub- ket rewards conformity. The most inex- ing northern light, shade from the hot mediate surroundings, their success Rintala Eggertsson goes beyond mere ge- have set up this businesses using only ger. From Sauda one reaches the muse- Furthermore, the successful tact of the ions, grouped on the coast in proximi- licized. Without its art there is no question pensive building would be a simple steel southern sun, and optimized surfaces for and worldview have led them to connect ographical considerations, which make local raw materials. Before defining the um, with its sequence of buildings, after project leaves the wild nature of the gul- ty but at different levels along an ascent that the house had little of its original magic. frame finished with widely-available ma- photovoltaic panels. The skylights have with like-minded practices around the them part –though at two very different list of products for sale in the cafe, they a few kilometers. The first building is a lies completely intact. Finally, the partic- formed by a wooden walkway. The struc- terials and standard details. Green ele- operable windows that allow the warm world. They have become close to the re- latitudes –of the nation of Norway. made expeditions to Haldenstein, the service unit perched at the top of a wall ipation, though on a small scale, of lo- ture of the basic units is also almost en- ments could be applied to the surface air that rises through the building to es- nowned Australian architect Glenn Mur- Before grasping certain affinities, it is in- Swiss village that is the location of the fa- with a height of 18 meters, overlooking cal businesswomen who make products tirely in wood, deliberately reversible, for page 43 and be only skin deep –an approach to cape, reducing the heating load in the cutt, whose work, like theirs, is ground- teresting to look at the differences as mous studio of the architect, to hear his the valley, in the place where the ore was with a quality consistent with that of the a sequence on the slope that starts from Common Ground High School, sustainable design sometimes derisively cooling season. Facing the parking area ed locally but resonant internationally. well. In this regard, TYIN tegnestue and views on the most suitable assortment. washed. The coexistence of such an im- project helps to bridge the inevitable gap a dock for boats. The first structure one New Haven, Connecticut, USA. Gray called “green-dressing.” and the campus, the massing becomes Other touchstones for Gray Organschi Rintala Eggertsson demonstrate a partic- This may seem like an unimportant de- posing stone wall and the wooden build- between the community and the new ar- encounters contains the sauna. Behind Organschi Architecture Gray Organschi thought different- more complex and human-scaled. Exte- are Peter Zumthor, Alvaro Siza, and, per- ular ability based on years of experimen- tail, but it opens the way to two differ- ing, with its overhang supported by brac- chitectural object, while contributing it, an existing waiting room for ferries Ted Whitten ly. Much of the energy used by a build- rior walkways pass under low eaves, and haps most of all, Alvar Aalto. Here again, tation to directly engage with students, ent interpretations. On the one hand es, also in wood, brings medieval castles to create local micro-economies for the has been converted as a lodge for guides ing is embodied in its materials and the upper story projects out to meet the Frampton’s perspectives are resonant, actively involving them in the process the architect’s involvement in this mat- and lookout towers to mind, images that benefit of residents. and guests. Next come four boxy dou- When the Common Ground High spent during construction. Sustainabil- new bridge. The projection is held aloft specifically his essayTowards a Critical of design and implementation. Peter ter seems to go beyond his field of exper- are immediately banished by the eleva- ble rooms, two of which are wider, with School, Urban Farm, and Environmen- ity is not just a matter of reducing ener- by clusters of angled “pencil columns” Regionalism: Six Points for an Architec- Zumthor, whose atelier includes young tise, and might seem like an obsession tion on the parking area, where a sheet paired beds, and two of which are tall- tal Education Center in New Haven, Con- gy used by the building once it’s built, it reminiscent of Aalto’s Villa Mairea, and ture of Resistance. To resist the under- international staffers, on the other hand, with control; on the other, however, it of zinc on the wall explains the position- page 78 er and narrower, with a loft and a system necticut issued a request-for-proposals is also about what goes into producing it is topped by an expressive chimney tow of what he calls “universal civiliza- is quite monolithic when it comes to the helps us to understand the approach be- ing of the facilities, with a clear contem- Notes in the landscape of stacked beds. Continuing the climb, for a new building, it was the culmina- and transporting the building’s materi- concealing ductwork for the chemistry tion” –the homogenizing forces of global role of students, remaining within aca- hind this project commissioned in 2003 porary graphic approach. Marco Biagi one reaches the music room and the din- tion of nearly thirty years of grassroots als. With a thoughtful approach to mass- classrooms. development that inveigh against au- demic contexts. The absolute logical co- directly by the Norwegian agency that «The possibility of designing construc- ing room, parallel and staggered to free work to develop a place for urban fami- ing and form, the building could passive- Gray Organschi collaborated with the thentic expression– architects must en- herence of the project and the appropri- oversees the National Tourist Routes. tions that over time enter into such a Musicians looking for peace and inspi- up the visuals. Both are clad in Kebony lies to engage with the natural environ- ly help to light, heat, and cool itself. Why timber-framing company Bensonwood gage with the “particular peculiarities ate character of every decision Zumthor For more clues about this second inter- natural symbiosis with the contours ration, nature lovers, or those in search shingles made from the scraps from the ment. Starting with a few teachers, envi- not take a broader view of green build- and Quebec-based Nordic Structures to of [their] place” without resorting to an is able to express also in this work is a pretation, we suggest that readers enter and history of their site is exciting» – of a regenerating break from the ten- construction of the other buildings: a so- ronmentalists, concerned citizens, and ing with this project, they asked? And make Common Ground a “mass timber” empty imitation of vernacular styles. goal that the Norwegian grouping cannot the next building, containing the Mining Zumthor wrote in 2003. The project for sion of city life, can rely on a special re- lution dictated not only by the desire to philanthropists in the late 1980s, Com- why not create a building that expresses building. The structure consists of sus- What emerges is a series of local mod- and perhaps does not want to achieve. So Gallery, a small museum on the histo- Sauda narrates precisely this. Stating the treat in Northern Europe, to rent for reduce waste, but also by the need to op- mon Ground grew steadily to include a the visionary –yet local and sustainable– tainably produced glue-laminated and ernisms that are distinct from one an- we are looking at an extremely lucid and ry of the mines, to look at the six big vol- fact that they belong to the present, the short stays from July to October. The timize construction management in a public high school with 200 students, a mission of Common Ground? cross-laminated timber, in lieu of steel, other but similar in their aspirations, self-contained project, on one side, and umes that are arranged in order on one buildings also establish a relationship place was invented and funded near his situation where one of the biggest chal- farm producing thousands of pounds Over the last few decades, Gray Organ- and the walls and roof are SIPs –pre-fab- and therefore resonant with one another a “dirtier” shared project on the other. In of the display surfaces. The four central with the territory, as if they were integral home by the Norwegian jazz composer lenges was that of logistics. At the top of sustainably-grown food per year, and schi Architecture has developed an im- ricated structural insulated panels. Af- and as a group. both cases, however, the results are ex- books, two in Norwegian and two trans- parts of it, without creating breaks, while Håvard Lund, born in the town of Gild- stands a room for meditation overlook- a roster of summer camps, afterschool pressive portfolio of projects, much of ter an exacting design process, the walls For Gray Organschi and others, sustain- traordinary. lated into English, report on the history suggesting other figure that are all per- eskål, in the county of Nordland. The ing the sea, inspired by the traditional programs, and community events that which has been published, and the work and structure were delivered like a kit-of- able design is central to their vision of In this context the natural setting of Nor- of the mines and geology. The first book, fectly pertinent to the place. The path on remote site is one of over 300 small is- njalla used by the Lapps to protect vict- draws nearly 15,000 people a year. shows the presence of a clear and con- parts and erected in just a few weeks (al- critical practice. Organschi speaks poeti- way plays a far from marginal role. The instead, a large black volume with the ti- foot starts precisely at the parking area lands in the Fleinvær archipelago. The is- uals from wild animals. Like them, the New Haven is in many ways a typical sistent hand. While Common Ground though the wiring, plumbing, and finish- cally of the deep ways in which Common country’s administrators, aware of this tle etched on the cardboard, is an anthol- in front of the service building. A stone lands, reached from Bodø by ferry in 35 tiny building with a metal exoskeleton New England city, characterized by fast is among the firm’s largest buildings ing continued for the standard length of Ground engages with its environment. special factor, launched a program in ogy in the original languages of dozens staircase rises to reach the volume that minutes, are above the Arctic Circle and is raised on a single steel pillar. All the growth in the late-nineteenth and ear- and is its first public commission, it time). The Common Ground communi- “There are two solar energy systems at 1994 called National Tourist Routes in of literary excerpts from different eras, contains the cafe, and then the path con- mostly deserted. The six largest host a other artifacts are set on wooden decks ly-twentieth centuries, followed by eco- fits well with the rest of the work, show- ty watched in surprise as the long-await- work at Common Ground. The first is Norway, a selection of 18 roads select- all set underground. The last –whose tinues along the gully, leading on the permanent population of 30 persons, raised from the ground by girders with nomic decline in the second half of the ing that the firm’s approach to design ed building rose suddenly from its foun- photovoltaic –the solar electric ener- ed for their landscape interest and en- cover shows the project by Zumthor for left to the small museum that hosts the which gets boosted considerably in the a slope of 15° to perfectly match the to- twentieth century as industry left and can succeed at multiple scales. Gray Or- dation. gy generation system that is part of the hanced by hundreds of constructed in- Sauda covered with snow– is a book of books described above, and two display summer, and thrives on fishing and live- pography. The project evolved as an open suburbs grew. Left behind were an eco- ganschi started as a design/build prac- The components of mass timber con- package of renewable energy technolo- terventions (some already published in white pages to indicate the start of a new cases: one for the metal tools used by stock. The landscape is flat rocky tundra, process, influenced by the crucial con- nomically and culturally diverse popu- tice, and they still maintain a full wood- struction give the building much of its gy that is essential to the building’s ef- «Casabella»). By 2024 there will be 250 story. The copyright confirms our suspi- the miners, the other for historical doc- swept by wind and snow, covered with tributions of the students from Trond- lation and a sagging built environment. shop and produce some of the finish material character. Many of the walls ficient operation. The second system such projects. A grand undertaking in- cion that again in this case the architect uments. scattered vegetation of shrubs, moss and heim and some volunteer profession- Two things distinguish New Haven from carpentry and furniture for their build- double as structural members –vertical is less commonly considered as manu- volving over 60 architecture firms, most- has played a precise role. The publishing The two main volumes of the cafe and lichen. There are about 50 houses in all, als. Many elements were made directly other New England cities, however: the ings, including Common Ground. This panels of cross-laminated timber that facturing energy but is as old as life on ly from Norway. Peter Zumthor, though project, in fact, is by Peter Zumthor with the museum are distanced from the a school, a fish market, but no shops or at the site; others were prefabricated and presence of , which oc- attention to craft is clear in their build- serve both as shear walls and partitions. earth. Photosynthesis, the biochemi- a foreigner, is not new to this program, the artist and curator of the projects for ground by metal plates attached to the cars. The majestic Lofoten mountain transported by ship or helicopter. The cupies about half of the central city, ings’ sophisticated resolution of mate- Their surfaces, made up of sanded and cal process in which plants absorb CO2 and prior to the project for the Ryfylke the Norwegian routes, Knut Wold. «De- rock, from which a lamellar pine struc- range can be seen in the distance. ongoing presence of the designers at the and East Rock and West Rock, a pair of rial and formal junctions. According to bleached spruce boards, are very refined, and water to synthesize carbohydrates national route, including the mining mu- tails, when they are successful, are not ture rises, coated with protective cre- Such an extraordinary context called site made it almost unnecessary to pre- 700-foot-tall traprock promontories that Gray, however, it is the firm’s capacity to belying their structural nature. Where (plant cells) and oxygen is what makes seum at Sauda shown here, in 2011 with mere decoration. They do not distract or osote, with metal joints in galvanized for a remarkable design approach. to pare drawings. The physical plant sys- form a surprising geological backdrop work with difficult sites that really distin- their edges are visible, the laminations of the plants [in Common Ground’s gar- the artist Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010) he entertain. They lead to an understand- steel. The roof is made with galvanized make the refuge he had in mind since tems are basic, with electric heating as to the city. guishes it. While Common Ground was structural boards are left exposed, reveal- dens] grow. It also generates the biogenic completed the memorial monument for ing of the whole of which they are an in- corrugated sheets, and the dark box- 2004, Lund turned to Andreas Grøntvedt is quite common in Norway. For several In 1990, the city granted Common asking for a building, it became clear to ing the wall’s dual purposes. In a simi- material that forms the building’s prima- 91 victims of witch trials, located beyond herent part» (P. Zumthor, Thinking Archi- es are in pine plywood covered inside Gjertsen and Yashar Hanstad, the young weeks each year the refuge is offered free Ground 20 acres of woodland at the base Gray Organschi that they needed a cam- lar spirit, the building’s details are clean ry structure, thermal envelope, and fin- the Arctic Circle. tecture, 1998). It is useful to grasp this and out by special resin (PMMA) placed founders of the studio TYIN tegnes- of charge to groups of musicians by re- of West Rock –a bucolic site, but just a pus, and the siting, form, and function and minimal. Floors, walls, and ceilings ished surfaces. [This realizes] the prem- The Fleinvær archipelago that hosts the concept in order to get in tune with what on a jute vegetable fiber screen, a tech- tue, based at Trondheim, internationally quest. The applications are evaluated by few hundred yards from rundown and of the new building could be leveraged meet without trim. Vertical corner joints ise that the built environment… might buildings and music studios by TYIN Peter Zumthor calls “the essential nu- nique already used for the exterior walls known for social and humanitarian pro- a committee of three experts, chaired by partially vacant public housing pro- to create one. are mitered, and wall materials extend become a critical means of mitigating tegnestue and Rintala Eggertsson, too cleus” of his projects, and to understand of the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion (Lon- jects involving participation and techno- Lund himself, based on one condition: jects. Despite its early success, Common The existing campus’s main circulation over the edges of floors and ceilings, climate change.” Common Ground’s stu- remote to be reached by the national what he wanted to transmit in this one. don, 2011). logical experimentation, developed in the results achieved have to be shared Ground subsisted on a limited budget of path led from the gravel parking lot to leaving them unexpressed on the eleva- dents and faculty certainly agree. Since routes, nevertheless establishes a rela- Let’s look at the whole process, which While the wooden building suggests the Southeast Asia since 2008 (see «Casabel- with other artists residing on the island, public grants, school funding, camp tu- the old classroom building up the hill. tions. The result is to privilege mass and opening, the building has become an ob- tionship with the territory with the same starts precisely with the history of this mining settlements –of which the Nor- la», no. 784, 793 and 821). with a concert or a public lecture.

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