27/6/2020 Handbook of Research on Emerging Digital Tools for Architectural Surveying, Modeling, and Representation | IGI Global

Handbook of Research on Emerging Digital Tools for Architectural

Surveying, Modeling, and Representation
Stefano Brusaporci (University of L’Aquila, Italy)
Copyright: © 2015
Pages: 829
ISBN13: 9781466683792ISBN10: 1466683791EISBN13: 9781466683808
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8379-2

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Technological revolutions have changed the field of architecture exponentially. The advent of new technologies and digital tools will
continue to advance the work of architects globally, aiding in architectural design, planning, implementation, and restoration.

The Handbook of Research on Emerging Digital Tools for Architectural Surveying, Modeling, and Representation presents
expansive coverage on the latest trends and digital solutions being applied to architectural heritage. Spanning two volumes of
research-based content, this publication is an all-encompassing reference source for scholars, IT professionals, engineers, architects,
and business managers interested in current methodologies, concepts, and instruments being used in the field of architecture.

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Table of Contents

Foreword ............................................................................................................................................ xxii

Preface .............................................................................................................................................. xxvii

Volume I
Chapter 1
Color Acquisition, Management, Rendering, and Assessment in 3D Reality-Based Models
Construction ............................................................................................................................................ 1
Marco Gaiani, Università di Bologna, Italy

Chapter 2
The Surveying and Representation Process Applied to Architecture: Non-Contact Methods for the
Documentation of Cultural Heritage..................................................................................................... 44
Carlo Bianchini, Sapienza University of Roma, Italy
Alfonso Ippolito, Sapienza University of Roma, Italy
Cristiana Bartolomei, University of Bologna, Italy

Chapter 3
On Visual Computing for Architectural Heritage ................................................................................. 94
Stefano Brusaporci, L’Aquila University, Italy

Chapter 4
Digital Photogrammetry and Structure from Motion for Architectural Heritage: Comparison and
Integration between Procedures .......................................................................................................... 124
Elena Ippoliti, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Alessandra Meschini, University of Camerino, Italy
Filippo Sicuranza, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

Chapter 5
Comparative Study of Graphic Representation Methods on Architectural Heritage .......................... 182
José Teodoro Garfella, Universitat Jaume I, Spain
María Jesús Máñez, Universitat Jaume I, Spain
Joaquín Ángel Martínez, Universitat Jaume I, Spain


Chapter 6
Shape and Geometry in the Integrated Digital Survey ....................................................................... 210
Leonardo Paris, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

Chapter 7
Historic Building Information Modelling (HBIM) ............................................................................. 233
Conor Dore, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland
Maurice Murphy, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland

Chapter 8
BIM and Interoperability for Cultural Heritage through ICT ............................................................. 274
Anna Osello, Politecnico di Torino (DISEG and DAUIN), Italy
Andrea Acquaviva, Politecnico di Torino (DISEG and DAUIN), Italy
Daniele Dalmasso, Politecnico di Torino (DISEG and DAUIN), Italy
David Erba, Politecnico di Torino (DISEG and DAUIN), Italy
Matteo Del Giudice, Politecnico di Torino (DISEG and DAUIN), Italy
Enrico Macii, Politecnico di Torino (DISEG and DAUIN), Italy
Edoardo Patti, Politecnico di Torino (DISEG and DAUIN), Italy

Chapter 9
Semantic Representation of Accurate Surveys for the Cultural Heritage: BIM Applied to the
Existing Domain ................................................................................................................................. 292
Simone Garagnani, University of Bologna, Italy

Chapter 10
The SIArch-Univaq: An Architectural Information System for Cultural Heritage............................. 311
Romolo Continenza, University of L’Aquila, Italy
Ilaria Trizio, ITC-CNR, Construction Technologies Institute, Italian National Research
Council, Italy

Chapter 11
Integrated Multi-Scalar Approach for 3D Cultural Heritage Acquisitions ......................................... 337
Michele Russo, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Anna Maria Manferdini, University of Bologna, Italy

Chapter 12
A Possible Method for 3D Photo Scanning Speed Survey: The Case Study of the Bridge of Saint
Angelo above Auso ............................................................................................................................. 361
Davide Barbato, Università degli studi di Salerno, Italy

Chapter 13
The Advantages of Using Laser Scanners in Surveying in Protected Sites: A Case Study in
Historical Peninsula in Istanbul .......................................................................................................... 382
Gülhan Benli, Istanbul Medipol University, Turkey
 

Chapter 14
Digital Tools for Urban and Architectural Heritage ........................................................................... 403
Michela Cigola, University of Cassino and South Latium, Italy

Volume II
Chapter 15
Cities over Space and Time: Historical GIS for Urban History.......................................................... 425
Alessandra Ferrighi, Università Iuav di Venezia, Italy

Chapter 16
Communication, Technology, and Digital Culture for the Conservation and Enhancement of the
Architectural Heritage ......................................................................................................................... 446
Francesca Fatta, Mediterranea University of di Reggio Calabria, Italy

Chapter 17
Digital Reconstruction of Demolished Architectural Masterpieces, 3D Modeling, and Animation:
The Case Study of Turin Horse Racing by Mollino ........................................................................... 476
Roberta Spallone, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Chapter 18
Female Architecture: Unbuilt Digital Archive .................................................................................... 510
Alice Franchina, University of Palermo, Italy
Francesco Maggio, University of Palermo, Italy
Starlight Vattano, University of Palermo, Italy

Chapter 19
The Image of Historic Urban Landscapes: Representation Codes ..................................................... 550
Giuseppe Amoruso, Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Chapter 20
A New Cloud Library for Integrated Surveys: The Ancient Via Flaminia and the Nextone Project.. 579
Paolo Clini, Polytechnic University of Marche, Italy
Ramona Quattrini, Polytechnic University of Marche, Italy
Emanuele Frontoni, Polytechnic University of Marche, Italy
Romina Nespeca, Polytechnic University of Marche, Italy

Chapter 21
A Virtual Journey through 2D and 3D Elaborations Recorded with Range-Based and Image-
Based Method: The Experience of Vitelleschi Palace in Tarquinia.................................................... 607
Mariella La Mantia, La Sapienza, Università di Roma, Italy


Chapter 22
Understanding and Conserving Fortified and Difficult to Access Architectures through Digital
Survey: A Case History in Southern Sicily......................................................................................... 654
Mariateresa Galizia, University of Catania, Italy
Alessandro Lo Faro, University of Catania, Italy
Cettina Santagati, University of Catania, Italy

Chapter 23
3D Reconstruction for the Interpretation of Partly Lost or Never Accomplished Architectural
Heritage ............................................................................................................................................... 686
Paola Casu, University of Cagliari, Italy
Claudia Pisu, University of Cagliari, Italy

Chapter 24
Using Advanced Approaches in Urban Design Researches: A Mutation from 3D Digital Models
to Virtual Reality................................................................................................................................. 722
Amir Shakibamanesh, Tehran Art University, Iran
Mahshid Ghorbanian, Tehran Art University, Iran

Chapter 25
Integrated Methodologies for the Study and Documentation of the Architectural and
Archaeological Heritage: The Treasury of Petra in Jordan................................................................. 751
Emanuela Chiavoni, Università Sapienza Roma, Italy

Chapter 26
The Landscape Cultural Construction: A Recognition of the Roman Tradition ................................ 788
Isabel Sousa Rosa, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Joana C. Lopes, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Ricardo J. Ribeiro, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Chapter 27
Digital and Mechatronic Technologies Applied to the Survey of Brownfields .................................. 813
Assunta Pelliccio, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Italy
Erika Ottaviano, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Italy
Pierluigi Rea, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Italy

Compilation of References ............................................................................................................xxxiii

About the Contributors ................................................................................................................... lxxv

Index .................................................................................................................................................... xci

510

Chapter 18
Female Architecture:
Unbuilt Digital Archive

Alice Franchina
University of Palermo, Italy

Francesco Maggio
University of Palermo, Italy

Starlight Vattano
University of Palermo, Italy

ABSTRACT
The objective of this study is that one, starting from the initial considerations, to give back to the history
of architecture, through drawing as a critical means of inquiry, the thought and work of some women-
architect who, between 1926 and 1962, have designed and/or built buildings of fine architectural quality.
The critical re-drawing, which in this case is mimetic to the construction of the project, wants to make
manifest the thought of some figures of the Modern Movement often relegated to an unknown fate; in
particular it analyses a part of the activity of Lilly Reich, Helena Niemirowska Syrkus and Charlotte
Perriand. The study aims to build a graphic inedited and exhaustive repertory of some unrealized proj-
ects, carried out by these women that can be defined “pioneer” of modern architecture, giving back a
female thought of the project’s construction. The drawing of architecture, as ambit of critical analysis,
in this study assumes a substantial role when it investigates the project which is the central place of its
true expression.

INTRODUCTION analytic, not synthetic. Has she ever done archi-

tecture during all these centuries? Tell her to build
For a long time the architectural profession has a hut, I don’t say a temple! She can’t do it. She
been considered typically male. About this dis- is foreign to architecture, which is a synthesis of
tance of the woman from the architecture has been all the arts and that is the symbol of her destiny”.
a strong supporter also Benito Mussolini when in But has it been like that? Who were the first
1927 stated “The woman must obey (...). She is ones, the pioneers? Where do they come from?

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8379-2.ch018

Copyright © 2015, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
Female Architecture

How did they move? These ones are the questions, mostly closer to the recognizable consistency of
very simple, which are at the origin of the study the design process for its continuous “coming and
that is proposed. We will remembered below some going” that is characteristic of both the drawing
“mothers of modern architecture”, the historical and the form’s construction, which, without it,
period in which they have placed, their work, their cannot take “body”. If this proposition is true,
thoughts and themes that characterize them. In this then the drawing, conceived as analysis and so as
way you can get an idea, although brief, about the a critical tool, is the medium between words and
richness and originality of their contributions. things and, when these latter are “drawn”, is the
In Germany, at the beginning of the century only survey instrument capable of retracing the
works Lilly Reich (1885-1947) who is the first critical points of the project, certainly the hidden
woman, in 1920, to be elected in the guidance of ones, which the word often cannot identify if not
the Deutscher Werkbund, becoming responsible in an obviously different way.
for the preparation of the important exhibition To reconstruct the thought of the three authors,
promoted by it. She works with Ludwig Mies through the reconstruction of some unrealized
van der Rohe with whom shares an intense and projects, it is necessary to rely on digital rep-
lasting experience. She also invented the disci- resentation, as it allows multiple hermeneutics
pline of exhibition design. Since 1923, Helena manifestations.
Niemerowska-Syrkus works in Poland, she gradu- The construction of the digital model is the logi-
ates at the Warsaw University of Technology. De- cal consequence for the verification of the project’s
signer and politic militant, she is part of the group intentions, not only because the model contains,
“Praesens”, and embodies totally the instances of within itself, the expressions of the “translator”,
Polish Constructivism. In France there are many in this case those who re-draw, but above all for
designers that study at the École des Beaux-Arts. the fact that it allows you to view all the problems
The most famous are, no doubt, Eileen Gray and that would arise if those representations were
Charlotte Perriand. The first one, of Irish origin materialized in a true, real, architectural “body”.
but French by adoption, has been an independent The digital model is thus to be understood as
and reserved figure; her work is opposed to the a “starting point” for the graphical analysis of the
excesses of a certain design culture by herself architecture and not the final outcome; in fact, are
considered “too rational and intellectual”, the associated with other graphics, sometimes not
second one, Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999), is derived from the model, useful for understanding/
known for her collaboration with Le Corbusier translation of the architecture. The construction
and much less for her important contribution to of the model is not an action of putting into the
the history of interior design, the design of the form a simple image, that is an operation which
use’s object and for the continuous dialogue that is often carried out for the representation of the
she has been able to create between East and West, project, but it is the hermeneutic and critical
starting from her mission in Japan, in 1940. During result of the drawing substantially tending to the
the Twenties and Thirties the names of women analysis of the shape.
become more relatively numerous, if you consider Vincenzo Fasolo, at the end of the 50s of the
that the architecture stays in the belief of the vast twentieth century, in a collection of his lectures
majority of society: “a male profession”. at the Faculty of Architecture of the University
The drawing, such as proper place of the ar- of Rome, proposing the graphical analysis as a
chitectural criticism, is the tool that allows, more method of study the architecture1, hoped “a his-
than any other way of the criticism itself, to get tory of architecture drawn, rather than spoken [...]

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the study method that we propose tends to arouse hand man, always in the shade, of colleagues or
a self-examination of the architectural values in partners. In Europe, after the death of Eileen Gray
which in them is permanent, shared, so much for in 1976, the women activity has begun to arouse
the ancient as for the modern. It is precisely a study a special interest; in this sense can be possible
about the ancient fact in function of the modern that to consider as beginning of this “new” curiosity
will purchase a greater validity insofar as within toward female architecture, the exhibition, ed-
it cross the experience and the nobility of ages of ited by Caroline Constant and Wilfried Wang in
architects of high secular civilization. What now Frankfurt in 1996, entitled “An Architecture for
we are proposing doesn’t go at the expense of the all senses. The Work of Eileen Gray”. From that
modern critical method; rather complements it, moment all others initiatives have contributed
and it arouses the interest. Because this drawing to the knowledge of figures such as Lilly Reich,
is observing and then a thinking” (Fasolo, 1956). Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky and Charlotte Per-
We believe that, within the indissoluble riand, certainly important characters in the same
relationship between drawing and design, the way as Helena Niemirowska, Aino Marsio, Martha
‘digital’ representation can provide the history Blornstedt, Elsi Borg, Barbara Sokolowska, Lotte
and architectural criticism additional inedited files Cohn, Adrienne Gorska, Valentine Harding, Hana
of images of unrealized architectures: the goal is kucerova-Zàveskà, Lisbet Sachs, Alison Gill,
ultimately to shed light and re-building episodes Lina Bo Bardi and more. In the United States, in
of the history of architecture that ‘mute/silent’ in 1985, was founded the “International Archive of
their writing, have found place only in the drawers Women in Architecture” (IAWA) as a result of a
of the archives or in the uncoated pages of books joint program between the College of Architecture
and magazines. and Urban Studies and the University Libraries
at Virginia Tech; the IAWA is to be considered,
to date, the most important archives relating to
BACKGROUND the architectural “female” thought and the most
important database on the subject.
The attention to women’s contribution to the You can certainly say that the knowledge of
architecture of the Modern Movement is fairly the project designed by women has begun and
recent; in Italy this interest has begun to emerge has started to take shape and systematic; but, as
in 1990, the year of the institution, within the it happens at the beginning of a research aimed
Faculty of Architecture of the Polytechnic in at outcomes to catalog and spread, state of the art
Milan, of the Vanda group which has begun has been materialized in critical e/o descriptive
to focus on the research and study of theories interventions of the projects designed by women
and works of women in architecture and urban and almost never on the graphical analysis of
planning. From that moment on, little by little, unrealized projects; substantially the written
it is well established, although within a small word has been associated to archive drawings
group, the curiosity toward a female architecture. with particular reference to the built architecture.
Women groups interested into to the activity of Just think of the large literature on the E1027 by
those who have been relegated, from the modern Eileen Gray and the “silence” suffered by her em-
historiography, to an unknown fate; and cannot blematic unrealized projects, such as the “House
be considered an alibi the fact that the pregnancy for an engineer” or “The House on Boulevard des
of the architect woman has been slow to emerge Madeleines”; and into oblivion have fallen, in the
as she has always shown such a muse or right- same way, many unrealized projects of “architect

512
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women” of the Modern Movement as it is certainly THREE CASE STUDIES2

“easier” talking about an architecture that one can
visit and watch rather than on the enigma of an Architecture Digital Interpretation
expression sign.
Indeed, the work aimed at understanding the In the ‘80s, in a masterly essay titled “Il triangolo
contribution of women to the architecture of del disegno”, Franco Purini stated that the ‘place’
Modern Movement is quite complex because, of the Drawing, metaphorically symbolized as a
in the early years of the twentieth century, they deformable triangle, was constituted by the Rep-
often worked in collaboration with men who resentation, Cataloging and Imagination, finally
have blurred their visibility (Charlotte Perriand conceived, as actions of thought interacting with
with Le Corbusier, Lilly Reich with Mies van der each other in different ways: “The drawing concept
Rohe, Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky with Adolf in architecture can be figured by a triangle which
Loos, Aino and Alvar Aalto Marsio, Barbara So- vertices consist respectively on representation,
kolowska with Stanislaw Brukalski). Fortunately, cataloging and imagination. Representing means
the scenario, is no longer punctuated by the same to manifest a design intention; cataloging means
obstacles of that time; advertising frequently to operate a recognition in the objects world;
shows us the work of Zaha Hadid, Odil Decq, imaging means to express an intention shift, an
Plant Ruchat Roncati, Elsa Prochazka, Carme its own going on. Only by moving in the internal
Pinós, Benedetta Tagliabue, and many more. area of triangle you hold the drawing in its own
This “change of course” was evidently due to the shape extension otherwise it is reduced to a dis-
social change that has seen the woman emancipate membered body which separated limbs would be
herself in the western world, just after the Second unable to move” (Purini, 1979).
World War. These were the years during which, in Italy,
The analyzes of unrealized architecture, re- was already widely spread that phenomenon
mained “into the drawers” and imbued with the which took the name of ‘architettura disegnata’
fullness of the expression of an idea, or of those in which converged the ‘architecture idea’ of
ones demolished, are a missing piece in the pub- many architects in extraordinary representations
lications related to the activity of women who of strong expressive and ideological charge; the
can be considered real “teachers” of the Modern phenomenon started when the architects did not
Movement. Instead, the never realized projects have the opportunity to build and manifest their
are those ones that better define the theories of a own ideas on sheets of paper intended, now, as
designer; just think of the knowledge “graphical” utopia places. In these ‘utopian’ supports you
work by Alberto Sartoris, who has built little and find the thought of Franz Prati, Giangiacomo
designed a lot, whose international fame is mainly D’Ardia, Franco Purini, Massimo Scolari, Aldo
due to those design drawings that have never Rossi, Bruno Minardi, Franco Pierluisi, Arduino
materialized in the building. Currently, about the Cantafora and others that, in their own imagina-
unrealized “female architecture”, architectural tive expressions, have produced works of art made
criticism stops at verbal descriptions of the few with pencils, ink, pastel, acrylic and oil.
existing drawings ignoring the will to investigate At the dawn of drawn architecture, Ivan
the interstices of those projects that can be given Sutherland experienced the first CAD software
back, with more completeness, a real “feminine” that, over time, will constitute an additional tool
architectural thinking. for ideas expressions in architecture. From that
moment on, the constant evolution of processors,

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graphics cards, ‘memories’ and other components The interpretation of architecture is certainly
of ‘artificial intelligence’ has abled an increasingly not linked to the digital dimension, it is an its
effective and sophisticated software production explicative modality; the terms of the issue are
which allow the shape control faster; this evolu- hermeneutics – in the ontological direction of
tion fits into the representation elements history Martin Heidegger – because they are related to
which takes its origin from the Sumerians and the the comprehension of the ‘thing’ for which the
Assyrian-Babylonian who utilized a simple metal- present existence is influenced by a series of
lic, or even in stone, tool, engraving on clay tablets stratified knowledge that Hans Georg Gadamer
and that developing over time finding, in 1564, defines “pre-understandings” (Vorverständnisse)
its own apical moment in the discovery of pencil. or, more simply, “prejudices”.
To extraordinary graphics interpretations, The digital interpretation is not, therefore,
pencil-drawn, of unbuilt architecture, such as a mechanic action but assumes the shape of
the study “Le tracce dell’invenzione. Il progetto research based on a cultural and methodological
per il convento delle Domenicane a Media di L. large device that penetrates deep in philological
I. Kahn” (Dotto, 1997), add, today, hermeneutic analysis territories, of architectonical critic, of the
digital practices related to unbuilt architecture ‘Representation Science’ and of the aesthetic one;
that surely do not go beyond, before their final digital re-drawing intended also as an “artistic
outcome, from ‘traditional’ tools use. ‘experience’, conceived, first of all, as creative
In this sense are extremely clarifying the words experience [that] now falls in a larger perspective
of Gabriele Pierluisi who, describing his own ex- that involves the science field such as those ones
perience of research on the Danteum of Terragni, of literature and technology, as well as the art and
states that “A preliminary consideration must be architecture, [in which] from the confluence, or
made about the role that the drawing plays in this contamination, of the different knowledge are
knowledge process and on about what type of undertaken more interesting and prolific research
drawing you uses. Indeed with the word ‘drawing’ routes” (Quici, 2006).
we intend a wide range of representations that go The interpretation of architecture implies,
from the sketch to the final immersive visualiza- indeed, the assumption of a personal point of
tion. These representations, though in their own view based on principles and on the statute of the
diversity, have the important role of functioning drawing discipline, without concessions to distrac-
as support to the theoretical speculation on space tions and graphics virtuosisms ends in themselves.
shapes: without them, indeed, the spatial thought
would not be specific and disciplinary one and Unbuilt Digital Archive
would not allow the knowledge growth.
On the contrary the use of different representa- The construction of a digital archive related to
tions, the use of a mixed technique of production, the interpretation of those projects ‘remained
makes the efficiency a continuous verifying of into the drawers’ appears like one of the logical
previous assumptions through another technic consequences of a graphic reconstruction work
aesthetic and cognitive medium and the process, of what has never existed or that, over time,
the series of produced images, is more important has been demolished. The questions, however,
of single graphic or digital model. The drawing certainly appear more complex because the first
conceived as a mixed technique process, among issues to investigate are the ‘what’ and the ‘how’
new digital medium and ancient matters: the draw- of archiving data. Beyond the matters related to
ing as cognitive process that make itself making the real digital archiving (which covers issues
itself” (Pierluisi, 2006). like the digitalization of documents of the past,

514
Female Architecture

the problem of the support, the constant evolution tion can never meaning anything to the original.
of software and formats, and other thorny issues), And nevertheless it is intimately connected with
must be tracing a methodological hypothesis for the original by virtue of its translatability, even
the construction of a digital drawings archive in the more intimate relationship as less it means
related to the interpretation of representations of for the original one. It may be defined as a natural
the past executed with techniques ‘of the past’. relationship, or rather a relationship of life. [...]
The issues is not at all simple. Indeed the web, Far from being the deaf equation of two dead
which you can conceive as an unlimited archive, languages, the translation has to be careful to the
as far as digital re-drawing of architecture of the post-maturity of the foreign word and the throes
past, has very often inaccurate and misleading of its own” (Benjamin, 1920). It is clear that the
even ridiculous information; such as, for example, translation, as well as the interpretation, has those
digitized representations of the Le Corbusier’s characters of the subjectivity which belong to who
Villa Savoye to find hilarious renderings, im- investigates the object and, therefore, the drawing.
probable perspective views, and even unreliable In this sense, the construction of a digital archive
constructive details. It is evident that all these of digital drawings is complex due to the relation-
web representations do not have, nor do they want ship between the translator and the investigated
to have, a scientific character but they are in the work because there is the risk that the translation
network only to speed up the work of someone could become decisive relegating the original to its
who has no intention of deepening a subject of mere essence. The Unbuilt digital archive must be
study. But this is an easily ephemeral fact as cer- a container in which digital drawings are critically
tainly without any specialized aspect. The main fathomed by a group of experts from various fields
issues, however, are related to the concepts of (representation, history, design, critics, aesthetics,
translation and interpretation of the original and archiving), because of the interdisciplinary nature
all the problems that they pose. Walter Benjamin of the archive itself, and then, subsequently se-
has dealt, with extreme lucidity ‘the task of the lected; in the case of the construction of a female
translator’ highlighting the significance of the ac- architecture archive, it is necessary the presence
tion to translate: “The respect for the viewer does of the originals of investigated architectures and
not prove never fruitful for the understanding of a interpretative drawings to make the basic compari-
work or an art form. Not only in the sense that the sons that every operation involves. Therefore, it is
reference to a specific audience or its representa- an organized by author archive, made of all those
tives takes out of the way, but even in the sense studies related to never built and/or demolished
that the concept of ‘ideal’ user is dangerous for architecture and interpretations/translations of
every debate on the art theory, which is required them. After assigning an ‘archive value’ to the
to simply assume the essence and the existence digital interpretative drawing, there is the ques-
of man in general. The art itself is limited to only tion of its possible modification, that is a further
assuming the body and spiritual essence - but never hermeneutical process conducted through the
the attention, in none of its works. Indeed, no po- software with which it was created; this question
etry is for the reader, no picture for the observer, emerges when is given a major importance to the
no symphony for the listener. [...] Translatability potentialities of the ‘machine’ rather than to the
essentially inheres in certain works. This does not work itself. The answer lies in the value of the
mean that their translation is essential for them- interpretative drawing; when it becomes the alter
selves, but that in their translatability is expressed ego of its original is, itself, ‘an original one’, an
a specific meaning, inherent to the originals. It is archive document that allows the development of
clear that, no matter how good it is, the transla- further subjective studies and therefore it cannot be

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modifiable as well as the original one, from which it in anodized aluminum and nickel-plated copper,
comes. The ever built projects, designed by women introduced to her atelier showered with light from
during the Three Decades, very often appear, in a large window, the fulcrum of the home.
the form of little detailed studies, however, with Shortly after, in 1927, she presented at the Salon
a few explanatory drawings of the project; on the d’Automne, her “Bar sous le toit”, a polished metal
contrary, their character, compared to those related and glass wet bar enclosed under the wing of a
with built architectures, almost reaches the value mansard roof. The environment was consisting of
of anonymity. This same value must be assumed a high balcony covered with nickel, three stools
by the interpretative drawing in support with the made with tubular aluminum, a glass small cocktail
original that is a work. In this sense are of use table, leather sofa and a shelf corner covered with
the words of Massimo Bontempelli: “Saying the nickel equipped with a record player. The “Bar
poetry (or art in general) as architecture, meaning sous le toit” attracted the attention of visitors for
art as a modification of the habitable world... The its distinctly modern spirit: it was located in an
main consequence of the particular nature of the attic, a place usually reserved for the servants; it
architectural work is the absolute separation of was constituted by furniture items that did not
the work itself by its author. This work is a true recall at all French tradition of decorative arts; it
and real alteration of the Earth’s crust... This es- shone in its almost “machinist” essentiality and
trangement of the work by the author, this perfect suggested, due to the presence of the record player,
cancellation of the umbilical cord in the literature a new way of living the domestic space. And,
is the creation of myths, fairy tales, characters... last but not least, it was designed by a woman.
This has to be our supreme ideal, fellow writers: Despite the prevailing academicism in France at
to become anonymous” (Bontempelli, 1938). the end of the ‘20s, it was welcomed by critics,
and earned Charlotte Perriand the entrance at the
Charlotte Perriand atelier of Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret in Rue
des Sèrvres, laboratory within which the chrysalis
“All I could do was to offer you an opinion upon became professionally butterfly and from which
one minor point - a woman must have money flew away, fortified, in 1937.
and a room of her own if she is to write fiction” At this point, despite initially the study Corbu
(Woolf, 1929, cap. 1). - Jeanneret not earned a lot of money (Perriand,
While Virginia Woolf destabilized the young 2003), Perriand had procured an own room, and
minds of the students of the female universities a support (also because she always worked even
Newham and Girton, at the end of the ‘20s, Char- with independent job orders, as well in the period
lotte Perriand was building her “room of herself”. during which worked at the atelier, and in any case
Recently graduated at the School of the Cen- she was also supported by her husband (Mc Leod,
tral Union of Decorative Arts in Paris, Charlotte 2003): her woman designer path could begin.
Perriand got married in 1926 “for a challenge”: Charlotte Perriand was born in 1903 into a
“yet, at the time marriage was the only way for relatively modest family (Mc Leod, 1987). A
the chrisalis I was to turn into a butterfly, and a single child of two tailors, she grows up in a
butterfly is a creature that takes flight” (Perriand, family context rather common at the time in the
2003, p. 20). middle class, fancying outings in the neighbor-
She had rented, with her husband, an unusual ing country of his grandfather Des Moulins, and
apartment, a former photo studio, in Place St. maneuvering without much success in the city
Sulpice, and had begun to furnish it in an equally and school life. Her reference model female, the
non-traditional way. At the entrance, a bar corner mother, is a concrete and decisive woman, who

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educated her strictly to an healty ethic of autonomy other areas, and all areas are separated from oth-
and work: “work is freedom!” her mother used to ers only by fixed furniture and never by partition
say to the little Charlotte (Perriand, 2003, p. 16). walls (Figure 1).
When, in 1926 Charlotte got married, as already The drawings published on Repertoire, the only
mentioned, she does it as a fundamental rite of known with respect to this project are:
passage for a woman of that era: the marriage
is to her the independence, the enfranchisement • A ground level plan;
from the family of origin, the conquest of her own • An isometric cross-section of the whole;
space. Perriand immediately set her married life in • An isometric cross-section in detail of the
the name of autonomy and enhancement of their kitchen and work room;
profession, in a way, however, not usual in the • Two freehand perspectives of the whole;
late ‘20s. Certainly should not be many women • A table of axonometric drawings of some
at that time, to have the opportunity to choose a of the furniture in detail.
home with a large atelier for their work.
The years ‘26-’33 can be considered as the Since it is not mentioned in the autobiography
true smithy where she forges her personality: of Perriand, we cannot be sure of the exact period
these years are the years of the world discovery, of in which it was conceived. Despite this, some
mountain climbing, and diving in the deep south- elements, as below illustrated, we suggest that it
ern sea, of uninterrupted night work illuminated has been drawn up around the end of 1928. It is
by the certainty of utopia3. interesting that this project is set in the first work
Since 1927, she is associated of the Le Cor- period of Perriand at the atelier of Rue of Sèvres,
busier - Jeanneret atelier, with the task of interior and therefore is just after at “Bar sous le toit”
design, and then, together with Jeanneret, head though still immature compared to the successive
of the renewal program of home furnishings that collaboration with Le Corbusier and Jeanneret.
Corbusier had developed4. Perriand immediately From the architectural point of view, isometric
understand the strong link between architecture cross-section realizes design logic subtended: a
and interior design and in her autobiographical large single container is populated by objects of
stories insists on her desire to measure in terms different sizes that, at appropriate scales, create
of space in a total way, and to learn the craft of specific places within the space originally undif-
architecture. The projects studied here, both un- ferentiated (Figure 2).
realized, belonging to this “incubation” period of The sport area, in continuity with the sleeping
Charlotte Perriand’s genius: they are two works area (including bunk beds and showers), is the main
that she developed independently from the Corbu- space of the environment, and is dotted with all
Jeanneret atelier, and in which she put herself to the tools that characterize the life of sports man
the test for the first time as an architect and not or woman. The salle de travail, separated from
just as an interior designer. the rest by a “two-faced” furniture, on one hand
The former, in chronological order, is Travail cupboard and on the other place for storing sports
et Sport, a project published between ‘28 and ‘29 equipment, is characterized by a small table and
in “Repertoire du gout moderne”5. Travail et Sport four “pivoting” chairs (i.e. rotating, with metal
is a kind of exhibition pavilion. It is a large space tubular and leather) and a table and a chair for
divided into five areas: sport room, kitchen and typewriter, symbols of the “domesticated” ma-
dining room, work room, sleeping area, rest and chine age. The kitchen is a more regular edition
recreation area. The sleeping area and the sport of the “Bar sous le toit” (same stools, same glass
area consist of a double height compared to the shelves). The rest and recreation area is a sort of

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Figure 1. Graphical analysis, plans, sections

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Figure 2. Axonometric cross-section and section in perspective

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hanging flowered garden, drilled in the ceiling, vacationing out of the chaotic cities well-deserved
a small modern eden with hammock and phono- rest with their family; it is the triumph of loisir.
graph, leaning over the work room and connected The magazine L’Architecture d’aujourd’hui,
to it only through a tiny ladder. at the Exposition de l’Habitation, calls in 1936, a
Some furniture are drawn in more detail contest that has as object the house for the holidays.
in a specific layout, where there are le mobile The project themes are a shed for the weekend on
phonographique, le table machine à écrire et a river bank, a holiday houses complex, a chalet at
siège, a sort of bench-bed with pillow, a small 2000 meters above sea level. Perriand participates
stool and a small bench. We can trace models of independently of the Corbu-Jeanneret atelier, with
those furniture designed for the Travail et Sport three projects. Of these ones only the first one is
area and used in the 1928 exhibition at the Salon currently published, the Maison de week-end. The
des artistes decorateurs in which, with only the known works consist of:
name of Perriand (Mc Leod, 2003), was exposed
a dining room, where appear the siège pivotante, • A plan;
low stools and benches. • Six sections/elevations;
The feature of this small pavilion is that it is • An axonometric view corresponding to the
a place evidently thought from the inside to the plan and sections;
outside: the plan and prospective give information • An axonometric view and a freehand per-
on the connotation of the walls to the outside, and spective, probably related to a previous
on the possibility that there are two terraces on version of the same project with some
which to lean, but it is surely a centripetal logic variations6;
that pervades the space. The volume of the kitchen, • A typed undated report on the architectural
juxtaposed to the space of the main hall, is thought parts, in french.
as a place to see and experiencing inside (since the
balcony seems fixed it is not clear how access in The system that Perriand conceives is a kind of
it), because indeed its external configuration has tent mounted on piles: a wooden platform resting
volumetrically never represented. It is evident in on stone walls houses two huts that open on the
this project the designer hand that confront herself long sides towards a central open space and facing
not only with the drawing of the furniture but with the river, the “terrasse”. The huts internal fronts
the relationship of the spaces between them, in a are tilting panels that, opening in various positions,
logic centered on the inside. arrange in a different way both the possibility of
The graphical analysis shows an essential plan, central space use and the amount of light and air
based on a modular repetition. in the huts (Figure 3).
The second project is the Maison de week-end The two wooden spaces respectively house two
of 1936. bedrooms, a maid’s room and a kitchen-dining
It is a project whose genesis is related to the room. The bathroom is a small separate volume
social changes taking place in France in the mid- clinging on the opposite side with respect to the
’30s. As Perriand remind (2003), in 1936 the river. The lower part, at the dry walls level, of
socialist government of Leon Blum votes for laws variable height with respect to the configuration of
on collective labor agreements, approving coveted the ground, has different intended use depending
“English” week of 40 hours and paid holidays: on the needs of the tenants, it can be a garage or
the rural suburban fill up on weekends and dur- a cellar (Perriand even proposes atelier!).
ing holidays of a multitude of workers who enjoy The Maison de weekend is conceived to be
built in wood panels, and with metal frame, ac-

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Figure 3. Graphical analysis, plan, elevations

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Figure 4. Exploded axonometric view

cording to the tent archetype, of which she retains
the easiness of assembly and disassembly, and the
essentiality of the organization (Figure 4).
Compared to Travail et Sport project one can
notice in this an obvious maturity in project design
that, even for the admittedly architectural theme,
goes beyond the boundaries of interior design. In
this case it is not a project thought from the inside
to the outside, but rather a device drawn to oper-
ate in its relations inside-out in an organic way.
What is evident is the concept of the whole
hut as a single object that, with gears and pulleys,
meets the different needs of living. The Maison
de week-end looks like a mediterranean and basic
translation of the concept of a machine for living:
a rudimentary machine born before the machine
age. In truth it, to remain in the metaphor, was
born after the machine age. The first projects of
Perriand indeed are based on a blind faith in tech-
nological progress and on a general “machinist”
aesthetic that pervades all of the ‘20s and ‘30s.
Perriand herself had publicly supported (Perriand,
2003) the primacy of metal on wood: the metal
was the new frontier for both furniture and archi-
tecture, it retrieved the accuracy of engineering
construction and promised precision and mass
production. The wood, on the contrary, changed
its configuration over time, swelled, restricted and
was part of the repertoire of most passed academic
tradition. Neverthless, around the the mid-thirties,
Perriand began to explore all materials, without
ideological prejudices, and she manifests it in
1935 by designing and realizing the wooden and
straw chair for the Maison de jeune homme at the
Exposition international de Bruxelles.
Another interesting thing in this pre-industrial
machine that is the Maison de week-end, is that it
is thought in constantly changing not in a static
way, though built with prefabricated elements
(Figure 5).
In this regard it may be interesting to recall an
episode remembered by Perriand, regarding the

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Figure 5. Sections perpective

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design of a prefabricated pavilion allocated to her Le Corbusier had sent a letter to her and Pierre
by Le Corbusier around 1930: “I came up with a Jeanneret in which reproached them a little
little gem. […] standardized components, carefully consideration of the value of teamwork and an
interlocked, to be set up on site. I awaited Corbu’s excessive complicity that damaged the atelier.
verdict on his return, my heart beating excitedly. Considering unacceptable Corbu assumptions,
[…] Instead, I received a volley of clipped abuse. Perriand immediately left the atelier, with great
The sculptural effect wasn’t right. […] “Life needs determination, but certainly not without diffi-
play, just as concrete needs expansion joints and culties. Jeanneret, with his mild introverted and
the eye’s pupil closes under the effect of the light” less prone to violent confrontation, will remain
he said. “Every structure must contain an overrid- a member of his cousin but he will continue to
ing element of play”. I had to start all over again” maintain the same relationship with her, that is
(Perriand, 2003, p. 28). that of a sui generis couple8. They will separate
This episode is representative of the change only in 1939, when Perriand left for Japan under
of approach to the project of Perriand after the the worst auspices of a coming war, and will meet
meeting with Le Corbusier. What it originates is both changed a lot, in 1946.
a reasoning on the role of the movement in the After the breaking up with Le Corbusier, Per-
interior design as in that one of the architecture. riand’s career continues with vitality and variety,
Imagine any object or item not in its size but in its and it is especially marked by the persistence
dynamic logic with respect to other objects near it (prolonged for war reasons, but not organized) in
and in its interaction with man, is the significant Japan, pivotal experience for the development of
shift that rises from the Perriand-Corbu-Jeanneret her poetics of space. Even the after war, with her
collaboration. marriage with Jacques Martin, the motherhood 9,
Even in the case of the chairs, the main evolu- and finally her return to Europe, it will be a fertile
tion of the already undertaken research by Perriand period that will take her in Congo (1952), again in
on the use of metal tubular, is the introduction Japan (1955), then in London and Geneva (1957),
of the movement: the siège pivotante, the siège in Brasilia (1959). The ‘60s and ‘70s will see her
à dossier basculante, the chaise longue, are all returning to the top of the mountains, designing
objects that live on the interaction with man and a chalet and two ski resorts (Meribel-les-Allues,
welcome his movements. 1961, Arcs 1660 e Arcs 1800, 1969-1975). Finally,
Perriand in 1936 seems to have deeply learned the ‘80s - ‘90s will be more focused on intimacy
the lesson. The Maison de week-end is a high vari- projects, such as the House of Tea for Unesco
ability device, easy to assemble and disassemble, (1993) and the extension of her own home.
consisting of a few elements, and inexpensive. Here, the analysis of her work was limited to
The graphical analysis of the plan has identi- the two independent works of architecture in the
fied some relationships between the parts mainly years of the Modern Movement, but it is clear that
based on the golden section: the central space of in the case of Perriand (such us for other prolific
the “terrasse” is a golden rectangle and the rela- architect women from the design point of view)
tionship between its width and the width of the it is hoped a study that enter into the folds of her
two huts follows the same rule7. entire work for the research of the palimpsest from
The 1936 is the last year of collaboration which originates its complexity.
between Perriand and the atelier in the Rue des Studying architecture through the drawing,
Sevres, since in 1937, after a brief not without indeed, makes it possible, in the re-drawing and
tension conversation and (maybe?) of mutual tridimensional digital construction moment to
misunderstandings, Perriand will leave the study. deal with the project retracing the steps, from

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the genesis to the development, also highlighting the air of an aloof historian, not with the involve-
inconsistencies and second thoughts. In this, the ment of the narrator in the first person. Why does
researcher subjectivity plays a decisive role: our Perriand look at the women of her time as if she
analysis and representations are always interpre- didn’t belong to the category? The answer could
tations, and never mere reconstructions. What be that she lives her individual woman dimension
interests us is to study the project “from its inside”, in a modern way, rather than the collective one,
and then investigating it through its proper tools. indeed, she never does not participate to feminist
The production of digital models, in addition, movements, but instead she participates actively to
allows the production of unpublished images of the battles of the Communist Party. However, even
these projects, remained at the idea stage, and without proclamations, Perriand, in our opinion,
therefore contributes to the construction of a sort embodies the spirit of the famous feminist slogan
of history of architecture of the possible. “the personal is political”. She does not make of
Finally, also in the brevity of this essay, it is her chooses the torch of “good practice”, simply
worth making a few observations on how to be a and effectively leads her life by pursuing her own
woman in the craft of Charlotte Perriand. It is very goals and putting herself in the first person to
interesting that she never makes specific reference achieve them.
to gender issues, for example in her autobiography. In this sense seems to resound the words of
The only case in which she talks about women’s Virginia Woolf, who in the same essay A Room
issues is a reference to the nascent Domestic Arts of One’s Own concluded that “is fatal for anyone
in France: “After World War I, women demanded who writes to think of their sex. It is fatal to be
the right to work. They had uncomplainingly a man or woman pure and simple; one must be
replaced man in factories and, consequently, had woman-manly or man-womanly. […] for anything
begun to gain their freedom. They would not give written with that conscious bias is doomed to death.
it up, despite the responsibilities involved: running It ceases to be fertilized. […] it cannot grow in the
the home, going to work and earning the daily minds of others” (Woolf, 1929, cap. 6).
bread, looking afret the children in the evenings, Woolf was referring to literature and to the
and then, utterly exhausted, entertaining the war- need that women wouldn’t write with the grudge
rior back from the battlefield. Three eight-hour towards men who had kept her poor and ignorant
shifts, three women in one - a hight price to pay for centuries, and that men wouldn’t write with
for freedom” (Perriand, 2003, p. 74). anger toward women that threatened their domain,
But the change to which her refers does not put but that both women and men, would write aspir-
into question the position of woman into the home, ing to the beauty in literature and to the pleasure
in a logic of redistribution of relationships and of the reader.
family responsibilities, for example: the conquest The figure of Charlotte Perriand seems to
is that women can work universally, and in this, perform the hope of Woolf: her work, in contrast
technology, with the introduction of appliances, to some feminist interpretations that are often
helps them to reduce the time of the housework, reduced to a fierce demonstration of the subordi-
but always confirming as main female role the nate women position in history10, takes the form
domestic one (Wilson, 2006). in the overcoming of gender logic in setting her
Yet in her life certainly Perriand chooses a own life and her own work. She, graduated in a
quite unconventional behavior compared to her school of decorative arts, field that at the time
peers. When she speaks about the condition of seemed more suited to the inclinations of women,
women in France, it seems almost she does not for building her own path crosses boundaries of
talking of her contemporaries; her words have her discipline without revenge spirit against men,

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but rather with a constructive desire to expand her will edit both the organization and the exposure to
knowledge and make her skills integrated with which will follow other curatorships and artistic
those ones of other artists. directions that will constitute, together with the
Her work never appears marked by the claim five previous ones11, that fil rouge which has con-
of her female identity, because what is driving her stantly kept chained the salient aspects of her own
is the tension toward beauty and harmony, values work. In the same exhibition it has shown the work
that are neither male nor female, but human. of another woman, Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky,
In this sense Perriand does not seem to think famous for the well-known Frankfürter Küche that
about the problem of gender because, as advocated it is exposed here together with other products
Woolf, “she doesn’t think about her own sex” as of modern industry: heating equipment, kitchen
didn’t thought also Shakespeare while he wrote accessories, bathroom fixtures and appliances.
Othello; which does not mean to circumvent the These are the years in which in Germany there
issue of women or reduce the importance of the is a very strong political and cultural fervor trig-
struggle for women’s rights: it means stretching gered by the progress and the charm of the new
to a mature version of the relationship between technologies that stimulate architects and artists
genders in the arts, in literature as in architecture. to actively contribute to the design of a new na-
Not forgetting the unavoidable premise: “Give her tional style in which are salient aspects regarding
another hundred years, I concluded, reading the the new ways of living. With the Exposition of
last chapter […] give her a room of her own and 1931, Die Wohnung Unserer Zeit (The dwelling
five hundred a year, let her speak her mind and of our time), we are witnessing a kind of conse-
leave out half that she now puts in, and she will cration of the Lilly Reich work because the artist
write a better book one of these days. She will not only focus on showing the exhibition but also
be a poet, […] in another hundred years’time” designs a house, the Erdgeschosshaus (House on
(Woolf, 1929, cap. 5). the ground floor) and two small apartments on the
second floor of a hotel pavilion, the Boardinghaus
Lilly Reich (Rented houses); in the same year plans, in Berlin,
the Modlinger House, which may be considered
“The problems of the new housing have their her unique non-temporary built architecture.
roots in the changed material, social and spiritual Lilly Reich was born in Berlin in 1885 and she
structure of our time: only starting from here one moves to Vienna in 1908 where she works at the
can understand these issues. Wiener Werkstätte by Joseph Hoffmann. In 1910,
The degree of structural change determines back home, she studies with Else-Oppler-Legband
the feature and scale of the problems. They re- at Die Hohere Fachschule Dekorationskunst
fuse any arbitrariness. They cannot be solved by (high school for decorative arts) and in 1911 she
slogans, so much as being eliminated by slogans. takes contact with Hermann Muthesius who,
Rationalization and typing are only a part of the along with Friedrich Neumann and Henry van de
problem. They are only the tools, they should never Velde, was one of the pioneers of the Deutsche
be the end. The problem of the new dwelling is Werbund, an artistic movement that tried to raise
fundamentally a spiritual problem, and the battle the level, in the field of applied arts, through
for new housing is only one aspect of the great the cooperation between crafts and progressive
struggle for the new forms of life” (Mies, 1947). levels of the industry in order to create a new
With these words, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe national style both harmonious and in line with
opens, in July 1927, in Stuttgart, the Exhibition the Modern Movement. In 1914 she takes part
Die Wohnung (The house) of which Lilly Reich in one of the sections, the Haus der Frau (House

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of Woman), of the Cologne Exhibition in which that has rhythmic allusions with the industry,
she takes care of a living room furnishing and of in order to give the visitor the observation of a
the arrangement of two showcases; Lilly Reich geometrically intact reality, indeed, corresponds
in 1920, is the first woman to be elected to the to a specific operation of abstraction from the
Steering Committee of the German Werkbund and metropolitan chaos, while the planned structure of
in 1924 meets Ludwig Mies van der Rohe who in the exhibition paths, becomes a metaphor for the
that year had assumed the director position. From future city. In this sense, Reich invents an alternate
this moment begins a partnership that will cover universe in which it is presented an anticipation
most of the professional activity of Lilly Reich, of the future that is both experimental and also
during which she will participate, among others, significantly programmed.
to the International Exposition in Barcelona in Therefore, there is a clear will to questioning
1929, in which she intervenes with the design of formal and behavioral codes become by now
twenty-five exhibits, and to the furnishing design obsolete, to launch a new aesthetic that is the
of Tugendhat House in Brno between 1928 and interpreter of the industrialized city, represented
1930. In 1931, designs and realizes Modlinger by the naked synchrony of its functions. Thus, the
House in the Wanssee neighborhood in Berlin. visitor is induced not only to the observation of the
Between 1932 and 1933, directs the workshops single product, but also to the synthetic vision of
of weaving and interior finishing at the Bauhaus. a set of prototypes which suggest an ideal model.
In 1937 she designs the exhibition of the German The object presented by Reich acquires then the
textile industry products at the Exposition Inter- value of a symbol of the modern lifestyle, with its
nationale des Arts et tecniques appliqués à la own autonomy, and that speaks of itself without
vie moderne (International exhibition of arts and the possibility of misunderstandings. Abolished
techniques applied to modern life) and, with Mies all sorts of decorative frame, it is therefore an
van der Rohe, that one of the Reichausstellung der objective aspect of the industrial product to be
Deutschen Textil-und-Bekleidungs-Wirtsschaff emphasized, aiming to get out of an emotional
(Imperial exposition of the German industry of relationship with things” (Bellani, 2005).
fabric and garment); this will be her last work The exhibited works at the Berlin Exhibition
before to fell into a long period of cultural isola- of 1931, because Lilly Reich designs both the
tion and poverty. In 1946, soon after the end of “container” and the “content”, offer a broader
World War II, she takes part in the reconstruction reading of the design attitude of the German
of the Werkbund along with Max Taut and Hans architect since she opposes a promenade archi-
Scharoun and, in the same year, she teaches at the tecturale, conceived for an in motion spectator,
Hochschüle für bildende Künste (School of Fine an architectural setting where the user is also
Arts) in Berlin from which she resigns for the spectator. Architecture is ‘work of art overall’
appearance of a serious illness. She prematurely according an “all-female” though that unites
died in Berlin on 11st of December 1947, at the the work of Lilly Reich, Eileen Gray, Charlotte
age of sixty-two. Perriand, Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Sophia
It is the Exhibition of 1931, which represents, Hayden, Emilie Winkelmann and other women
the culmination of the career of Lilly Reich because often marginalized by architecture history because,
it is the time when her work moves at the same very often, wives, partners or collaborators of men
time, and with absolute easiness, between the whose fame had been acclaimed. It is significant,
exhibition and the design of the dwelling. Paola in this sense, the oblivion into which the work
Bellani synthesizes the spirit of design of Lilly of Aino Maria Marsio, first wife of Alvar Aalto,
Reich when she says: “Creating ex novo a universe whose production is still very often attributed to

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the husband, is finished; as also the attribution ment for a married couple”, Apartment for one
of the famous Chaise Longue to Le Corbusier, person”, “House on the ground floor” and “Stare
essentially designed by Charlotte Perriand even and Exhibition” which concerned the interior
though controlled by the “supervision” of the design of an apartment for A. Wertheim.
Swiss teacher, her employer, but certainly not Regarding to the “Material Show” critics have
with honors. observed, as Matilda McQuaid states, “the new
The cultural exclusion, in Italy, of the design singular way of the houses and apartments layout
activity of European women is manifested in the and the original organization of the materials.
Piero Bottoni article appeared in the September Twenty-four groups, divided into twelve categories
1931 in “Review of Architecture” titled Berlin of interior finishing materials, including marble,
1931 in the fourteen pages dedicated to the Ex- wood, metal, floor coverings, carpets, textiles,
hibition, where the Milanese architect describes clocks, mass production furniture and glass, are
very precisely the contents of the exhibition, set up by Reich” (McQuaid, 1996).
highlighting the contributions of the various The “House on the ground floor” designed by
participating nations, he does not mention, when Lilly Reich has to be studied in close relation to the
he focuses in the description of the Die Wohnung Mies van der Rohe pavilion; that statement, though
Unserer Zeit (The dwelling of our time) section, seemingly trivial, wants to emphasize not only
the contribution of Lilly Reich both as exhibition the compositional relationship between the two
designer and participant architect. artifacts, but highlighting both the compositional
If on one hand this omission is certainly due to uniqueness and the issues that the architectural
an alignment to the ideas of Mussolini’s regime, design deals with some issues regarding: in this
for which the woman could not be able to practice case, that central one, of “modern” living.
the profession of architect, on the other hand it The Lilly Reich’s work is well described in the
seems appropriate to point out that the Italian “Lilly Reich: Designer and Architect” exhibition
culture has been excluded, for more than twenty catalog, edited in 1996 by Matilda McQuaid, of
years, from the knowledge of women’s contribu- the Department of Architecture and Design at the
tion to the development of modern architecture; Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York;
probably for this reason the Italian architectural the volume, as often happens in the exhibition
historiography has omitted, from its own critical catalogs, contains a critical apparatus supported
pages, the activity of some figures that today can be by a photographic and iconographic repertoire
considered true pioneers of modern architecture. of the time.
One of the photos published in the article by The re-drawing, carried out from the base of
Piero Bottoni is the view from the top of the Hall the edited drawings, intends to add other words
II, which exhibition was edited by Lilly Reich; to criticism and especially giving new represen-
the caption of the image indicates the “house tations to the architectural knowledge. The Mies
on the ground floor” of Mies and the “two-story and Reich pavilions related to the “house on the
house” of Haesler and Völker-Cell omitting the ground floor”, indeed, cannot be read separately
intervention of Reich visible in the background and even be linked only by the evidence of the wall
and designed in close relationship, clearly visible sign; that wall is not just an architectural “body”,
in the plan, with the Mies pavilion, to witness the it is the element of a scanning of architectural
cultural union between the two architects. “episodes” of different ways and, at the same
The Berlin Exhibition was made up of eight time, present in a character of uniqueness; the
exhibition halls. Lilly Reich was responsible for wall underlines the transparent living spaces, both
different installations: “Material Show”, “Apart- in the Mies pavilion and in the Reich one and at

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Figure 6. Graphical analysis, plans and elevation

(D. Migliore)

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the same time hides the other domestic functions. from image to cognitive system, that is a spatial,
The whole composition is inscribed in a strict geo- dimensional and well-defined relational informa-
metrical figure consisting of two squares whose tion database” (Gaiani, 2011).
sides adds a part of a width equal to 1/9 of the The reading of a work such as that of Lilly
square side; in turn, in the entire figure it can be Reich introduces the need for new notations: not
traced sub-modules that identify the major septa only an experimental verification of important
that give rhythm to the architectural space. The spatial connotations, or of elements such as the
same geometric rigor can be traced in the evidence quality and quantity of light, but also the percep-
of a sophisticated “measure” of the project; the tive verification of the space as it had presented
wall, as you can see in the re-drawing of the plan to the visitors of the Exhibition.
and in the unedited representations of elevations In this direction, the illustrations make exten-
and sections, trace the lines of a new story, that sive use of perspective sections, the only form of
one of modern living (Figure 6). representation that combines the metric scanning
Taken as starting points the few drawings of the section with the iconicity of the central
published in the “Lilly Reich: Designer and Ar- projection, and next to them also of impersonal
chitect” exhibition catalog and using the photos of axonometric projections. And this is possible by
the time, it has rebuilt the compositional process exploiting the peculiarities of the digital model
to arrive at new representations that provide ad- that allows, from the same base, to derive ways
ditional inspirations for the study of the German of perceptually and conceptually representing the
artist. The drawing, therefore, takes not only a world, simply by changing the attributes of the
documentary value but it becomes also tool of the scene. “In this sense, they are much more power-
architectural and knowledge criticism; to the only ful and versatile than the traditional sense with
existing drawings, a plan sketch and the drawing which they are usually employed - tools to build
of the plan, both held at the MOMA at the “Lilly a single final image, useful for all kind of reading
Reich Collection, Mies van der Rohe Archive,” and synthetic of each interpretation - allowing
are added, with this study, the graphical analysis different representations, each with a specific
representations, four elevations, six sections, an purpose” (Gaiani, 2011).
exploded isometric, six perspective sections and Virtual models, Richard Migliari says, “are
one perspective that highlight the spatial quali- very useful for at least three good reasons deal
ties of both the Mies pavilion and that Reich one with the study of architecture: the former con-
(Figure 7). cerns the simulation of a visit of an architecture
These new interpretative drawings are the to realize, the second the ‘construction’ of never
result of the digital model construction (Figure 8). realized projects, the last is the simulation of a
“The digital models of architecture that have visit to a monument that time has deeply altered in
appeared until now have brought a change that order to trigger the correct restorative processes”
we could define something like the ‘typographic (Migliari, 2008).
revolution’ introduced when Sebastiano Serlio and The drawing, as true place of architectural
Palladio thought of communicating architecture criticism, it is the tool that allows more than any
through the printed pages of a book” (Carpo, 2008). other modus of the criticism itself to get closer
“The crucial aspect of this revolution lies to the recognizable coherence of the design pro-
not so much in a more effective construction of cess for its continued ‘comings and goings’ that
three-dimensional illusions with respect to those is characteristic of the drawing and construction
ones of the past, as in the transformation of the of the form, that without it cannot take ‘body’. If
three-dimensional representation of a building this sentence is true, then the drawing, conceived

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Figure 7. Axonometric view, sections, elevations and perspective

(D. Migliore).

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Figure 8. Plan, elevations, sections and sections in perspective

(D. Migliore).

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as the analysis of the shape and then as a critical has also designed the furnishings that give rhythm
tool, is the medium between words and things, and to the spaces; in particular the German architect
when the latter are ‘drawn’, is the only survey tool has designed two apartments, one of 35 square
capable to trace the critical points of the project, meters and the other one of 53 square meters,
certainly those ones that are hidden, that the word respectively, for a single person and a couple;
cannot locate. the other apartments in the pavilion have been
The digital drawing because of its versatility, though by Walther Schmidt, Josef Albers, Robert
it is a very useful tool for graphical analysis of Vorhoelzer, Hermann Gerson, Max Wiederanders.
architectural projects that have remained into the The existing drawings, from “Lilly Reich Collec-
drawer or demolished that, because of their being tion” and published in the exhibition catalog of
‘uncontaminated, have a greater expressiveness 1996, are the horizontal section with the indicated
than to the realized projects often debased by location of the furniture and the perspective of the
compromises due to external factors such as the kitchen designed by the same Reich.
client or the economic aspect. In order to re-drawing the intervention of the
But the digital drawing is not the only tool, Reich within the Boardinghaus it has been nec-
it is one among many; it is a companion of the essary to return the perception of the pavilion in
sketch, diagram, written annotation, quit note, all its entirety, both to provide the architectural his-
necessary handwritings to achieve the purpose. toriography new representations for knowledge/
The digital model is thus to be conceived as description of the project, of which don’t exist
a ‘starting point’ for the graphical analysis of exhaustive drawings, and to put in relationship
the architecture and not the final outcome; to it, the part with the whole, since, as it happens for
indeed, are associated other graphs, sometimes the “house on the ground floor”, the architecture
not ‘derived’ from the model, useful for the cannot be explored for parts even if an exhibition,
understanding/translation of architecture. The as such, leads to such a reading (Figure 9).
construction of the model it isn’t the construction From the photos and the plan drawing it has
of a simple image, operation that is very often carried out in a reading of the project trying to get
carried out for the representation of the project, their own compositional principles and, finally,
but is the hermeneutic and critical result of the the completed form (Figure 10).
drawing aiming essentially to the analysis of the The apartments designed by Reich have after
shape, the true object of imitation. graphically been analyzed at “small-scale rep-
The drawing, therefore, assumes the character resentation” to highlight both the relationships
of a real text that is added to another text which among the spaces (container) and the furniture
is that of the investigated architectural body that, (content) that define a way of proceeding of the
in this case, it doesn’t exists because demolished. architect in which nothing is left to the case, where
The construction exploded axonometric, everything is designed in detail.
for example, occurs through the subtraction of New representations in their fixity, want to tell
volumes to the base housing, mimetic operation a thought, a new way of the idea of living - which,
of the design proceed, almost to highlight the as Martin Heidegger said, exist before to build -
not descriptive value of the representation, but, that Lilly Reich has expressed with perfectly com-
instead, its merely conceptual appearance. positional clear and with lucid intellectual rigor.
The same graphical operation used for the study The new representations12, in support of this
of “home on the ground floor” has been conducted text, not only attempt to provide new possible
for the study of two of the nine apartments in the interpretations for the reading of the work of
Boardinghaus (Rented Houses) of which Reich Reich but want especially to make a tribute to

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Figure 9. Axonometric views, plan, elevations, sections and perspective

(D. Migliore)

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Figure 10. Axonometric views, perspectives and orthogonal projections

(D. Migliore).

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an artist whose professional career has for a long avant-garde, basing on the concepts of painting
time been blurred. and sculpture such as the roots of her architec-
tural thoughts. Indeed, she conceived painting as
Helena Niemirowska Syrkus the source of the functional architecture, surely
even under the influence of Le Corbusier, from
While in the twenties and thirties, the Polish capital which she took the concept of balanced harmony
was becoming one of the hubs of propagation of between architecture and painting. Helena be-
the new architecture, thanks to the geographical gan to shyly “drawing” the path of her multiple
contiguity with the Weimar Republic, which al- languages in the field of shape modeling always
lowed the formation of young minds aiming to remaining fascinated by the Cubists and especially
the admixture of architecture, art and music, a by Suprematists Malevich and El Lissitzkij and
young Helena Niemirowska Syrkus was carrying interpreting their principles through a process
out, in her cultural context of the Warsaw, the idea of sublimation of pure architectural and spatial
that urban planning and architecture, such as art elements (Klosiewicz, 2005). The ideas brought
forms, had to consciously aim to define a language forward by Helena Niemirowska definitely related
capable of expressing, through new configura- to the inseparability of the art problems from the
tions, the great revolutionary step accomplished social ones and freely recognized themselves into
in that social, economic and political era. Helena the architectural issues, as will be evident in the
Niemirowska Syrkus shared the avant-garde the- “Symultanicnzy Theatre” project, architectural
sis according to which the modern architect, to example of simultaneous theater, never realized,
become an artist, had to rise such basic element that hides within its own conjectural spaces, the
of social organization, defining also the modern synthesis of the philosophical/artistic/architectural
architecture as a synthesis of all the arts, thus attitude, aimed at creating a place for discussion,
pointing toward to the creation a new space and involvement and full participation of the spectator/
a new aesthetic for the “New Man”. actor to social issues (Figure 11).
Helena Niemirowska Syrkus was born the In this project, her cultural attitude towards
14th of May 1900 in Warsaw, architect and urban the modeling of space, seems to be that one of
planner, was considered one of the protagonists a theater actor that reveals the fictions of reality
of the architectural modernist vanguards and and tells the story of contemporary life without
also emblematic figure in the Poland art and the need to identify and separate the functions
architecture. In the years 1918-1925, intellectual performed inside the theater: actor and spectator
horizons and interests of Helena, spurred on by thus became the main subject of that space.
her relationships with artists and writers of War- In 1924 she co-founded, with her husband,
saw, led her to combine architectural studies, at Szymon Syrkus, the first Warsaw avant-garde,
Technical Academy of Warsaw, with the lessons the “Blok” (Block of Constructivists and Supre-
of Roman Kramsztyk13 about drawing and some matists Poland Artists), but in 1926, the will to
studies of philosophy, University of Warsaw, also put the architecture into the center of the research
in different languages, often working as a transla- and creation activity, in addition to some internal
tor, as she had had the opportunity to work at an disputes, brought the majority of the “Block”
international level (Boscolo, 2005). members to join in creation of a new artistic and
It was with this type of education, toward the cultural group by Helena and her husband: the
commingling between philosophy and architec- “Praesens”14. The manifest of the neo-avant-garde
ture, that Helena had formulated her architectural Polish group, was developed through the follow-
and urban projects, in line with the first Polish ing equation:

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Figure 11. Exploded view, ground floor plan, 3d model, sections

(E. Sabella).

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architecture + sculpture + painting tion of the spaces. In 1929, during her participa-
tion at the first C.I.R.P.A.C. Congress (Comité
= International pour la Réalisation des Problèmes
d’Architecture Contemporaine) hold in Basel, she
A new composition was able to exhibit the features of an extremely
happy artistic and cultural situation, in Poland,
Residential housing layouts since the “Praesens” had already found an in-
stitution, the “W.S.M.” (Residential Varsaviana
New systems for the collective life Cooperative), with which to start the construction
of popular housing (Chionne, 2005). The partici-
As result of this equation, the choice to pation of Helena Niemirowska was particularly
unify three ways of conceiving space, through active in the meetings of C.I.A.M., starting from
the synergy among the material, color and spatial the second Congress hold in Frankfurt in 1929,
modeling of proposed by “Praesens”, turned into organized in line with the topics on the compact
necessity in the idea that Helena had about the apartments, until becoming, between 1948 and
field of architecture, through a synthesis of these 1954, vice-president of C.I.A.M., fighting for
three kind of art. the establishment of functionalist principles in
But experiences like those of “Blok” and Stalinist Poland (Belgioioso, 2007).
“Praesens” were not the only ones to show the In 1949 she has been called by the Institute of
change that occurred within the architectural Architecture and Design of Warsaw and in 1955
scene of the Polish capital. Indeed, in the same became professor at the Warsaw University of
year, arose another organization, the “S.A.P.” Technology, obtaining in 1979 the title of Emeritus
(Stowarzyszenie Architektow Polskich, that is the Professor. She was also an active representative of
Association of Polish Architects), which gathered the Jewish women of Poland, so that, after World
the younger architects who had refused to join War II became the first president of the Jewish
the “Kolo Architektow”, the Circle of Architects. Women League, aiding in hiding to flee to Israel
Helena Niemirowska was among the participants many Polish children.
in this protest moment, along with, among others, The project here is taken into account in
Bohdan Pniewski, Brukalski, Lech Niemojewski, order to deepen the socio-architectural attitude
Wladyslaw Czerny, Maksymilian Goldberg. of Helena Niemirowska is the most emblematic,
In 1927, Helena went back to Stuttgart, where though, it has silently remained on the paper of
had took place the international exhibition on resi- her own architectural thinking, the “Symultaniczy
dence, “The contemporary apartment” (wohnung Theatre”, of 1927, also called the “Theatre of the
der Neuzeit). There she visited the Weissenhof Future”: a simultaneous theater, so in motion, that
residential neighborhood, designed by the German would allow to respond to the different issues of
Werkbund and conceived as an exhibition of new the theatrical scene, through advanced technolo-
trends in architecture. gies and new kinetic effects. The main objectives
To this situation were added the topics deal pursued by Helena were that of flexibility, freedom
with the quarterly modernist “Praesens” on the of movement and union between the audience and
social functions of the new architecture. Indeed, the theater scene: the theater structure had been
with her husband, she led the project, with the conceived as a whole with the public area, thus
“Praesens” group, of the summer residence type derogating from the traditional separation stage/
of Warsaw in Rakowiec between 1930 and 1939, audience. The project was developed together
suggesting the steel structure for the modulariza- with Andrzej Pronaszko15 and has been designed

538
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according to the theoretical principles of the Total of the audience in a unison story that edified the
Theatre by Walter Gropius of 192716. body, transforming it into an element of which
The idea of a space with separated areas of the art would be served. One can deduce that the
activities, where you can perform various actions, “Symultaniczny Theatre” project deal both with
was at that time an especially innovative architec- architecture issues and the possibility of transform-
tural concept. In 1933, adapting the theater project ing the stage on the basis of the latest technological
in the district of Żoliborz, Helena tried to achieve innovations of performance (Figure 13).
what would have remained only the idea of “Sy- The reading of the drawings that have defined
multaniczny Theatre”. The theater was deprived the project in this study and the analysis of the
of the stage, the performance for the spectators re-drawn spaces for graphical interpretation, have
were defined through a free configuration of the led to the virtual modeling phase of theatric envi-
space consisted of a circular structure that led to ronments that becomes the ending point and the
a rotary motion. Thus, the stage of this scenic and starting one for a new understanding of the project.
architectural machine was able to rotate and have Two plants (ground floor and second floor), on
different configurations depending on the arrange- which are identified the spaces through a numerical
ment that it had to be carried out (Figure 12). progression (1 to 58) and a section (in which the
The walls, which were also changeable and ar- numerical progression ends with the number 79, in
ranged to screenings, were a flexible scenic device, correspondence of the covering) show the unique
which would offer the public a surprising effect three-dimensionality which the imagination can
of convertible space. By the displacement of the use for the knowledge of those spaces that have
action from a scenic location to another one, during been identified in plan representations, through
the theatric representation and through a system of the process of graphical interpretation, with the
projections and cinematographic machines placed development of further horizontal sections and
in various positions, the walls and the covering the study of the geometrical relationships from
could become figurative scenes in motion too. In which, probably, it would have been developed the
this project, Helena thought to change the relation- project. The aim is to show the development of the
ship between the audience and the stage, offering audience and its relationship with the curved roof.
a drawing of the theater that aimed to integrate The vertical section has been supplemented by
as much as possible this relationship, hoping to additional sections that show the dynamic-theatric
get a complete focus on both the audience and relationship created between the spectators and the
the actors and eliminating any disturbance. The actors; indeed, two large rotating discs (identified
main objective was to harmonize the stage and by the numbers 54 and 55) are the only real edge/
the auditorium combining them in such a way as contact between the moving action and the stage
to drive viewers to the area where the show has structure. The large covering structure, consisting
moved, thus creating a theater structure conceived of a system of “blades”, which probably takes up
to obtain quick changes of scene and avoid breaks the idea of theater in motion by Gropius, is left
due to the use of the curtain. The entire building exposed in its rhythmic scanning, interrupted
was constituted by three-dimensional means, that only by the arrangement of beams of secondary
replaced the two-dimensional figurative effects frame and incorporated, in the lower part, by a
of traditional theater. In this way, the place itself curved wall, right where it corresponds with the
of the performance, resolved in the changing and scene, as to emphasize the need to create an open
illusory space of imagination, was transformed dialogue between a rotating stage (probably as
into the scenic space in which the thoughts and metaphor of a constantly changing society) and
imagination of the director, melted with the spirit a curved “hat”, emptied from fictions (metaphor

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Figure 12. Elevations, perspective sections, views of the inside and plan of sixth floor
(E. Sabella).

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Figure 13. Graphical analysis of the plan of ground floor, longitudinal section and 3d model
(E. Sabella).

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 Female Architecture

of the social reality told through the play). The the auditorium at different speeds and in every
covering structure develops from a pentagonal direction; furthermore, to avoid the noise due
base-figure, traced on the geometry of the plan, to the rotation of the stage, the rings would be
which inscribes the outer towers of vertical con- wetted with a special liquid. At the stage, have
nections and entrances. been placed trap doors that gave the possibility to
The “Symultaniczny Theatre” project would rotate the stage in a multi-directional way: circular
assumed enormous dimensions, especially rela- (through the rings of the stage), rotary (via the
tive to the auditorium area, which had 3000 seats, mobile stage) and vertical (through the trap doors).
thanks to the absence of fixed stage and the cur- The auditorium at the center of the space and the
tain one, but especially the inclusion of a mobile stage, around it, followed the principles based
circular stage which gave to the entire project a on the unity space of the theatre: entrance to the
modern architectural shape and the maximum scene from the auditorium and flexibility of stage.
functionality of the building. The idea had been Two-thirds of both rings of the stage were visible
certainly influenced both by the works of Leon by spectators while a third one remained hidden
Schiller17 and the architectural reform of Le Cor- beneath the amphitheater auditorium. Each area
busier, but particularly by the “Total Theatre” of dedicated to the scenography and laboratories had
Walter Gropius, from which she drew inspiration, to be located below the amphitheater, the purpose
however, changing the solution and bringing back was to prepare the scene in the area under the
to the idea of an in-motion stage designed by amphitheater and then organizing theatric objects
Oskar Strand18. above the mobile rings. The stage was designed
The “Symultaniczny Theatre” project was an so that each area was visible in the same way and
emblematic example of architecture based on the the inclined surface of the ceiling constructed so
modern concept of spatial unity of the theater, fi- that the sound waves echo would have created the
nally breaking the relationship with the traditional effect of higher actors voices than the real ones.
independent structure of the auditorium in favor The directors, actors and other people involved in
of sharing space between actors and audience, the management of the theater, which allowed to
through the construction of two coaxial rings use dedicated entrances to make the distribution
that moved around the entire auditorium. The spaces more flexible, giving the whole system
modernity of this solution was in the technologi- of the building of separate dressing rooms, ticket
cal innovation of common spaces, covered with office and stairs (Figure 14).
a vaulted roof, whose curvature was designed The “Symultaniczny Theatre” had thought
according to the methods of acoustic design of as a large theater for shows based on the Polish
Gustave Lyon19: the mobile stage, electronically romantic drama, which is why the inside of the
managed and the lighting system, became the theater, ultimately rejected the tradition of the
basic elements of the set. stage as a separated space from the audience, in
Helena, according to her project idea, con- favor of a repositioning of the spectators who,
ceived the stage divided into two parts: one fixed perceiving the space in its simplicity, they were
and the other one in motion. The former, consist- guided to the spaces that told them new stories
ing of the main stage (also called “thrust stage”) of a new life.
and the proscenium, where playing traditional The theatre machine of Helena Niemirowska
configurations of the theater; the second, in mo- can definitely be considered one of the experiences
tion, deduced from Gropius’ idea of a circular that have given the start to the creation of multi-
stage that literally surrounds the auditorium, media environments and have started the process
consisting of two rings that could turn around of immersion in the theater scene (Figure 15).

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Figure 14. Exploded view, axonometric and perspective sections

(E. Sabella).

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Figure 15. Isometric cross-section, views of the inside and analysis of harmonic geometric relationships
of the two elevations
(E. Sabella).

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Female Architecture

Her experimental design represents a new by Nietzsche, which represents the awakening
chapter of modern Warsaw architecture, through of man from the circularity of time, through the
which the young and avant-garde pioneer of the cyclical repetition of what has already been, for
Modern Movement, expressed the strength of plas- the birth of the “Űbermensch” (The Overman).
tic volumes and spaces designed according to the The re-drawing process, hand in hand with the
most innovative technologies for the “avant-garde study of the life of Helena Niemirowska and her
theaters”. The conjectural equation proposed by cultural and architectural influences, has provided
Helena, along with “Praesens”, on the supremacy a further key to understanding this emblematic
of the community than the individualistic practice figure of the cultural ferment in Poland, a Pol-
and that until that time had defined the traditional ish avant-garde woman and pioneer of modern
Polish architecture profile, it was the mix of all theories on social architecture. Helena had ranged
the principles of Russian avant-garde within the from proposals for the urban proposals on War-
neo-modern Warsaw architecture. Her project saw Planning to housing designed in detail; from
for a “simultaneous theater” had involved the working-class neighborhoods of Tegal Baru to a
avant-garde painting and sculpture issues, in favor simultaneous theatre. Through her architectural
of theatrical dialogue between the stage and the thinking, what another piece of the history of
rotating auditorium, definitely reflecting inno- modern architecture, remained hidden into the
vations in theater-audience relationship and the scenes of a not-existing theater, she had proposed
development of artistic avant-garde movements, an idea of architectural organization toward the
to then being translated into an changeable enter- kinetic effect of the avant-garde theater, putting in
tainment. In addition, the spatial organization of the middle of a scene new space, that of a unison
this project, responded to social functions, along movement and of the scene no longer separated
with a genuine form of political theater, as it was from the other functional areas of the theater
happening in post-revolutionary Russia and the building: indeed it became element of social
Weimar Republic. organization and synthesis of all the arts.
The main objective had been that to establish
the structure of the theater created in order to
achieve quick changes of scenery avoiding the CONCLUSION
breaks of the shows due to the use of the curtain
and leading spectators to the area where the en- The representation allows the “verification” of
tertainment moved. Probably the will, together architectural design and add a few words, even
with the fundamental need to conceive the theater shyly, in what has been already written. The criti-
as sacred space, it can be realized through the cal drawing is a necessary tool to the knowledge
rigorous abolition of the closed shelves and the of the architectural heritage that is not made up
adoption of an auditorium capable of guarantee- only of what has been realized but is made by all
ing the egalitarian conditions available through that allows the reading and analysis of a figura-
the public arrangement in different relationship tive thinking.
with the scene. “Privileged instrument of architectural criti-
Moreover, the idea contained within the theater, cism is the drawing of graphical analysis that
of the social transformation of that time, given provides contributions of knowledge that cannot
through the circular motion of the two rings that provide the only original graphics, the old pictures,
eliminate the hierarchical separations to get to the project reports and critical essays. An architecture
“New Man” proposed by “Praesens”, might find can detect a large proportion of its meaning if
correspondence in the dream of Zarathustra, told subjected to specific analysis techniques that the

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drawing can execute in accordance with the formal, Bontempelli, M. (1938). L’avventura novecentista.
constructive and language characteristics. This Florence, IT: Vallecchi.
is not a “reading” of the architectonic text but of
Boscolo, A. (2005). Le trasformazioni urbane di
graphics operations of re-drawing and of revival of
Varsavia nel Novecento. Rome: Carocci.
figurative reasons of its visible conformation. The
graphical operations don’t intended to substitute Carpo, M. (1998). L’architettura dell’età della
to the critical processing, made with the use of stampa. Oralità, scrittura, libro stampato e ripro-
verbal language, but intend to bring contributions duzione meccanica dell’immagine nella storia
for understanding shapes that are analyzed with delle teorie architettoniche. Milan, IT: Jaca Book.
the same language - the drawing - which serves
Chionne, R. (2005). Blok e Praesens. Dagli ideali
to communicate the forms of space. Graphical
del costruttivismo alla sperimentazione funzio-
digital analysis doesn’t replace but assists verbal
nale. In Parlagreco, S. (Ed.). Costruttivismo in
criticism, it is extraordinarily useful in the inter-
Polonia (199-229). Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
pretation of missing buildings or ever built. for
which it’s not possible any direct verification in Colomina, B. (Ed.). (1992). Sexuality and Space.
order to understand the formal and spatial values. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press.
The three-dimensional model built in digital
Dotto, E. (1997). Le tracce dell’invenzione. Il
model is not only a virtual image of the building,
progetto per il convento delle Domenicane a Media
is the only possible image and the only existential
di L. I. Kahn. Palermo, IT: University of Palermo.
reality. Digital models return to the unrealized
architecture a form of existence that make them Fasolo, V. (1956). Analisi grafica dei valori ar-
becoming verifiable objects the same way as those chitettonici. Rome, IT; University of Rome.
built; the graphical interpretation could, ultimately,
Gaiani, M. (2011). Presentazione. In F. Maggio,
lead to their eventual rebuilding, as is the case of
Eileen Gray. Interpretazioni grafiche (pp. 9-17).
other temporary constructions of large exhibition
Milan, IT: Franco Angeli.
(first of all the Barcelona Pavilion by Mies), but
without reaching to this end it is above all for the Klosiewicz, L. (2005). Il costruttivismo e
identification of figurative matrices of the project l’architettura polacca del XX secolo. In S. Par-
which is carried out the operational and critical lagreco (Ed.), Costruttivismo in Polonia (pp.
value of graphical analysis” (Pagnano, 2008). 157–198). Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
Lange, C. (2007). Ludwig Mies van der Rohe &
REFERENCES Lilly Reich. Ostfildern, GE: Hatje Cantz Verlag.
Mc Leod, M. (1987). Charlotte Perriand: her first
Belgioioso, L. (2007). Il C.IA.M. di Bergamo e Le decade as a designer. In AA Files, 15, 3-13.
Corbusier. In Le Corbusier in Italia (pp. 59–72).
Rimini: Maggioli Editore. Mc Leod, M. (Ed.). (2003). Charlotte Perriand:
An art of living. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams
Bellani, P. (2005). Scenografie del moderno. In with the Architectural League of New York.
Parametro, 257(35), 44-47.
Mc Leod, M. (2004). Perriand. Reflections of
Benjamin, W. (1920), Il compito del traduttore. Feminism and Modern Architecture. In Harvard
In aut aut, 334(2007), 7-20. Design Magazine, 20.

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McQuaid, M. (1996). Lilly Reich. Designer and KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS
architect. New York, NY: MOMA.
Critical Analysis: Architectural text reading
Mies van der Rohe, L. (1947). Policy of the Stutt- operation through the decomposition of the shapes
gart Exposition. In P. Johnson (Ed.), Mies van der and recognition of their meanings.
Rohe (p. 188). New York, NY: MOMA. Digital Archive: The set of selected interpre-
Migliari, R. (Ed.). (2008). Prospettiva dinamica tive digital representations of drawings in the
interattiva. Rome, IT: Kappa. archives.
Female Architecture: Architectural produc-
Pagnano, G. (2008). Presentazione. In F. Mag- tion of designer preferably not team performed.
gio & M. Villa, Architettura demolita (pp. 7-10). Graphical Analysis: Architectural text reading
Palermo, IT: Edizioni Caracol. operation with redrawing operations and figurative
Parlagreco, S. (Ed.), Costruttivismo in Polonia reasons revival of its visible structure.
(pp. 157–198). Torino: Bollati Boringhieri. Interpretation: Representations that have the
key role to act as a theoretical speculation support
Perriand, C. (2003). A life of creation: an autobi- on the space shapes.
ography. New York, NY: Monacelli Press. Redrawing: Scientific knowledge of an archi-
Pierluisi, G. (2006). Il Danteum di Terragni. In tecture and its meaning.
M. Unali (Ed.), Lo spazio digitale dell’architettura Translation: Not impersonal operation of
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Purini, F. (1979). Il triangolo del disegno. In

Piranesi nei luoghi di Piranesi (p. 176). Rome, ENDNOTES
IT: Palombi Editore.
1
Further studies of graphical analysis have had
Quici, F. (2006). Estetiche del digitale. In M. Unali
their continuation in the Roman academic
(Ed.), Lo spazio digitale dell’architettura italiana
culture, in the Mario Docci research work,
(pp. 227-229). Rome, IT: Kappa.
subsequently reaching refined research of
Schleuning, S., & Aynsley, J. (2007). Moderne: Piero Albisinni.
Fashioning the Modern French Interior. New 2
The paragraph about Charlotte Perriand is
York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press. written by Alice Franchina; the paragraphs
Architecture digital interpretation, Unbuilt
Wilson, K. (2006) about Charlotte Perriand: An
digital archive and Lilly Reich is written by
art of living and A life of creation. In Studies in
Francesco Maggio with Introduction, Back-
the Decorative Arts, 13(2), 111-115.
ground and Conclusion; the paragraph about
Woolf, V. (1929). A Room of One’s Own. London, Helena Niemerowska-Syrkus is written by
England: Hogarth Press. Retrieved July 12, 2014, Starlight Vattano.
from http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/w/woolf/ 3
Furthermore, in this period, Perriand is very
virginia/w91r close to the Communist Party and in this
adhesion occurs a convergence with profes-
sional field with political convictions: the
construction of Centrosoyuz of Le Corbusier
in Moscow was the real possibility of car-
rying out many of the ideas that germinated

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 Female Architecture

in the atelier of Rue des Sèvres. Perriand’s genereted a proportion” (Perriand, 2003,
visit in Moscow in 1930 will contribute to p. 27).
her intellectual growth in a decisive way: “I 8
Perriand had divorced in 1932.
had quite naturally moved from my “bar sous 9
Perriand met Jacques Martin, High Com-
le toit” to architecture, enriched by Le Cor- missioner of the French Navy, in French
busier’s thinking and vision of the golden age Indochina in 1943, and had, in the same year,
that we believed was within reach, provided the daughter Pernette.
we devoted ourselves to the cause. However, 10
At this regard, Mary Mc Leod (2004) refers
my trip to the Soviet Union brutally opened the think of Perriand (collected during an
my eyes to what was simmering beneath the interview in June 1997) compared to some
world’s surface: the shadow of Hitlerism on theses advanced by Beatriz Colomina (Co-
one hand and the aftermath of the Communist lomina, 1992).
Revolution in the Soviet Union on the other. 11
Lilly Reich had previously edited the fol-
I was unable to process all the information, lowing exhibitions: Haus der Frau (House
but had input everything - that was already of Woman) in 1914, Kunsthandwerke in der
quite a lot” (Perriand, 2003, p. 45). Mode (Handicraft manufacture fashion) in
4
Le Corbusier, as Mary Mc Leod observes 1920, Die Forms (The Shape) in 1924, Von
(2003), among other reasons, chose not by der Faser zum Gewebe (From the fiber to
chance a woman to take care of the interior: the fabric) in 1926 and Die Wohnung (The
he needed someone who was familiar with house) in 1927.
domestic problems, the logistic issues related 12
The drawings attached the text have been
to the management of the house and needs made by Domenico Migliore.
of those ones who lived the house longer, 13
Polish painter of Jewish origin, was born in
i.e. women. 1855. He lived and worked in Paris since
5
Répertoire du goût moderne, (1928-1929). 1922. He was one of the pioneers of the New
Paris, France: Éditions Albert Lévy. Some Classicist Movement of the twenties and
layouts, among which those ones of Perriand, thirties. In 1922 he settled in Paris, coming
are given in Schleuning & Aynsley, 2007. back in Poland every year. In the same year
6
The previous version consisted of a similar co-founded the Rythm (RYTM) Association
system: the built structure was a C, and the of Polish Artist, which members spread the
idea of the tent was materialized by a large classical style in Polish art of twenties. His
tarp stretched in the inner court, which con- paintings were exhibit at the Art and Tech-
veyed rainwater to a central point with a tank nology International Exhibition in Paris in
below. To this project refer a perspective and 1937 and at the World Expo in New York in
axonometric. 1939. He died in the Warsaw ghetto in 1942.
7
The fact that Perriand frequently referred 14
Katarzyna kobro, Jozef Szanajca e Bohdan
to the golden ratios in the composition, is Lachert were among the first to join at
witnessed by herself in a passage of autobi- Praesens group, in the last years would be
ography: “Architecture is musical. Le Cor- added, coming from different experiences,
busier created the “Modulor”, that harmonic Barbara Brukalska, Stanislaw Brukalski,
mathematical measure based on the Golden Andrzej Pronaszko, Marian Jerzy Malicki.
Mean. I use it and feel comfortable with it. 15
Andrzej Pronaszko (1888 - 1961) was a Pol-
Systematically reapiting a numer has never ish painter and scenographer, one of the main
exponents of the Young Poland Movement ad

548
Female Architecture

of the Polishes vanguards of the twenties and of Architecture). Strnad was particularly
thirties. During Poland occupation he was interested in the interior design and in the
member of Polish Resistence and director painting used in theatre and film objects.
of the Department of Microphotography at In 1918 drawn the project for the Rundthe-
Bureau of Information and Propaganda of ater (the rotating theatre) with his student
Armia Krajowa. After the war Pronaszko Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky. In 1923 Strnad
became teacher at the Academy of Theatre designed the Drei-Szenen-Theater (three
of Warvaw (Akademia Teatralna). scenes theatre), consisting of a stage divided
16
The Total Theatre idea arose in 1927 from into three parts with a circular auditorium.
the collaboration between Walter Gropius 19
Gustave Lyon was an acoustics architecture
and Erwin Piscator with the aim to develop pioneer. He specialized in the orthophony of
a project to create a theatre that overcame the concert and conference halls and was often
traditional fixed structure of the stage and called by architects to correct the acoustic
drawn a space that unified the whole parts of of some spaces. He worked on the upgrad-
the theatre: scenography deep, proscenium ing of acustic at the Palais de Chaillot in
and central area of the scene. Paris and of others halls in France, Algeria,
17
Leon Jerzy de Schildenfeld Schiller (1887 Belgium, Switzerland and Chile. His studies
- 1954) was a Polish producer, scholar of allowed him to identify fundamentals laws
theatre, actor, singer, and exhibition designer of echo, resonance of the sound reinforce-
since he was young. He was particularly at- ment and noise suppression. Since 1925 to
tracted by the fascination of primitive popular 1927, he also worked in the inside of Salle
and religious theatre. Pleyel in rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré in
18
Oskar Strnad (1879 - 1935) was Austrian Paris, upgrading its acoustics, decoration
architect, designer, scenography designer and configuration, such as it was considered
and sculptor. Together with the Austrian revolutionary during the inauguration in
architect Josef Frank created the Wiener 1927.
Schule der Architektur (Viennese School

549