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FrancoPurini:StudyofArchitecturalElements(1968)
October 12, 2014 by fosco lucarelli 1 Comment
The number 11-12 (Nov-Dec 1972) of Italian architecture magazine Controspazio presented a retrospective of the earliest
design researches by the couple Franco Purini / Laura Thermes.
The article was part of an ongoing series titled LarchitetturaInterrotta (Interruptedarchitecture) and the same
issue featured another retrospective dedicated to arch. Ludwig Leo that we already featured on Socks.


ME DI A A R T A R C HI T E C T UR E C UL T UR E S OUNDS
T E R R I T OR I E S T E C HNOL OGY
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Study of the relation between the base, the volumes and the linear elements; analysis of a process of construction;
axonometries related to the phases of the definition of the building.
The (then) relatively young Purini and Thermes, architects, teachers and writers, have started a collaboration since 1966 after
studing with Ludovico Quaroni at the Faculty of Architecture of Rome La Sapienza and working with both Maurizio
Vittorio Gregotti. Their work, based upon the practice of the architecturaldrawing, confronts the lines of
rationalism and of the classical tradition with suggestions of metaphysical character. Their recognition came, rather than from
the built work, after participating to the very first Venice Biennale of Architecture (1980) when they were called by Portoghesi
(also director of Controspazio) to contribute, along with other renowned architects, to the design of the Strada Novissima
The following drawings are from one of the paragraphs of the Controspazio retrospective, titled 1968. Studio di elementi
1968.Studyofarchitecturalelements). The following introduction was written in Italian by Franco Purini.
ln these drawings it is attempted a classification of typical situations in the relationship between the volume
(cube), the plane and the linear element, in a hypothesis of architectural composition as a form of notation or
The cube, the base, the linear element (column, tower), the wall are the pieces of a series of formal connections,
in an elementary formulation of the construction, referring particularly to the theme of the trilithon.
The reduction of the objects (elements) to a limited number, the classification by sections of their relations, the
construction of space as coexistence of these objects and as a ratio with respect to a reference plane (base or
wall), allows to set up a description of the composition based on a closed number of propositions, in an attempt
to constrain the project by forcing the comparison with a series of primary preordinate situations.
The central reference is to the structure of a classical temple and to the special connection that is built into it
among the constituent elements.
In this hypothesis it is present the reference to the construction site (as the place of technological practice),
whose functional processes are interpreted in their succession and in the order of the artefacts (the base, the wall
that defines it in the elevation, the superimposed trilith) that are produced there.
The analysis by parts of the building tends to express this growth through additions of finite objects. That makes
it possible to rethink the constructiveprocess within a series of stages, each determined in its own formal
autonomy. (translated from Italian by Socks)
ln queste tavole si tentata una classificazione di situazioni tipiche del rapporto tra il volume (il cubo), il piano e
lelemento lineare, in una ipotesi di composizione architettonica come una forma di notazione o scrittura .
Il cubo, il basamento, lelemento ad andamento lineare (colonna, torre), il muro sono i pezzi di cui si propongono
alcune connessioni formali in una formulazione elementare della costruzione , riferita particolarmente al tema
dellimpianto trilitico.
La riduzione degli oggetti (elementi) ad un numero limitato, la classificazione per sezioni dei loro rapporti, la
costruzione dello spazio come compresenza di questi oggetti e come rapporto rispetto ad un piano di
riferimento (basamento 0 muro), permette di istituire una descrittiva della composizione basata su un
numero chiuso di proposizioni, nel tentativo di condizionare il progetto obbligando al confronto con una serie di
situazioni primarie preordinate.
Il riferimento centrale alla struttura del tempio classico e alla particolare connessione che si costruisce in esso
tra gli elementi costitutivi.
presente in questa ipotesi il riferimento al cantiere (come luogo della pratica tecnologica), i cui procedimenti
funzionali sono interpretati nella loro successione e nellordine dei manufatti (il basamento, il muro che lo
definisce in alzato, il trilite sovrapposto) che vi si producono.
Lanalisi per pezzi della costruzione tende ad esprimere questa crescita per addizioni di oggetti finiti. Cio
permette di ripensare il procedimento costruttivo dentro una serie di fasi determinate ciascuna nella
propria autonomia formale.
Clickonsomeoftheimagestoenlarge.
Classification through sections of spatial situations
Project for a lamellar skyscraper (perspectives, elevations and sections)
Project for a lamellar skyscraper (perspectives, elevations and sections)
Study of the attack situations between volumes and base. Relationships in elevation between base, plates (walls) and linear
elements (pillars, gates, towers)
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Tagged With: drawings Architecture, Art
pv says
October 13, 2014 at 6:13 pm
this was very good from Purini, at that time he did very interesting work which was influenced by the Roman
architect Maurizio Sacripanti (with whom Purini collaborated) and the painter Gastone Novelli. However compared to
these references, Purini was much more abstract and to a certain extent he anticipated both Eisenmans early houses
and the work of Japanese anti-metabolist architects such as the great Hiromi Fuji.
To see these projects makes one wondering what happened to Purini after. How someone who could do this amazing
work could have design such horrible stuff, like the Casa del Farmacista in Gibellina and even worst the Eurosky
tower in Rome.
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