HV Pavillon

The house designed by architects Alice Gardini and Nicola Gibertini can aptly be called a fine example of the maturity achieved by Italian architecture in the last 15 years. Gardini and Gibertini are both part of what could be described as the first generation of “Italian plus” architects who consider measuring up to what is happening in other European countries as essential to their professional development. The comparisons turned out, in fact, to be less discouraging than when viewed from Italy, especially if the Italian architecture considered is in the modern tradition of architects like Ignazio Gardella, Luigi Caccia Dominioni, Franco Albini, Adalberto Libera etc. Indeed, a significant section of European architecture has developed on the strength of the basic tenets of modern Italian architecture. What are these basic tenets? A clearly-defined floor plan, with a predilection for what Ernst Gombrich called “the sense of order”; critical respect for the building’s context, which in turn requires that materials be used in compliance with their essential nature; and a restrained use of technology, which should always be a function of the general character of the construction. Lastly, I would add, an inclination for what could be defined as “measured departures from the norm”: eccentric touches which, however, are never flights of fancy for their own sake.

Twenty years ago, architecture seemed to be going in a completely opposite direction. This was the time of deconstructivism, a concept born of the association of architecture and design in the search for a wow effect able to captivate an ever-growing general public. But as everyone knows, tastes swing like a pendulum and the enthusiasm for the outlandish, the unconventional and the irreverent of 20 years ago has been replaced by an enthusiasm for the opposite: the ordinary, the conventional, and the respectful, which seems to guide much of European...

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