Superstudio Life Without Objects

11 Only Architecture Will Be O u r Lives

Peter Lung and \Y/ill~ar~ Menkiig 31

Suicidal Desires

Peter Long 53

The Revolt of the Object

~vrllifl~>r r~Ier1kir1g 65

Memories of Superstudio

Cristiarro k r a l d o d i Frarrcia 73

A House of Calm Serenity Adolfo Na~alini

79 Journey to the End of Architecture

Piero Frassirrelli 84

Reflected Architecture Superstudio: Historic Projects

95 119

1 9 6 6 6 8 . Superarchitecture: to the Rescue! 1969-71. Superprojects: Objects. Monuments, Cities

175

1972-73. Superesistcnce: Life and Death

213

1974-78. Supersimple: Elementary Architecture

228

Superstudio: Biographies

229

Superstudio: Exhibitions and Bibliography

Peter b n g

Only Architecture Will Be Our Lives

a ~ i dI V ~ l l t a mMenk~ng

111 thore years i t becarrrc uery clear that 10 contirrue t o dcsigr~ fiirrrrrr~re,ob~ecrsarrd similar household decorariotrs ruas rro solutiorr t o problnrrs of liuirrg arrd 1101 euerr t o those of life, arrd cue12 less could i t serue t o save one's otun soul.. . I t becarrre clear that rro beautrfication or c o s ~ ~ ~ e~rui ce r entfficiio7t t o rerrredy the darlrage of tinre, the errors ofnrarr arrd the bestiality of architecture.. . The oroblern therefore was that o f irrcreasirr~delac/~rrrenl frorrz , those activities ofdesigrr adopting perhaps the theory ofrrrinirrral force i n a ~ e r r e m"process l of rrdrrctiorl".

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For those w l ~ o like , ourrelues, are conuirrced that arcl~itecturcis one ofthefew wags t o realize cosrrric order on earth, t o put thir~gs

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frrture irr w h i c l ~a l l arcl~itec~ure tuill be created w i t h a s i r ~ ~oct, le

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frorrr a srrigle desrgn capable o f c l a r r ~ r n gonce arrd for a l l the rrrotiue.r ruhich have irrdrrced rrran t o build dolrrrens, nrrtlhirs, pyrarrrids, and bstly t o trnce (ultirrra ratio) n luhrre line rn the desert. SUPERSTUDIO, The Corrfirruous Morrunrenr: Atr Arrhirec~ural Model for Total Urbanrzation, 196Y

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t o order arrd abouc a l l t o affirtrr hrrrrrarrityi capacityfor acting accordir~gl o reasorr, it is a "rrroderate utopia" t o frrragirre a riear

In ,ronl

most g r a p h ~ caspects of these 1960s protagonists to today's pub11c The collect~veshows lack, ho\r,ever, suffic~entspace to explore ~ndlv~dual groups or speclfic actlons In greater deta~l'Though the many e ~ h ~ b ~ t l and o n sdustrated catalogues have done a respectable

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job of d ~ s s e m l n a t l nand ~ consequently revlvlng the works of a predoni~nanrlvEuropean Rdd~calarchttecture movement over the last

the world's apparently boundless resources is now having to fight to retain that dubious right. And just as Italy's cconomic miracle

mary materials from this period are simply hard to come by: This is particularly unfortunate for SUI'BKIUDIO who seem to have acquired the role as the Radical movement's cover-child.' Scant little

ning of the new millennium. N o better moment, then, to turn back the pages of history to that previous era when a similarly ample crisis ripped through rhe world economies: welcome to Italy in the

understanding SUPEIISTUDIO'S provenance and the group's relationship to the many cultural currents evolving through the European avant-garde in the 1960s. Since none of these takes place in the distant past, most of the original protagonists are still very active on the scene, though their current identities are not always transparently linked to their epic endeavours of youth. While clearly a thirty-year hiatus suggests a certain amount of aging many of the principal actors remain highIv enereetic and active in the field while their works remain tucked

we are ironically trawling into a new kind of pop-~rpculture! What remains to be seen, however, is whether the recent 1960s' revival emerging in the schools and in some of the more progressive of- $ P fices goes beyond mere fashion trends.' H A definitive and momentous transformation took place in the design and architectural environment by the late 1960s: the increasingly debilitating crisis in Modernist architecture would find some of its most laconic last acts played out on the drawing boards :, ~reciselvhere in Florence. Each group challenged and eventuallv

cia. Roberto Maeris. Piero Frassinelli and Alessandro Magris were

sewed to indoctrinate society into an irrelevant culture of con-

rators were trusted with their time and given open access to their remaining collection of projects and library. This publication has therefore been planncd and organizcd to seme as a portable reference focusing primarily on s u ~ e n s r u ~ r o ' s critical writings i ~ relation r to their better-known body of designs and architecture. O n e of the most unexpected conclusions we as curators can draw from our invo~vementwith SUI'ERSTUDIO is just how conscious the group was from the outset of the historical importance of its investigations: SUPElUTUDlO maintains an impressive archive that from the start nieticulously docutnents the unfolding process of its critical research. While it's evident upon examining the material presented here that their most renowned images describe the momentous steps in thc group's philosophical development, these inlages can only partly convey the complete historical passage. For this reason we have decided to initiate an operation of recovery, restituting in the process those projects and writings -critical texts and storyboards - that are far less familiar but entirely necessary in providing a more complete understanding of the group's oeuvre. 'l'he timing for this revived interest in the 1960s' counter-culture is not that arbitrary either: we are again at a point where the convergence of technology and consumeristn, in its current socalled free market state is spinning steadily out of control: the small percentage of the global population still able to command

evocative images, the series beginning in 1969 titled The Conlinuor~sMonumen~,spread its glacially translucent grid structures throughout entire regions of the planet enveloping buildings and entire cities, creating a monument to end all monuments. s u l m STUDIO'S renouncement of architecture, their conscious withdrawal from the perverse system based on the con~mercialisationof popular demand, was deliberately intended to strip architecture of everything except its most naked living truth.

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This publication is structured into two basic parts. Part I features the nvo curators' essays exanlining SUPEIUTUDIO'S history within the Florentine context ("Suicidal Desires", Peter Lang), and an essay on s u ~ e ~ u r u ~ rpenultimate o's moment on the larger international sccne ("The Revolt of the Object", William Menking), and includes the retrospective testimonials and critical reflections from three of S U I ~ E I ~ T U Dnlembers: IO'S Adolfo Natalini, Cristiano Toraldo di Francia and Piero Frassinelli. Part I1 is divided into the following four chapters: E the Rescue! 1. 196G68: S U I ' E W ~ C ~ ~ I C C I U ~to 2. 1969-71: SUI'Ellproj~ctr:Objects, Monuo1cnts, Cities 3. 1972-73: SUI'ERexlsle~lce: Life and Death 4. 1974-78: s u ~ > e ~ i ~ n Elementary ple: Architecture In Part I1 each chapter engages in a specific historical moment and providcs related documentation on SUI~E~STUDIO'S theoretical and

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practical responses. The goal is to publish the group's niost significant projects along with a related collection of images and their accompanying writings, storyboards and photos. While this publication is nor intended to become a catalogue raisonnk on the works of SUI>ERSTUDIO, it has been conceived as a work of consultation and reflection. Here every atteliipt has been made to pair significant texts and storyboards to their corresponding architectural projects. This introductory essay will navigate through some of the peak episodes that mark SUPERSTUDIO'S architectural pro-

the catchall phrase used to regroup the variety of tendencies that have aspired to shake off the liegemonic grip of modernist archius tecture in the 1960s. Radical architecture is an a m b i g ~ ~ omultive. lent term that suggests different and clearly contrasting meanings. Andrea Branzi, one of the founding members of Archizoom, writing in 1973, gave this impression on the breadth of Radical movement: "Today the term 'Radical' architecture assembles at the international level all of the eccentric experimentation with regard to the straight line of the profession: counterdesign, conceptual architecture, primitive technologies, eclecticism, iconoclasm, neodadism. nomadism..."' Gianni Pettena, another Radical player active at the time in Florence, insists on giving the movelnent a more sinuously fluid radiance, albeit with continental distinctions, weaving the 111g o r ~ o ~experiments ir of the Californian Radicals to the more self-conscious language emerging in England, Austria and Italy, whose works result from far deeper frustrations characterizing the profession in Europe.'" In effect. Pettena's panoramic view of the movement correctly depicts the international exchanges, through publications, encounters and exhibitions, while devoting considerably less time to the msny provincial accents buried in the chaos of translation, misreading, and local cultural wrangling. Finally Emilio Ambasz's conception for T h e Neru Dorncrtic Lorzdrcope makes the point that even \\,ithin Florentine circle of visionary architects there \\.ere several contradictory positions regarding the role of ilrchitecrurc and design -let alone radical politics. T h e weakness in establishing ;In umbrella definition for the Radical architecture movement therefore remains, we believe, in the often-contradictory positions held by these distinctive activist groups. The Radical bind between the groups does not necessarily imply that there were common denominators linking one to another, as clearly those who saw themselves as neodadists were not necessarily willing to also act as nomadisrs. Branzi's intent was to underscore just how insidiously the work of such a diverse num14 ber of subversive credos were penetrating the 1960s' mainstream

The quickest link between the two groups

SUPERSTUDIO

and

coming out of a particularly Florentine phenomenon that could, we

the scenes, the story of just how the two groups were founded is tied as much to circumstances as it was to a prescient vision.'' circle in the early 1960s, was asked by the Jolly gallery in Pistoia to mount a second show of his paintings in November 1966. In-

to Corretti, Paolo Deganello and Massimo Morozzi chose the des-

his exhibition manifesto.

16

first date would have turned out to be catastrophic. O n 4 November, an Italian national holiday, the Arno river overran its banks, flooding Florence and the rest of the valley. Natalini recounts how he found himself almost under water as he worked through the night on the graphics for the Modena exhibition poster." In need of a dry place ro work, Natalini went to his friend Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, who knew of a place to rent on high ground. Shortly aftenvards they founded together the first SupERSTuDlo office at Via Bellosguardo 1. SUPERSTUDIO really only appears in some kind of recognizable form some time after the second show in Modena, lagging a bit behind Archizoom." In fact, it would take roughly a year for Adolfo Natalini and Cristi:mo Toraldo di Francia to collectively gather their forces to give a philosophical foundation to SUPERSTUDIO. Natalini's thesis project on an art centre for Florence, begun in 1964 under the direction of Leonardo Savioli, influenced him to study Louis Kahn. From Kahn, Natalini immersed himself in the history of monuments, a work that he himself has qualified as a work benveen "pop and the monumental".'~oraldodi Franciak thesis presented in 1968, a "Machine for Vacations", represented a dialectical investigation into technology and the evolving social realm. In 1967 Roberto Magris entered the Bellosguardo office, adding his experience in working within the industrial design field. Piero Frassinelli joined SUPERSI'UDIO in early April 1968. Fmssinelli's university research combined anthropology with architecture, a background that provided him with exceptional skills in writing and storytelling.'' Over the course of 1967, SuPERSTuDIO laboured to establish three categories for future research: the "architecture of the monument"; the "architecture of the image"; and "tecnomorphic architecture". Natalini's 1966 thesis on the Palazzo dell'Arte served as the initial genesis for the group's work on the architecture of the monument, later developed with greater refinement in the competition for the Fortezza da Basso completed in 1967. The second category, on the architecture of the image, inspired the graphic-visual research behind the beguiling renderings that became the group's renowned signature. The architecture of the image provoked an extensive visual experimentation into techniques and appliques, appropriating from diverse sources, such as collage, pop art, cinema and dada.ln Toraldo di Francis's university thesis set the stage for a scientific-based research, using technology as an interface medium for architecture." From these preliminary three categories developed the first major critical project proposed by SUPERSTUDIO:the Journey info theRea11n ojReason, an illustrated storyboard created to serve as "maps for orientation ..." describing the unfolding relationship benveen natural and artificial environments. This pictorial exege-

/1 1

P~sloia.December 196G Adolo Nalalnl. Andrea Bran28 and Masslmo Morozz, ICr#rliano Toraldo dl Francla 1s laklng the p ~ c ~ u r e l

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2 6 progressive visions on man and his relation to the built environment. The storyboard narrative, already developed as a form

office, in that they attempted to create more than a semblance of a legitimate practice, while all the while seeking to enzlsperate the per" charged actions. The "super" code of conduct required that homes and offices of a prospecrive well-off clientele. They were "super-operators", and as such producers of designs and objects that would be over-loaded with symbolism and poetic content. As SUPERSTUDIO'S designs confounded the sense of scale and objective significance, the unsuspecting user \vould find him or herself bccoming part of the critical process of the design. The making and shaping of these objects were consistently related to bricolage techniques, assemblies from exisring manufactured productions, or adaptations from outside industries, such as

suporr~d~o tn ,ha vfa ~ C I I L

i

these subvers~veobjects they reallzed " l n ~ t ~ a t ea dnew level of con sumerlsm, and consequently another level of poverty" '"Havlng recoenlzed the futllltv of the strategy, S U P E ~ T U D I Oretrenched.

Mantcllato olllce 1981

1

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e m in had become powerful tool for all 11s bare slmJust l ~ k the pllclty, SUPERSTUDIO called for people " to live l ~ k eone long protest ", to engage In a life long " be in Every object has a 4 pract~calfunctlon and a contemplative one and ~tIS the latter that evasion d e s ~ g n1s seeklng to potentlate Thus there 1s an end to the $ 19th-century myths of reason as the explanation of everything, the 5 thousand varlat~onson the theme of the four leaned chalr, aero

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s u P c n s T u D r o made yet another leap foniard, abandoning the last

vestiges of a market-driven architecture, erasing once and for all

I

plest a physlcal bar graph, the addltlon of the histograms to the

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for other more pressing activities. "We prepared a catalogue of tri-dimensional non-contin"ous diagrams, a catalogue of histograms of architmure with reference to a grid transportable in diverse areas or scales for the edification of a nature both serene and immobile in mhich we might finally recognize (re-know) ourselves. From the catalogue of histograms followed effortlessly objects, furniture, environments and architecture... . But all these things didn't matter much, nor have they ever mattered much. The surface of such hisroarams was homo-

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were also called 'the tombs of the architects'"."

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with the four members posing at its base, and an owl in the forefront gliding straight towards the viewer. The image, a morbid group critique, nonetheless came in the shape of a riddle. A sort of death wish so beautiful and entrancing that the message really didn't seem to matter.

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nntive paran: CdiS. Dcyonp. "M~.moricao f ciun". ~n1.' Nuvoncand R. r m n i Print. 1972. 19). I~L. Urban Foturc", i n T. Orlztndini, Archr/c~!~,rd 1 Kad?c~lr.iblilun: Docu. aut~t.t~~iuoto. 'The Con- Riley. ed.. The (%d,igbrg 0 tinuourMonluuc~~t".Du,~~irrbc,lvu,rr.G~rrdc; \/I/iria,,un. tnenti di C;lr.thclla, 1974. (no. 481, Dccember 1969). Arcl~irccrrrriDnirm,,~g~/n,~,,14). Brrnri strc>serlin ;I rc~l,i(/r,c. ,r cent ~nrervieu,rh.1 It~clical ' 'I'he ~ u m "lndicitl", ~ f ~ r r ~r b c l l o r ~ w r d G i / ~ ~nne. Inrritut d i r r con- l e l i a n ro C n ~ l i r hfor thc qu~cklocriricire~hcmoveI C I ~ I ~ M ~ I > - ~,i(.,Jt~nuoryinternrrionsl journals and metx: 'IIo\r,e\,er. no erclliblay ZOO1 iBlrcclon;l: Di. magazines. l e c t ~ r e l 6~ O he L PIIS\YCI 10 agon;llc, 2001); D . Sourif, : Pop-ups ure thole n;~p t o o n ~ u c b n r c h i ~ e c ~ u r e . ~ e ed.,C,,:~rr,,,~?rd:Arrr ?brc,i. xlng lirrle lnrerner rdver- rerction of thc anti-archi,ru IY68-IY8Y, cxh~hirlon tisenlenrr chsr ere increar. rm~rof~iDirp.rl~~pri~sfuc.tr,dogue(Ilorrncc:iM&IM, ingly jumping onto the ~ i l ear the endless fondling 2002): 7'brCl~n,rgbigo/~/1~~computur screens. ofiirelev;mr rubdccicr rr chc Ava~ir-Gurdc, e x h i b i ~ i o l l " F o r n de~uileddircuns~on other excrmlc i n the orhcr on the contemporaly Icgil. mafizinm, though il is porC.ICJIO~~~, Ne\v York, Thc cy o f aut'altiruolo rec D , sibly Ins h r r n ~ f uonly l bcMureurn o f Modern Arr (New York: ,~~ostn. 2002). Rouillard. "Supcrr~udio: c u r e ir seldom gels builr.

hibir. concetved ro displt~y primsrily thusis projec,s. l'ct~.r L;mg, inturvieiv a.ir11 Adolfo h';t,;lli[~i iFlorcncu. I4 Decembcr 2002) " For rhe lncn>hcrs o f

1982. L.lng. inrcr!,iew wtrh Crnstl;~noTorsldo d i Fr.lncl;~ (Filotrfilno. 7 December 2002). : ' , u t ~ ~ a m o ~ "Invendon o,

:" I'erer

b~.com,ngits ~pllyscc~l em-

York:

bodimenr. This is onc oi rlie srgumcncr developer1 in Peter Lnnx's essay "Sui.

1973. X r 5 7 ) . " {hid ". lb,d

Anchor

Uookr.

to its soundrmck, and requires further res~omcion.

Irrrerplioi~~~u~,I~chitcc~~~r(~,

1r;llion voice avcr. !r.ilh soundrrack, producerl by

" lhrrl 248. "

rbrd 2.18--19.

32

Fascist regime contributed to the invention of Italian mass society, but did not construct a mass consumer culture. That \vould be the accomplishment of the post-war governments, whose laws were designed to promote private investments to the exclusion of all else. Private initiatives in housing were given a "free hand", urith no co~itrolsplaced on land uses, adequate service facilities like parks or parking lots, nor sufficient safety regulations to ensure proper building methods.' The results were catastrophic, with sl>eculative buildings spm\rrling randomly through the urban peripheries and under reinforced buildings tragically collapsing in known high-risk earthquake zones. Italians were becoming more mobile, more urban, more enatnoured with their object world, but adapting to this new consumer-oriented lifestyle inevitably meant ruptures to traditional habits. Economic expansion came late relative to other European countries, but the symptonls of estrangement among the post-war Italian middle classes bore the common traits of similar Western industrialized countries. The gro\\~ingprosperity within the Italinn society exposed ever-deepening rifts urithin the communities at large, as well as intergenerational conflicts. During the 1960s the student population in the national university system doubled to half a nill lion students, providing sufficient momentum behind the rise of a mass student culture.' This gradual slide towards social breakdown was brought into explicit view through the work of some of the country's most creative cinematographic artists. As Siegfied Kracauer noted, "the more life is submerged, the more it needs the artwork, which unseals its withdrawnness and puts its pieces back in place..."' Aesthetic manifestations depicting the general malaise of Italy's upwardly mobile classes and alieliated youth increasingly surfaced in the arts and in cinema by the mid-1960s. After La r l o b vita was released in 1960, Federico Fellini turned the camera on himself and his profession, creating in 1963 Eight and a Hnlf, a spectacularly personal inquiry and psychological confession on the existential state of cinema and society. Michelangelo Antonioni in his 1964 film Red Desert, constructed a spiritually deprived vision of postlinked to a devastated landscape war Iraly that was her~neticall~ of smog-choked fiactories and polluted landscapes. As the characters move with empty gestures through Red Desert's world of manufactured sensations, only a siren-like song seems to penetrate the ambient stupor. The primal recall remains an insidious reminder of a simpler past, a symbolic metaphor that would find its echo in the reflections on che builc environment among the young generation of architects who would form the nucleus of sUl%ls Y L c r i n (Ca~nbridpc,Mnsr.: t l n r -

1970 imld 19721, h u I~L I ~ I rrsctlich n.as oor get porriblc l a d o in l he school. l'eIcr Lang. inlcrrir\v x i t h hlc5smdro Poli Iflorcncc, Deccmher 20021.

and minorron~lccrionrbc. ' Ilornc war bombitrdcd I" ~\r,eenthcm, bo, rhcr were m d ;trotand #hc st;,. onlike Archiroom. who 11on ; ~ n d y;trds. mainly (corn he beginnin): e ~ l r ~ c ddrnluging t h e a . o r h p d;~u ns s right and Iamncliar r c ~ i d c ~ ~distTiCI ~ i i l l Of San group of fricndr or cohonr. L ~ ~ ~ ~ , ~ ~ . " According ro Irl.lrca L ,-fie,,,.een Grirpigni, sutdcnr> rcvolr. Conrinuilgnnd Crisis: t l i s r d bec;>oscthes were con- w r y md I'rojecc in L ~ l i ; ~ ~ rciously ;~s..trct h ~ soclcly r ArchlrccrurJ CUI,,,~~in ,Ilc \vould nor be sblc ro proP O ~ C Uperiod.., ,~~ 2~ (no, ridcthcm\\,i~hworkur rhc 15. B ; ~ C I ~ 2000. ~ J , 7).

.

M.

(;rispigni.

"GLWC~. (venice. ~ I . , C ~ , I , ~ .

~ r i o n e poliric;~ , c violenrn. 11 '6R a I < O ~ ~ "in , A.

Agarti. L. P;>,serln~,md N. Tr~tnfi~glin, edh. lri ' i r 1 r ; ~ m e i bragbr Jd '68 (Milan:

194-951.

1999.

,', so lirrle hiSroric ccnrre. in Lcr, can bc con.

3idered h i r ~ o r i ~ ~ l l ~ uc, bur for chc ~ c nmillion

denrr from a v;tri region from RcFSioCmilie. Genoa and thc South. ar well as r " Fontan2 (cit. 1951, '' IM. T;lfuri, H,rtnn,o/l/nl. largcnumbcrof fore~jinrnlimr Arrbiiecl,,rc, 1944dcncn O f the porriblc iuc198.7, rirnrl.JerricaLcvinc tors thsc lily behind Fla~ n c e ' rgrowing ppulnriry. (Cin,brdFe. M~rr.:Thc \r.nr orld admission by btlr Press. 1990. 71. " h l i n ~ o r cFanfmi \\,as ~ h e rhe school's prcridenr. national-levcl policicisn Con.t h a ~the city hsd l e s who sough[ f:~t,o~rs \ v i ~ b reridcnrisl Iproblcmr than rhc \lorking cli~rrcs,thcrc- rhe olhcr grca,er merropoby focu,ing his or~cntionr lirer and bccnure rhc !pro. fessorr wcrc n,ore iaccorion \\,orking cl;er districts blc having I n r professionto begin w i ~ h But accord ;,I ,vork l o rlirrrncr rhcn?. ingtoCrirri;lnoToraldodi And here \\.as ,~l\vayso f Franci;,, the destiny ofFlo. rcncr war and remains counerhecirs'r;inirric h c r locked i n the hitndr of rhe itngr IL?Nt~:tone.R o m ~ c c , 7 Dcccmbcr 19661. rhopkeepcrr. n,ho nrc on. \villing lo alloiv erperi- " "In his iwopural lerrurc for the new year, rc\,enlml: mentarion inro the cir?. 1%. rei L%!ng, interview with ,hat rhere w r n lack of

this ii.a trivis~lobrema~ion

p h r . Dcripns b y Arch!. zoom and Supciscudio". M Filer (no. 47. London, 20021. Aho see M . Capo. biunco. " G l i Anni Qui~rnnvn', i n M . Cnpobianco and C. Cilrreri. cdr. Ar. chirct~ami~rliilrrn: 191019.79 IN;~pler: Elecra Napoli. 1998. 1221, 'I. E. Cnrre". 'lnccrvirra ia BrunoZNi". 1991. inS0pee

of chc Florcnce School of hrchi~ecrurcwnspublished i n the Florentine daily in Decembcroil966. Thesrliclc ourlined rhe tcnuour condicionr t?dngthe rchod after che flwd, becoming a sonofwish lirr for the then Preside G i ~ i r c ~G~oer i who lpropored n new rh;lr a,ould relocatc rhe school inro (he pcriphcry running along the fwrhills on the RorcnccPni+l'ir. toia ilxir, LO deal with thc wpid 1r,p6n~oftheschwl'r populationduringthep~c. war pcriod (500rrudcnrs ln 1958 to 1500 in 19661. According l o ~ h address c by SO Gori, Florence drew xu-

ns to upen tire thesis pro-

\r,ider rnnjie of topics. Pirzoilo and Di

jcrts i o a

Crirtina. i n Gmhrllir-Co,i!i,ri,iId Ino. 287. Milan. lvlily 196-1.391 '' Tornldo di Frzlncin m w rhc fight to do arvay with lhc expensive nmdclr us a sign rhnr much tnorc had to ch;nnae: their demands were to opco the univeoicy ryrrcm co~?.er)~one.from nII social clurrer.\vi~hrnsrr ;ecnrible toercr)nne.such ,\r i n f s c ~rhc cost o f [he proferrionally m ~ d etmodelr for thc (hesir proiecl. T h n e \>.ere [he issuer [hat pro\,oked them to occupy the rec~or'roffice on Plap Z I San Marco in 1964. ami~h srbour lifly othcr students

our dirporitlon reparore inridenccthen, ~l>elirrrSt,and i ~ ~ ~ d e ~ u ~ ~ c e r .ar p a c lpse. r. n r c l ~ d c c l : ~ r ~ r h o ~ ~ ~ i n P i ~ ~ iiir n s r nor a prccire oblip- toia fc;lrured ciwdboard ittian roproviderhcmu;~nr and ~n~r.bn:trdi n r ~ n l h arhich (he univcrriiy and ~ions.l'ctcrLnnp,inrcn~iew thcrchool ingcnectl nccd, with C r ~ t h n oT o r ~ l d odi ilndrhitr iiirno~theprecire Francid (Filortmno. 7 Deresponribiliry ofthe domi. cember 20021. nant politicxl class to have ' C a p o n e ~ r oinnd Fmcnrrilcfr the Iralian r c h w l ryr- ni, i n G ~ n h c l i u . C o , ~ ~ i , > ~ , i ~ ~ i (no.287.Milnn.May 19W. ~ r m i n such abandon and misery". "Diwomo agli 5,". 401.

"V.Grc~otti." R c o l t i dcl corrruire". Crahelly 19M. 191. "In inrcn,iewrwith rcvcrnl members of Archimam and SUPERYTUDIO,hlaric Therer Stauffcr laced Dranzi, Corrctti. Dcg;ulello, and Tonddo d i Frenci;~as part of the group 111;tr occupicd the rector's office. See Slauffcr (cil. 35, foornore 37). " On the agenda were r l o dcnrs' demilndr to reeon. r,irucc thc existing power structures within (he oni. verri~y,to include rhe participstion ofrhcrmdentrin ar~demlcdecirionr.;~r $vcll

versity in 1963 ond 1901. Bur they were prerenr e.ar. licr ;m reaching arrir~antr. :' Toraldo d i France recalled that Ricri'r course had rhc r~udcntrwork on ftlll-rcnlc models, a conrmverriril .tppro;tcb jii\,cn thc rchool'r pcnchsln~for precise ink drmingr. Perer Lang, inrcrvicw wirh Crirr h n o Toraldo d i Franch (Filottrnno, 7 Decembcr 20021. '' Leonardo Ricci, "Prab. lemi per una nuovn maggior~nza",lecturc held nr thc FncoltB d i Firenzc i n orrarian ofthe faculry confcrence held i n Romc hc. t\\,een I 4 and 15 M ~ r c h 19M. Rq,nn,cd in C~rcrbel-

i n Romc. During the nr~cmblies[hey refused ro veuk bur chirped inrrei~d perrhcd on [he bcnchcr likes raosring birds. See Grispigni k i t . 3MI. '" "In 1968 rhe Iralii~n Schools of Archilecturc be-

" Umnir. 0 yello\v bound meekly news-stand publi-

and more could bc developed on each o i r h e indi.

c.lrian from Mondndari, v i d u ~ lmcmberr of the i ~ m u n d group. h4.znyof rhere godr rhe Florrntinc Radical were rhated. and it \\,auld cros-d. Scicnce Ficrion be imporrant ro go deeper works ar o son o f alterna- into su~cns-ruoro'sgroup tn.c or escapist li~eri~rure dynamic.

war quite

visionary drawings coming from the studios of young Florentines from 1966 on were an altogether different level of creation, image making and thought than mere product design. The drawings of SUPESTUDIO,Archizoom, UFO, Gruppo Strum, Gianni Pettena, Ugo La Pietra and others were, as Doug Michaels puts it, "kick ass design" but more importantly they were "creative initiatives", unlike anything being ~ r o d u c e din America at the time.' They suggested a fantastic architectural scene in Florence that made California seem very provincial and unimaginative. In today's \\.orld where architectural shifts and drifts are internationalized cquickly across cyberspace, it is hard to imagine a small museum city like Florence as a centre of international thought on architecture, urbanism and design. This small Tuscan city, as Peter Cook reminds us, is "a safe distance from Cape Canaverd, the galleries of New York and Dusseldorf, and even the snlelly factories of the P o valleyMand "there [is] hardly an insistent or threatening local milieu of mainstream architects worth bothering about".' The arch scenes of Rome, Venice and Milan were vibrant in their own ways, but this small museum and university city was very much a hot spot in the late 1960s. It had an architecture culture that revolved around one of Italy's most lively and politically engaged architecture schools, the best art and architecture book store in Italy Centro Di and Maria Gloria Bicocchi's out front gallery Centrodiffusionegrafica (later to become the important video tape gnllery art/tapes 22): Throughout the 1960s the seductively ironic and charged polemics of these Florentine architects were known in North h l e r ica through Italian magazines but SUPERSTUDIO did touch down in the United States at the Rhode Island School of Design for a moment in 1970. Its "strategist" Adolfo Natalini taught there for a semester with Archigrammer Mike Webb, and Austrians Raimund Abraham and Friedrich St Florian.' This connection with the world outside Italy changed dramatically in 1972 when the Museum of Modern Art in New York under the direction of design curator Emilio Ambasz created an amazing exhibition and spectacularly beautiful catalogue titled Italy: The New Dornertic

54

Landscape, Achievetnet~tsand I'roblems ofltalia~rDe.sig~z.~ The largest and most expensive exhibition in the history of MOMA,it featured alongside a survey of contemporary Italian industrial and doniestic product design a SUPERSTUD~O Mimocvent/Microcrrvirontnetrt as well as projects by Archizoom, Ugo La Pietra. Gruppo Strum, group 9999 and others.' It should be noted that during this period MOMA'S architecture department truly had its finger on the ~ u l s of e the moment. The Architecture and Design Department under Arthur Drexler created other important exhibits: Visiotra~~' Arch~tectrrre(1960). Architecture IVitbout architect^ (1965) and just before Neru Dotne.rtic Landscape, Edu-

ÿÿ be Webb Ratmund Abraham ~ d o l l oNarallni and Frledr ch St Florran 1970

stage for its penultimate moment on the international scene." It was the first to feature the young Florentines and none of the other visionary architectural draftsmen of the period: Cedric Price, Archigram o r the Austrians: Coop Himmelblau, Haus.Rucker-Co,

The exhibition and catalogue attempt to rectify this understand-

sign culture.

Thc Ncw Domestic Lndscape catalogue begins with a short discussion on domestication from Antoine d e Saint-Exupbry's Thl,r Little Pri~~ce: "You become responsible, forever, for what you have domesticated." "What does that mean - domesticated?" "It is an act too often neglected. It means to establish bonds."

...... "Please domesticate me", said the fox.

:

"I want to, very much", the little prince replied. "But I have not much time. I have friends to discover, and ;I great many things to understand." "One only understands tlie things that one domesticates", said tlie fox. "Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things already made ar shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so \ve have no friends any more. If you want a friend, domesticate me ..." "What must 1 do, to domesticate you?" asked rhe little prince. "...One must observe the proper rites ..." "What is a rite?" asked the little prince. "Those are ;icrions too often neglectedn, said the fox. "They re what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours."" This call for design is quickly followed in the introduction with the disclaimer thar "design cannot solve all problems that precede its crearion and rhose that may arise f r o ~ nir"." If this were not cnough of a qualifier, Ambasz then proclaims the irrelevance of objects: "for many designers, the aesthetic quality of individual objects intended for private consumption [has] become irrelevant in the face of such pressing problems as poverty, urban decay, and the pollution of tlie environmenr now cncounrered in all industrialized countries"." Furthermore, soriie of these designers "despairing of effecring social change through design, regard their task as essentially a political one and therefore absrain from physical design of either objects or environments and channel their energies into the sraging of evcnrs and the issuing of polemical statements".'" These absraining designers, in rhe spirit of polemical discourse, are given a chapter in the caralogue ro stare their position and critique those with whom they disagree about the production of objects. The catalogue essay by Manfredo Tafuri, for and Archizoom for bcexample, attacks the work of sLJ~olU'l'L!~10 ing "liberation through irony [that] goes over the same ground covered by rlie utopias of the avant-garde of earlier years"." When

in society"." They do not "invent substantially new forms, instead they engage in a rhetorical operation of redesigning conventional objects with new ironic, ; ~ n dsometimes self-deprecatory socio-

tradictions and paradoxes of the firsr two groups. In thc first ten-

litical and philosophical action or complere \virhdrawal from the

mean here designed environments like T o ~ oFl I ~ U I I S / JU~~, I I~by I

modular housing industry. T h e history of modular housing is

56

er "conceive[sl of work as an autonomous acrivity responsibleonly to itself and does not question irs sociocultural context", simply refining "already established forms and f~nctions".:~ The second group o r rhe reformists. itre "morivated by a ~ r o f o u n dconcern for the designer's role in a society that fosters consumption as one mciins of inducing individual happiness, thereby insuring

most co~ilpellingapproach since it "corresponds to the preoccupations of a changing society", and is what "rhe exhibition is

created a nine-panel project that arguably stands out as the iconic project from the exhibit. The division of Italian design into three prevalent attitudes is followed in the catalogue by the two sections "Objects" and "Environments" that parallel and document the exhibition. The cat-

DIO

for their implications of more flexible patterns of use and arrange-

to completely different categories. In "Objects" designs are seand finally "implications of more flexible patterns of use and arrangement"."These definitions seem flexible and loose because

urn. It is a domestic product that appears in many Italian design

concerns and their professional practices" can be placed togethwhich they work"." In the first "Objects" grouping selected for their formal and technical means are domestic designs by Joe Colombo, Vico Magistretti, Gaetano Pesce, Marco Zanuso and Richard Sapper's early television boxes, Ettore Sottsass' classic Valentine portable Olivetti typewriter, the Castiglioni brothers' lamps. Massimo Vi-

see much difference in concept beyond their marketing.

Italian conundrum and needs an explanation. Adolfo Natalini commenting on Italian architects involved in this sector has said, "its super production of ideas is due to the condition of complete unemployment among architects. In the Florence School OF Architecture, there are 6,000 students, and architects in Italy are in charge OF only 25% of the total built volume of building. The socalled 'Furniture industryyhas only t \ \ , ~Firms with more than 500 employees in more than 28,000 Firms (average number of employccs 4.8) and can thercfore, thanks to its 'craftsmen' size. allo\\' itself an ample margin of little experiments"." While SUI'ERSI.UD~Odid believe For a titile that the luxury goods market, created by an extant artisanal Italian economy, offered them the opportunity to express design ideas that were closed off to them in the building sector, they evcntually canie to believe it was a deadend street. It \\,as, thcy decided, little more than an "inducement to COLISUII~C".I" In thc second section of the exhibition "Environments" Arnbasz presents a detailed, maniFesto-like seven-page Design Program of "environmental concepts" that he hoped would become physical designs." The Design Progra~~r includes minutely detailed programmatic considerations and options that include cost goals (economically available to "low to middle income Italian Families"), exhibition light sources, a list OF "general considerations" and a final separate essay, "Manhattan: Capital of the Twentieth Century" that all attempt to put contemporary problems OF the domcstic landscape in context for the designers." It is liberally sprinkled with quotes From Siegfried Giedion's T11e A r c l ~ i f e c t f ~orfe Transition, Henri LeFebvre's The Explosio12,Marxism and the Fre11c11 Upheaval, Ambasz's Princeton professor Abraham A. Moles and ~II The Manhattan text, Howard Searles' N O I I . H Z I I I IEnvironnrer~!." informed by W:ilter Benjamin insights, presents the island as an infrastructure that provides the Framework in which "all crystallized fragments rescued from the city ofmemory, and all the Fragments envisioned For the city OF tlie imagination may dwell together in an ensemble, if not by reason of thcir casual or historical relationships (since no reconstruction is hereby intended), then by grace OF their aBinities"." This essay originally published in Casabrlla seems gratuitous and his call that it inspire designers to "make incursions into i~iiaginaryrealms" is hardly necessary For groups like suPmsruuro."Based on chis detailed Design Progra~n each invited designer or group is asked to design "a domestic environment adaptable enough to permit the enactment OF different private and communally imagined new events.. . sufficiently fixed to permit the re-enactment OF ... constant aspects OF our individual and social memory"." In tlie Desig~rProgram Ambasz presents his view that the probso lems of urban society are so severe that designers must be chal-

anti-utopias are scvcrely criticized in the most po\verful text in The

ri's preferred standards OF earlier avant-gardes, sincc they risk be-

' M. Tsfuri,Hirrog o/IrnIianArcl,itcdurr: 11.1iL1181 (C~~mbridgc, Milas.: The

His text in the "Critical Articles" section of the catalogue is dense and insightful on 20th-century Italian design, but his belief was that SUI~BIISTUDIO'S"anti-utopian regression \\,as therefore fated to give birth to new utopias" and that a "private leap into the sublimated universe of 'artificial ~aradises'has not proven prescient"." They did call for a \vorld "without cities, castles or roads" but this

h l l l Prerr, 1990. 3831. ' Doug Michselr. i n nn cmstl conversation wirh the nurhor. 2 January 2003. Perer Lnng. "Suicidal De. sires". in thl, c~tralo~oe. ' Doug Michaels, i n an e. mail conl8enstton*irh the author. 2 J;tnuary 2003.

See G. Celant'r 'Rndicill Archircaure". ln Arnbarr. 4. Icir. 380). "All rhcnew 1r.drm ilrchirecrure Archizoom and Supcntud 6 a . e c c . - I rh;>r I t s rims Anre conmpruil ;an behnuiot~nl.Proclaiming it. lelf ar mdicitl. i r no l o n ~ e r svirher ro be commercialized or rlienated, or to renounce irr o\vn idei~r~nnd "

-

!?~enrr,~rrdPmbbnrg/ltnl- b u their ~ aim ofdireng.tFing ian Dcrign (1972). ~hemsclver from, itnd ' C w k k i t . 49). bmlkinl: ~vlth,thc prcrenl

l i o n a, MohlA i n 1972.

bilities of the design strategy. In the spirit of 1960s' polemical and protest culture SUPERSTUDIO, placed on ~ I O M A ' S New Dornrrfic

to us at the start of the 21st century.

"ihrd

Hawmer, not only arc the

" Ibtd

designerr fc.ttured i n this exhibit edunted 2%archi. [ecw but or informs all of their ~ h a u p h and ~ r motivarianr. Rcnzo P m o devlrcd .I lighlwei~htstructure to cowr the uppcr and lower terraces o f rhe museum'r garden, bur remained un-

"lbid. '' l b ~ d20. ' ' IbiJ " Ilnd :' lbid 2 I. Ribrd 139-210. *'lhld 21. " lhd. " lh~d.

tionr from the ~IOMA l i bmry. The next rnaior ;nrchirecrure exhibition after

" lhirl 94. " lbid 11 I.

*' Ibid. " Anlbarr. ed. (cil. 139-

46). ':Il~rd147. lb,d 13946. " Ibrd 147. " Ibld 148. lhid. "lbid 143 "/bid, " Ihid. 242: oriGinslly in "sul)Khnu~,~o". CnmbellN

" D. Grnhrm.

'Art in ReI;lrion to Architecu~re/ Arrhitcrturc i n Relatton to

" A r n b ~ ~ rerl. r , (cir. 242). '-'lhiil 420. "'lhrd 421.

" lhid 245. The Neru Do,,,mic Lind- '^ A. Nnlnlini. 'l~sly: The ~ ~ o ~ c ~ ~ ~ ~ r T h l , e A r c h Ne\v i t e c ~ ~Domestic ~re Lnndolthe fleorfx Arts i n 1976, scape". Arno 10 1eq1sn011qu I! 11 A ' PPOI ape,] fiulpl~nq sulnl aql uo pllnq 11eqsa M Jaldnua aql Aq pallddnr aroql all1 pape~Gap 111 411Mr~419fi01Allelol 11Sumlonu! l a lualalllpui ale Aaql I!uara pue Ilun-rauleluo3 aql fiullllpolu u! 'pull Aue lo rnu!eiuol ul rllalqo paawnr 1eq1uaqr ul n m l q o ~eualllunlAlle>~~aod lal!em aql uo lnd Inolneqaq pue uol13c 6ullldrur rnql am .lalllPa pallajal aM qllynr Pue uollerruowap e SeGuI~as10 a! uale~adolo rapow aql jo IS#] aql 'lralalul 6ulrnolc lo 'uollualle ol r6uo1aquolle~ador!ql leql l l ~ l ~U!I?~JII~,O w l e sol qllrnrafiew~pue aql AICJPIY plnoqs a ~ l l a l q nrlql r uo peaye GuloG ri wr~joqwArq l l ~ p a f i ~ e q'12,la q 1 1 1,~ur awld aMr13npo~dufilrap leql a l l l ~ oslsodu6!s j re w a r pue ' a l l l ~ e l ~ ~ ~ ~ e m o ~ q ~ ) r a ~ a d o i d ~ o raql u ajar A3uafie aql$ ( u ~ - a q a q l ~ o l a7cdr puc awl1 A ~ ! p mue31eql r f i u y l l o ~aqmnualqlssod lralea~6aq1 alcld e'sfiuluaddeq lo) a q d @ rnpjor awalalllpul ,no allxoxa l j l ~ l a q l ~ I I Arlmlqo ~ luairAs aql olul s a t p q n q l o u , ' aluew~ollad ~ rnonulluoa e Waql aloufi! ol a ~ q ~ r s oaqd A ~ MAUP u61a101 6~83np~lu8 10 hoaql aql uo ,ol a6e1r el .amanlonu! joa,edr fiuqlomio r u l e ufilrap uolreM snql ul lou lllMII Lq'maq! w r d n 3 aulnuafi e arogaq Aem r!ql'al@dr aaljoJJno Gu!lmd ro uaql uo m o p " sdlqsuol~eja lo lu!od.uo!l>as~aiy ,o!laly 01uo!iuane m o qxunr o~ 6uli11saslaio'~nowag! SUM I OU I I pue SUIUI~Sc amolaq pue'uo!lelauan pue rfiu~qljorpuq Ile y1tmpa1181 aq maql fiulx11~101u8odaql at la6 am 1111 ~ I ~ S I O M I O 1381q0 ue 10 'a3ed~ U ~ ~ I ~ ~ I S ~ ~ U I O10I U'113alqojosp~11( O~ waql lam 6uldd8~1rarjarrna pull ul alnluanpe ue aq Aew I3alqo ue puv lle 411MpaAeld aq ol awe6 D la rain, SAc*~lepuc laqlelal wa41 qli* Aeld sAe~lolom aql uo'remau~, aql aql Ajddnr noA'are?puo?ar aql ul pue may1 YllM an11 ~ ~ ' r a r ~ ~10d l n s ul'rlagem~adnso q ~~ ! ' E J P ~ PUO u! 111q u ! q ~aq arn aqlol wag) rlndlain llnl Pue lnlasn amaslaq~n2Pam0103 hl!2 aql u! orlelnq 'ran8l lallwed llems q 3 ~ a pue 'asn lerlanlun 10 r l ~algo - I ~ l q b o qG1q 'sllaIq0 Gu,lnpo~d"0 4 apew raroq pa(eas~A~(enlauuaq 'nmpd(rnan6!qme) zuerlu6ir 06 01 rl melqald 1110 Add84 ' A l ! n ~ a 6 ~ ! "8 Aluo pan81IOU $8 a111ieqt pue -!11nmAlddns noA a r e > ~ n ! aql ) ul loalp Alalns IIeqr aMpue adoq ul '.an11 noA ralem leqlhlaod aql r! 11, .Ino!neqaq lo ru,alled6u!Alddnr A q ~ o Pue anol lo1 rralun 6ulqllue op la6ual lelll lanamq laqwamal plnoqs 1euo813unlAllel~laodale 1941~llnpodd ou IlPUSaM ePlOl WnSlnS qG14 "M adoq lnoql!MPUP laS!ldlns 6~lAlddn~Aq . ~ O M O MU!I pana#q,e uo 18 aslel pue ueaq aql~ana188par I~O~I~MSADMID lnq 'OU 10 alqeqrer aq leuluauanlonu, IDIOI q ~ n ~ ol qslh* a~ 13allalul aql la rql!ll 'rlnolmlq6!~qul paladlualrlp lo a1rqM lea,o an~le~ado lanl3 PIP SarUOlr 11119 101a ~ ralllr~ l p a l u m padlda(a(~eiedueaplpnj e pue an~iew,o, r l r n p l d m o l a 411M1~0llel3~n~ap10 s!sA~eue101 a u l l ')!?a pup aluonua 'worloq p u e d o ~lo rrarn aql lie fiu~nlonu~ rueawrlql OUYI~M hlaod q l l 6ulhll ~ arodlnd ruoner8pul an6enqlf~'rallomam .ul.aq. e :lralold 6uol auo st repha- ajbts e qllM Iunnrual l n o q i l ~ x o q31q1~1e '111001 P U! 1eq1a>ualr!xa ue lo1 r u o ~ ~ e p u naql o~ IIWS ah\Puc'lPal l n o q l l ~ l n q anll Allenrn .q>olq ~ e l l u a p l r aull ~an11 Ael st op 01 !"DM a m l e w puno~fi '"ua6lllalu! 4 1 lo sllaq leas all1 Aluo o w asoql'sllenraql uo dn r6u11uled aql uo r l l r auohana q 3 1 w l e6u11aam 6ulualq611pllom act1 punol sa81elaulll 6uhlnd Inoqllm Uana an!l ol alqlrrod r! l r a l o ~ dvllaed aql 'ul.llr aql r! aulllle q l l a r l a o n o l slew lleqr a M 11q11w UI auo PUIJ 01 q6noua W n l amti ,no lo r u a r ~ e ~ r a p s6qqmlrip m luopaloq pue A ~ ~ p d n l sra~~alsAlu io aroql puelrrauaqll pue a6lml lram 3ql lo auordsqlad'.alaql aq. ol aql alefi!lsanu! 01 s a d o s o l ~ m wro rlaql ul Aileapil .arnaq. "MU ,lay] $8 fiulq~lueuodml u q l r 6 u q i uo aAeq 11eqs a M bland Aephana l o pllnq 01 pialle u e ? o q ~ r l c l ~ o m q!cm ,no buqem "006 01 'ranlasmo U O I I ~ I ~ ~ ~ I U Daql I lo1 swool pue aleunuol aioql wo,)l~ede a r n e x q rl Guluarreuadaax 01916ulql lueuodlu~ alnlluinl rre16-Gu1loolpue sp~lue~Ad rlql IIV ssauliealpAepha*a qltmael aql.aurap parralda~lo aroljl 110s oneq lleqr a m slulld arauedep 01 a l q ~ r r o d avow l ~ DI ubsap uotsrna 'puemap ~ a a n r u o ~ p u e l G o l o q l a l l o j a l i w >o.rrau~realpAepharaapena araql . q l ~ w10 agoq) pue alua#,adra PUP all!xall re aq II!M "a41 ame2aq 01 uaql u6lrap uolreq uo!Ienl!r 10 araql ale elepaql .u#e6elano (lo

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#'/&a h 16

Superprojects: Objects, Monuments, Cities

This chapter surveys SUPERSTUDIO'S most provocative period from 1969 to 1971. It was during these years that the group generated its most renowned body of work. After successfully formulizing a critique on design, architecture and the city, the u s of conceptual projects through group produced a ~ r o d i ~ i o set an innovative use of multi-media techniques, en~ployingcollage, storyboards and literary narratives. The professional "officc" continued its design activities, while entering into one of its most creatively engaged and controversially subversive periods. Almost all the conceptual production was intended for catalogues, architecture magazines and exhibitions. The most srriking images produced in the period found wide distribution internationally, from Europe to the United States and Japan. 1. The Corrtitruorrs Monrrmmt (storyboard, with an audio-slide show, nor restored) 2. Hrrtogrdms (architecture of objects, design objects A r c / ~ ~ t e c t r ~the r e ,first film to be produced and I~rterpl~~netaty e r the group by suIJensTuolo, ~vithAlessandro Poli, ~ n e n ~ b of from 1970 to 1972) 3. Euclue Ideal Cities (architecture of cities, with an audio-slide show to be re-enacted and recordcd in conjunction with the London exhibition. March 2003) Each of these three categories represents a concise theoretical engagement on one of the following disciplines in design and architecture: the object, the monument, the city.

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