Principles and applications. Consistency and experimentation in the work of Piero Bottoni, from the “Cromatismi” to Sesto San Giovanni

Abstract

Among the architects who linked their name to the affirmation of the Modern Movement in Italy, Piero Bottoni (1903-1973) applied the color as a substantial element of the project and colorful facades enhanced the plastic nature of architecture. The research aims to verify the role of color along the architect’s work, comparing the archive material with the evidence in his last building. The concept of earlier writings reflects a strong relationship with urban space. In the exhibition of the “Cromatismi architettonici” (architectural chromatics) at the III Triennial of Monza (1927) the color is the link between the building and the city. The archive material emphasises the Bottoni’s consistency in the use of color in the recurring characters of written theorisation, drawings and finally in the design behind the construction. The six watercolors for the exhibition document a chromatic research that is free from cultural models of the time and focus on the integration between the shape of the road and color, in which the architectural elements marge into the chromatic hues that underline the facades with tones and combinations unusual in architecture; the progressive lightening towards the top exasperate the “depth” of the urban road in the “ascent” towards the sky of the buildings making up the modern city. Thirty years later, he resumes the same compositional scheme for horizontal chromatic bands in the project for the municipality of Sesto San Giovanni (1961-71).