Journal

Versione italiana

Michelangelo Merisi alias Caravaggio: Narcissuss (1594-1596). Rome, Galleria nazionale d’arte antica

The project is a journey, an adventure. It is like crossing unknown borders, taking care to be coherent in one’s choices, movements and actions. Border as an existential condition within which the prefigured action evolves, ends up assuming the characteristics of borderland territory, a place where various rationalities and emotions act simultaneously, according to dialectically oriented actions. Because clearly “building techniques present themselves as bearers of that structure which cannot be disregarded, else it would lead to the depletion and banalisation of the very act of creation (…). Form never has absolute freedom inasmuch as it exists, is conceived, manipulated, forced to ever express itself on the basis of the nature of the material which substantiates it”¹ (cf. architetturapietra2.sviluppo.lunet.it).
And it is precisely to the material and all its potential that I would like to re-conduct the “interpretation” of the Padiglione designed by Kengo Kuma for Il Casone at Marmomacc. If materials are bearers of sense, constructivity and combinatory links, Kuma’s architectural work can be interpreted precisely as work “on materials, starting from materials”.
In its configuration the Padiglione consists of three founding elements: the suspended floor; the labyrinthine floor; the reflecting false ceiling.
The usable vibrant stone floor surface, an elongated rectangular shape (13 m x 8.02 m), has a surface area of 104.26 sq. m. and is raised by some 20 cm. Formed by 900 “giallo etrusco” sandstone slabs, the suspended floor was determined by the need to easily integrate the plant engineering as well as incorporate the continuous foundation of the labyrinthine wall beneath the floor. The floor structure is made up of different levels. The first, formed by 4-cm-thick Mdf panels, is fixed upon adjustable steel “feet”, a solution which helps to achieve greater coplanarity. Above this first floor, a second has been laid, staggering its joints where necessary, in 2-cm-thick Mdf panels, on to which the stone floor slabs have been fixed with structural silicone. The stone floor elements, laid in a “casellario” format, are 4 cm thick and triangular in form, with a base of 49.7 cm by the same cms in height. A visible 2-mm joint separates one element from the other along the three sides of the slabs.
Where the labyrinthine wall is, the stone floor elements consist of sandstone slabs measuring 23 cm in width and 1.5 cm in thickness. This solution aims to accentuate the “floating” effect of the wall, according to the stone’s different reaction to the light. The variety of stone used, the grain, the geometry of the elements, the stone-dressing techniques, suggest by “assonance” a continuity with the structure in elevation, with the weave of triangular mesh. The usable floor is sealed along the edge by heavy stone blocks, which hold the perimeter’s slabs inside specially designed cavities. The 900 slabs which form the floor surface have all been crafted piece by piece. This choice, more than from technical necessities, derived from the wish to “imprint” on the material traces of the manual dressing process. The surfaces of the slabs have been polished, leaving exposed small “imperfections”, while the three sides have been chamfered by hand.
In continuity with the idea of a labyrinth, which creates an ambiguous perception of “broken up” space, the “reflecting false ceiling” produces a deceptive duplication of the space through means of a technical device. The mirrored ceiling is formed by a roughly 3-cm-thick sandwich panel, onto which a metallized polyester film is laid. This film has reflecting optical qualities owing also to its slenderness (25 microns); a quality which can be added to those of safety (class 1 fireproof product), easy maintenance and the almost complete reuse of the entire system. The floor to which the “reflecting skin” is anchored, is in 4-cm-thick Mdf, reinforced by an overlying structure of wooden listels, rectangular in section and measuring 4 x 20 cm, arranged in a triangular pattern according to a 120×120-cm module. The false ceiling is anchored in 15 points to a metal structure, formed by three beams with a rectangular section and measuring 4 x 18 cm.
The lighting elements are built into the ceiling, placed above the reception desk and tables. The projectors used are ARC 1T1191, equipped with low-tension 50 watt bulbs, produced by Targetti. The solution with open-glass reflectors was opted for also owing to the rear position of the bulbs which characterises them, a position which guarantees soft light. Light distribution and maximum intensity not only depend upon the power and opening of the strip, but also on the soft light produced by the “dichroic” halogen lamp. The effect of soft, warm, enveloping light accentuates the long shadows, the nuances, the harsh colours of the stones. Like the false ceiling, the suspended floor also has built-in light fittings: Exterieur Vert – Phenix projectors equipped with 50 W halogen bulb. The light intensity, lowering upward, produces a kind of “cut” at the base of the wall, making the labyrinthine wall appear to float. The rapport between the stone and light is accentuated by the long shadows which cross the “openings” of the infinite “interstitial cavities”.
The reflecting surface hangs over the labyrinthine wall without ever touching it: 1 cm of void runs along its entire perimeter. This solution gives the effect of continuity to the stone walls, deformed in tracts, according to the fluctuating perception of physical elements. Reality and its double generate a sense of indefiniteness, suspension, fluidity. Real space and virtual space merge, giving rise to an “indefinite spatiality”. Furthermore, the concept of labyrinth, which has dictated and steered the entire design process, contained in itself this particular seed. Labyrinth derives from the Greek word làbiros, cavity, but also expresses “primordial duality”, connective element between microcosm and macrocosm, between sky and earth. Symbol, access gate to a profound dimension: cognitive journey inside oneself. The reflecting false ceiling, like the image of Narcissuss reflected in the water, projects us elsewhere, shows us a hidden identity, another being, exactly as in a “mirror of the soul”, the double materialises through the “projections of shadow”, in the rapport which the vibrant material has with light, with its reflected image: the stones, firmly rooted to the ground, are countered by their deceiving skyward elevation. Any order appears to be overthrown, violated. The reflected image suddenly reveals the ambiguous form of the stone weft; an ever uncertain weft, never made explicit. Artfulness, stratagem, intelligence, genius, astuteness, the technique translated into “deception” offers itself as an initial formulation of sense, logos. To the direct, unequivocal vision of the world, Kuma prefers a myriad of potential meanings, an emotional experience which crosses reason and passion, intuition and sentiment, reality and imagination. Because “architecture is only the instrument through which I seek to ‘unveil’ a place”2.

Luigi Alini

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Notes
¹ Alfonso Acocella. “Progettare in pietra. La costruzione fra tradizione ed innovazione”
² Declaration by Kengo Kuma during a recent interview in Naples