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Monte Amiata Housing is a residential complex in the Location of the complex on Google maps
/ref> The complex comprises five red buildings: two eight-stories slabs, a long three-stories building, another three-stories slab, and an interconnecting structure; these are grouped around a central area with a yellow, open-air theater, and two smaller triangular plazas. The complexity of the skyline is enriched by a number of passages, decks, elevators, balconies, terraces and bridges connecting the buildings with each other and providing for a great variety of pedestrian walking paths. The complex was conceived as an utopian micro-city within the city, and based on Aymonino and Rossi's vision, emphasizing the interplay between housing blocks and their urban context. Aymonino and Rossi explicitly mentioned the
Monte Amiata Housing is a residential complex in the Gallaratese
Gallaratese is a district ("quartiere") of Milan, Italy, part of the Zone 8 administrative division of the city. It is located about 7 km north-west of the city centre. It borders on the ''comune'' of Pero to the north and on the districts ...
district of Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, designed by architects Carlo Aymonino
Carlo Aymonino (18 July 1926 – 3 July 2010) was an Italian architect and urban planner best known for the Monte Amiata housing complex in Milan.
Early life
Born in Rome, he studied at the University of Rome, obtaining his degree in 1950. In ...
and Aldo Rossi
Aldo Rossi (3 May 1931 – 4 September 1997) was an Italian architect and designer who achieved international recognition in four distinct areas: architectural theory, drawing and design and also product design. He was one of the leading exponen ...
in the late 1960s. It is sometimes referred to as the "Red Dinosaur" in reference both to the reddish color of the buildings and the oddity of their design. The project is well known in the international architecture community,See Castex (2008), p. 83 and regarded as one of those that better represent Aymonino's vision of the city as a turbulent, intricate, and varied texture, a paradigm that is known as "fragmentism".
The complex, named after Mount Amiata
Mount Amiata is the largest of the lava domes in the Amiata lava dome complex located about 20 km northwest of Lake Bolsena in the southern Tuscany region of Italy. It is located within the provinces of Grosseto and Siena.
Geology
Mount A ...
, extends over an area of 120,912 m² enclosed between the Via Francesco Cilea and Via Enrico Falck streets./ref> The complex comprises five red buildings: two eight-stories slabs, a long three-stories building, another three-stories slab, and an interconnecting structure; these are grouped around a central area with a yellow, open-air theater, and two smaller triangular plazas. The complexity of the skyline is enriched by a number of passages, decks, elevators, balconies, terraces and bridges connecting the buildings with each other and providing for a great variety of pedestrian walking paths. The complex was conceived as an utopian micro-city within the city, and based on Aymonino and Rossi's vision, emphasizing the interplay between housing blocks and their urban context. Aymonino and Rossi explicitly mentioned the
Unité d'Habitation
{{Infobox company
, name = Moldtelecom
, logo =
, type = JSC
, foundation = 1 April 1993
, location = Chişinău, Moldova
, key_people = Alexandru Ciubuc CEO interim
, num_employees = 2,750 employees As of 2019
, industry = Telecommunica ...
in Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
as one of their main sources of inspiration, although their intent was to improve on Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
's model. Rossi also took inspiration from Giorgio de Chirico
Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( , ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian
artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the '' scuola metafisica'' art movement, which profoundly influ ...
's paintings when designing one of the five buildings, the smaller slab.
In the early years after its construction, the complex was abusively occupied by homeless families. In 1974 it was deserted, and was later converted into a middle-class condominium.See Castex (2008), p. 85
Footnotes
References
* J. Castex, ''Architecture of Italy'', ABC-CLIO 2008 {{coord, 45.49962, N, 9.10097, E, type:landmark_source:enwiki, display=title Buildings and structures in Milan