HOUSING CONTRACT

Edoardo Gellner
HOUSING CONTRACT

MADEexpo
05-08 october 2011
Milan Fair, Rho
Hall 5 S25 – T26

Social Housing and Housing Contract are for Edoardo Gellner two aspects of the same planning philosophy. On the one side, the daring simplification of form and manufacturing in search of the ergonomics and essentiality of each single element of architectural design or interior decoration; on the other side the complex composition of elements to obtain, as in a combinatorial analysis process, the best variety of possible solutions within a sequence of coherent and organic spaces. Design, interior design, architectural elements, landscaping are for Gellner aspects of a unique harmonic space wherein to live and reside.

Each important housing project within contemporary towns creates a series of implications and social consequences: the urban quality also depends on the quality of the space where the residents live and relate. This is why, if interior design is essential in defining the typological and architectural design of a single building, the Housing Contract sets the nodal point on the scale of town planning. Among the most renown examples in Italy is the ENI Corporate Village at Corte, built between 1954 and 1962, where architect Edoardo Gellner had the opportunity to conceive a project of “total” architecture in which architectural design, town planning, and landscaping interact with the single components of the interior design. The size of the intervention - with its 270 chalets, 2 hotels, a holiday camp for 800 children, a camping site for the scouts and a church, on a surface of over 200 ha – forced the architect to carry out a deep analysis of the whole project: on the one side he relied on the prefabrication of many housing elements – structures, cladding, fittings and window and door frames – on the other side, the standardization of furnishings which, thanks to the know-how of the Fantoni Arredamenti Company, was the first important experience in the field of Housing Contract in Italy.

It was 1954 when the then ENI President, Enrico Mattei, submitted the question of coherence between interior design and architectural elements to his architect. The key point in Social Housing planning became immediately clear: the look of the houses, or rather the look of the Corte Village that would most interact with its residents, was to be appreciated by all the potential inhabitants, managers, employees, and workers. Gellner solved the problem by resorting to an architectural conception, which was absolutely innovative and unconventional for the time: the traditional bond between aesthetics and social differences was annulled. Because of the size of the intervention, other practical aspects had to be considered: the furniture was to be designed for a series production at low cost, and to be easy to transport and fit. The architectural conception of the buildings with juxtaposed floors became the compositional rule to design the furniture, all consisting of panels. The use of a coordinate palette for the fittings enabled a wide variety of solutions to personalize each single house and ensure the architectural unity of the ensemble. With Edoardo Gellner, the Italian Housing Contract has a long tradition.

The research studies carried out by Edoardo Gellner throughout his long career as an architect originate from the considerations on vital space and ergonomics of the Modern Movement. Even before graduating in Architecture in Venice in 1946, Edoardo Gellner was already familiar with Hermann Muthesius' studies on the organization of the house and with the studies of Austrian architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky on the Frankfurt kitchen of 1926; in 1934 in Vienna, Gellner met Joseph Hoffman, the tireless advocate of a global and modular planning method; the theories on colours in architecture by Bruno Taut, the concepts of Subsistence and Unification were as familiar to him as professor Ernst Neufert's handbook – of which he owned the first German edition dating 1936. In addition to the experiences of the German and Austrian world of the 20s and 30s, Gellner knew also the American experimentations on a new concept of habitation: from the TVA prefabricated blocks, to Richard Neutra's Californian experiences and the experiments by Frank Lloyd Wright on low cost prefabricated residential housing. Gellner combined all these contributions with his own personal experience in the field of interior design for large hotels and dancing halls, where the atmosphere arising from the interaction between architectural elements, interior design, colours, light and the people living in that space is essential.

Gellner was able to show the flexibility of his planning method in a series of large scale projects for tourist-residential settlements which range from the Alps (Corte, Misurina, Federavecchia, the three coordinated interventions Samp1300, Samp1700 and Samp2000 at Sampeyre), to Isola d’Elba (Marina di Campo, Cavoli, Marciana) and the project for the ANIC corporate town in Gela. The common denominator of these projects is the relationship between architectural design and landscaping, between inhabited space and design. Housing Contract becomes the art of dwelling. The project for the ANIC corporate town – according to Ludovico Quaroni: one of the best residential projects of Italian town planning – , was realized by Gellner in only three months with a stupefying level of complexity. The town was to house over 10,000 residents - employed in the oil plants - in neighbourhoods which integrated perfectly with nature and the surrounding environment. By applying the same method used at Corte, Gellner analysed every aspect from landscaping to town furniture as far as the detail of Housing Contract that he borrowed from the Corte experience.

Within a fifty -year long cooperation with Fantoni Arredamenti of Osoppo (Friuli), in 1987 Gellner realized an innovative project of Housing Contract. The project was born from the possibility of employing “reconstituted solid wood”, made from a selection of scraps of the various kinds of wood used for the production of particle board. Investigating the possibility of using this new material, Gellner created a joinery system called “three-way”, he designed milling patterns for the panel surfaces and came up with a wide variety of possible assembly methods for building wardrobes, chests of drawers and beds out of the various components. The project was intended for the northern European market, but research was suspended because of a change in the market of the prime materials.

Edoardo Gellner, a leading figure in the international world of Architecture, was born in Abbazia (now Opatija, Rijeka) on 20th January, 1909. In the 30s he worked as interior designer in Trieste and Rijeka, then moved to Venice where he graduated in 1945. Post war events and interesting job opportunities led him to Cortina d’Ampezzo and in the 50s he became internationally famous for some controversial works planned for 1956 Olympic Cortina and Corte di Cadore. The Corte Residential Village was specially designed for the then ENI President, Enrico Mattei, who also entrusted Gellner with the project of a whole corporate town by the Agip plants in Gela. Among Gellner’s most interesting works is the church named after Nostra Signora del Cadore, planned in cooperation with Carlo Scarpa. Gellner mainly devoted his long career to town and landscape planning and wrote many essays on traditional rural architecture in the mountain environment.

The presence of Edoardo Gellner at MADEexpo2011 testifies the effectiveness of an organic planning method focussing on human’s housing.

Event promoted by:

• FEDERLEGNO ARREDO

With the contribution of:

• STUDIOGELLNER, Cortina d’Ampezzo
• CENTRO RICERCHE FANTONI, Osoppo
• UNIVERSITA’ IUAV DI VENEZIA – ARCHIVIO PROGETTI, Venezia

Information:

mail@studiogellner.it
www.edoardogellner.org