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[CASA CEI] |
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Name:
Casa Cei |
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Design:
Sottsass Associati, Milano |
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Destination of use:
Hotel |
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Manufacturer:
Impruneta |
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City:
Empoli |
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Ceramic Materials:
Cottoimpruneta Modo series (30X30 cm), Matt finish |
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Country:
Italia |
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Type of intervention:
interior design |
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Costumers:
Impresa C.O.E. - Empoli |
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Year of completion:
1994 |
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The Project |
Casa Cei is a 450m² private residence situated in the Tuscan countryside between Florence and Pisa. The building is made up by a sole block of two storeys on top of which, distinctly, the tympanum of the roof stands out. Similarly to other Ettore Sottsass architectonic projects, each element of the building is clearly legible, essential, and poetic, almost like a construction game for children where the act of playing is as one with the material and the objective of the manipulation of such material.
Casa Cei, like in Casa Wolf, Casa Olatuenaga, Casa Bischofberger, or the Casa degli uccelli (‘house of birds’) in Belgium, are certain examples of anthropocentric design, ready to establish an organic contact between nature and the construction following a maxim of the countryman’s wisdom and interpreting the ideals of the genius loci (local deep rooted knowledge). Contrary to the principles of deconstructivism, an intellectual game of deconstruction, Sottsass’s architecture corresponds to the pulsation of the vital functions.*
[Source: Marco Na Isna, “Sottsass, ricordi di un maestro”. Tratto da: www.ilnuovo.it, 30 gennaio 2003]
But no words better than those of the same Sottsass can help us comprehend the deep ethics of his design approach: “For me, architecture begins when it takes into account the people who live in it... because I believe that the difference between, let us say, painting – the so-called ‘figurative art’ – and architecture, is that architecture is lived in, whereas paintings are looked at. And that makes a very profound difference, because one lives with their whole body, with all one’s melancholy, problems, happiness... if this aspect is not present, then it is just building." |
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