A room within a room
In 1965, the Milanese printer and lithographer Giovanni Lana sought a new apartment, one that would allow him to work, host guests and display his art collection. But he could only afford a small home. So he turned to his friend, architect and designer Ettore Sottsass, for help.
Sottsass’ solution was ingenious. The flat’s main space was divided by a series of wooden units, serving variably as walls, cupboards and shelves. This turned a single room into a series of discrete but connected areas. Corridors ran from the entrance, ending in the main working area with desks, a dining table and even a piano. And this in turn led to an enclosed central space with three sofas that serve equally for socialising and seclusion. The whole is lightly speckled with artworks and Sottsass’s own furniture, including the Rochettone coffee table.
At the time of the project, Sottsass was approaching 50. He had made his name working for furniture brand Poltronova and technology firm Olivetti; his creations for the latter included the Elea 9003, Italy’s first mainframe computer. But his star was still on the rise. The now-familiar peaks of his career – the Valentine portable typewriter (1969), the postmodern furniture of the Memphis Group, his architecture and interiors studio Sottsass Associati – were yet to come. Yet the apartment that Sottsass designed for his friend captures him on the road to his later successes, with its vividly coloured carpets and upholstery, playful details, and focus on design as art.
Casa Lana lay unseen for years, hidden within an unprepossessing brick and concrete apartment block. Now, thanks to the Triennale Milano, its central space is available for all to see. It was granted to the museum by Lana’s heirs, with funding from the Ettore Sottsass Archive and the designer’s widow, art writer Beatrice Radice. A team set about dismantling it piece-by-piece, moving the room to the museum and then reassembling it to match its original state. It now stands permanently within the Triennale inside Sala Sottsass, a room devoted to exhibiting his designs.
It will serve as a shrine to a figure who still looms large. “Sottsass,” says Triennale president Stefano Boeri, "was one of the greatest geniuses of the 20th Century, in the world of both Italian and international design. His incredibly modern vision continues to inspire us today: his work proves the immortality of design.” This sentiment would seem to be borne out by the huge, distinguished team that worked on the reconstruction. Along with Radice and Iskra Grisogono of the Sottsass archive, participants included photographer Giovanni Gastel, designer Michelle De Lucchi, curator Marco SammichelIi, architect Luca Cipelletti, and Christoph Radl, who designed the exhibition space around the recreated room.
As well as the reconstruction itself, the project involved a process of research into archival material, including Sottsass’s original drawings and dialogue with those who knew the apartment when it was used. One valuable resource was a 1967 Domus article, which Sottsass titled ‘Una stanza nella stanza’ (‘A room within a room’). This begins with a plan of the central space as if viewed from above a corner. Shelves, tables and seating spaces are numbered, as if the space werre an early sample of self-assembly furniture. But the piece goes on to be illustrated by photographs showing the house as a bustling social hub, with visitors stretching out on the floor and leaning in to chat. It has something of Michelangelo Antonino’s 1964 film Red Desert, without the existential dread.
(Image: Domus).
Turned into a museum artefact, Casa Lana will never thrum with the voices of revellers again. Instead, Boeri hopes it will have something of an educational purpose. “Throughout Sala Sottsass,” he explains, “visitors can discover the entire aesthetic and poetic of Sottsass’ work: the sense of space, the presence of specific characterising elements of his architecture, the use of the materials and colour, the dialogue between the artworks and the interior.” Museums often explore design history through the comparison of individual objects, a result of the ways in which items are collected. Context is often lost. By presenting Casa Lana as a holistic whole – albeit in a museum rather than an apartment block – the Triennale hopes to offer a corrective.