Laporte Housein Via Benedetto Brin

Residential buildings

YEAR
1935-1936
PLACE
Milan
CLIENT
Laporte
TYPE OF PROJECT
Realized works
DESCRIPTION
One of the most significant of Gio Ponti's houses during these years was the one he lived in from 1936 to 1943, Casa Laporte at no. 12, Via Benedetto Brin. I go along with Cocteau when he says that the new does not lie in the new form used to express something but in the new way of conceiving it. Here the new way of conceiving the house and, at the same time, of preserving the house, that is the pleasure of living in it is primarily expressed in the large central room two stories in height, onto which faces the winter garden (a game played with views: seen from above the human figure is framed in a pleasing manner. It is expressed in the analogous large terrace on the roof, a room with the sky for a ceiling, enclosed by walls and used for many hours a day and many days of the year (and the dress, footwear and habits of the people living in the house are determined by the long time spent on this patio, in sandals and bathing costumes). It is expressed in the idea of having bookcases in each room, built-in bookcases, and in the use of beautiful but inexpensive materials, linoleum, hemp, wood, wicker, and cotton. The Mediterranean and Vienna. I have learned from, Wlach (the idea for the very low dining table may have come from Oscar Wlach). The apartment that Gio Ponti and his family lived in was part of a «three-apartment town house.» Facing the road the house has a flat closed front. On the garden side it has an open front with pergolas and terraces.