Italian Rationalism
イタリア合理主義 / 1926–1943 / Style / Modern Architecture
An Italian movement that set out to make the abstraction of modern architecture and the classicism of the Mediterranean hold at the same time. What looks like a white box is in fact carrying ancient proportion in the rhythm of its bays, the depth of its overhangs and the planes of its marble. A textbook for refusing to set the modern against the traditional.
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At a glance
Visual cues
- White volumes and a regular rhythm of bays
- Deep overhangs and bands of shadow
- Marble set against glass
- Classical proportion, translated
Best used for
- Architectural and interior identity that must feel contemporary and rooted at once, for hotels, cultural buildings and heritage brands
- Grid design, where the rhythm of bays translates directly into a column structure that stays classical while reading as modern
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Dictionary entry
- Type
- A geometric sans set to the same module as the bays, with the leading derived from the same proportion.
- Composition
- A strict frontal grid whose bays are equal and whose voids are not, so that the rhythm is regular and the reading is not.
- Material
- White render against polished marble and plate glass, with reveals deep enough to cast a real shadow line.
- Caution
- Keeping the white box and dropping the proportion: without the underlying ratios it is generic modernism, and the whole argument of these buildings was that the ratios were still present.
- Further study
- Terragni's Casa del Fascio / The programme of Gruppo 7 / The history of its assessment as architecture of the regime
Related entries
- International Style (インターナショナル・スタイル)Same Modern Architecture lineage.Compare Italian Rationalism and International Style
- Novecento Italiano (ノヴェチェント・イタリアーノ)Shared effects: Trust / Luxury.Compare Italian Rationalism and Novecento Italiano
Often confused with
More from Modern Architecture
Continue through styles in the same Modern Architecture family, prioritised by shared effects.
- Streamline Moderne (ストリームライン・モダン)Shared effects: Luxury.
- Metabolist Architecture (メタボリズム建築)Shared effects: Technique.
- High-Tech Architecture (ハイテック建築)Shared effects: Technique.
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Cite this entry
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- Link
- https://indexstyle.org/styles/italian-rationalism
- Markdown
- [Italian Rationalism — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/italian-rationalism)
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- <a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/italian-rationalism">Italian Rationalism — IndexStyle</a>