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Cino Zucchi: architecture is a sundial
W would be no need for architecture. The walls
of a building are diaphragms, they are complex
organisms that regulate and filter a very large
number of elements: climatic, weather, visual
etc. The wall membrane has multiple functions,
once this was a solid wall, but it is no longer so.
If the farm is a loden coat, the building for
Salewa is a technical jacket. Contemporary walls
are made with different layers of specialized
materials, every level has a different function.
Some layers, inside, are essentially technical,
others, outside, are visible and consist of
iridescent or semi-transparent elements that
relate with the outdoors. The theme of filters
and privacy from the outside inwards and
vice-versa asymmetrically, is very important.
In the building for Lavazza in Turin there are
white pixel serigraphed glass panels which
implement this function, from the inside it is
possible to look out in the distance, and they
partly shield the view of the interiors. Modern
technologies, films for glass panels and laser
cuts for metals, have greatly increased the range
of material textures, giving a textural value
to the surfaces and providing the architect with
a palette of instruments that is even too vast,
and that entails the problem of a choice. A great
part of the sincere beauty of architecture of the
past is due to the limited number of materials
and traditional craftsmanship. On the contrary,
today there is an almost infinite number
of materials and technologies; like the colours
of a screen, which one do I choose? The real
dilemma of a modern architect is that with such
a range of materials, finishing and technical
e met Cino Zucchi, architect and collector
of strange objects. We spoke of projects,
architecture and light. The story of his vision
of architecture, mediated between Boullée and
Ponti, passing through the Loden, is sinuous
but efficient.
For Cino Zucchi light is …
Architecture is heavy, it is a purely visual art,
and light makes it resound. There is a constant
duel between light and substance, one amplifies
the other. For example, classical art mouldings
act as light amplifiers. I see architecture like
a large sundial, I think of Monet’s cycle of The
Portal of Rouen Cathedral paintings, which reveal
something great: architecture remains still,
what illuminates and colours it is the sun. In my
opinion we do not need Times Square and its
large illuminated facades. Etienne-Louis Boullée
stated that the architect applies all the models
that nature offers him (in his book, Architecture.
Essay on art) and like him, I have always tried to
give form to this duality. To show light you need
architecture, light is an invisible material, it can
be seen only when it engraves a surface.
Lavazza HQ and Salewa HQ: two projects in which
thin sheets of material and perforated surfaces
are regulating elements, that control natural
light. Would you tell us more about them?
Light is one of the great materials in architecture.
I like the idea of an architecture that cuts,
modulates and filters light and heat, if the
environment is a pastoral and good one,
as described in books on Mother Nature, there
possibilities, a great discipline is required
in order to understand what one really wants
to do, a discipline of the effects.
In your buildings, colour has a strong narrative
value, related to the landscape and its light.
As in the Salewa HQ or the Pedrali warehouse,
for example. Is that so?
For Salewa, we discussed the colour of the
building’s outer skin with Heiner Oberrauch,
and perforated aluminium panels painted with
the cataphoresis process were chosen; this option
created an analogy between the building and
the product (snap-hooks and hooks, Ed.). With
regard to the duration of the painting bath, the
panels turned three different shades of grey/light
blue, slightly clouded and iridescent. Ideal
for our vision of the brand architecture. Salewa
is located between the highway, fields and the
mountains, and thanks to this mimetic finish it
almost disappears. What I find interesting is that
the building is of the same colours as the
background, the light blue mountains behind the
light evening mist. Like in The Virgin of the Rocks
by Leonardo da Vinci, with its light blue mist,
where everything is dematerialized in the
surrounding landscape. I am extremely proud
of the very careful study of the colours that we
carried out: the building is the colour of the
mountains seen through the evening mist that
is typical in and around Milan. Also the
automated warehouse designed for Pedrali is an
interesting case of mitigation of a very vast
volume in a landscape, this was one of the main
requests of the Administration. With a great
INTERVIEWS / LUCE 322
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