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Think of large open spaces illuminated by gigantic opening windows that connect the floor to the ceiling, place the most sought-after designers' 50's furnishings combined with ancient and abstract works of art... add simple but thought colors combinations and imagine the most enveloping luxuriant Brazilian vegetation almost entering the interior: this archetype of a rationalist dream house is none other than the Casa de Vidro (the Glass House) designed in 1951 in São Paulo, Brazil, by Italian architect Lina Bo Bardi (Rome, 1914 - San Paolo, 1992). Milan has dedicated a square to Bo Bardi, often referred to as the first "archistar" in hystory.
A home that goes beyond pure rationalism despite being steeped in the teachings of Le Corbusier, Bauhaus and American rationalism led by Mies Van der Rohe, the Glass House exhibits touches of originality that make it not only a treasure trove of the most eclectic 20th century culture, but an architectural model of great return and success in the field of new designs. With the robust volumes of its rooms and detached from the ground with a large living room placed on thin pillars, the house gains the view from above, and through its windows, it conquers nature in the exact way Lina was looking for.
Lina Bo Bardi, born Achillina Bo, made this project her home and her husband's, art critic and art dealer Pietro Maria Bardi, whom she married immediately after the Second World War, and with whom she moved to Brazil in 1946 to undertake, among various projects that will forever bind her to an intense Brazilian life, the creation of the MASP in 1968 (Museu de Arte de São Paulo).
One of her most acclaimed projects in the world as well as an emblem of Bo Bardi's simple but ingenious style, the museum looks like a sort of suspended box that contains the exhibition spaces, the result of an articulated engineering project in which the upper section is connected to the lower levels by a glass elevator.
After the war, after the bombing that destroyed her studio in 1943 — an event that led her to become an activist of the Italian Communist Party, as well as an editor documenting the destruction that had struck Italy over the war years — Lina left Itlay as well her work with design master Gio Ponti, in whose studio she had landed following her degree in architecture in Rome. This was an extremely important baggage, which together with Lina's innate Italian taste and narrative ability, led to the natural elegance emanating from her projects.
In the Casa De Vidro, today a non-profit association that can be visited by appointment, one discovers similarities with certain residences designed by Ponti in Venezuela and Iran during the same years, although Bardi employs a more austere scheme — recurring in the typically American rationalist glass house, best personified in the famous Farnsworth House in Chicago, one of the most famous projects signed by architect and designer Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
Unlike the main open spaces, the rooms in the sleeping area of the Casa de Vidro are very small and super essential. For her residence, Bo Bardi had not renounced the customization of every detail: she designed upholstered armchairs with a lacquered metal structure, then leather chairs with a black tubular iron structure, combined with another of her famous creations characterized by Space Age flavor, the Bowl Chair (1951). The furnishings rest on a pleasant, one pf a kindpllight blue mosaic floor, combined with jute curtains, conferring a material impact to the interios, typical in Latin American design: a set of combinations of collectible items that develop a type of eclecticism destined to last over time.
In these essential but welcoming spaces, a painting by sebastian Matta dialogues with a vase by Emile Gallé from the early 20th century which, extrapolated from its original Art Nouveau context, acquires new meanings intertwining its sinuous forms with those of nature peeping out from stained glass windows. Similarly, a series of Tuscan Savonarola chairs, certainly unexpected in this scenario, does not disturb the 50s kitchen with its industrial stoves, but rather brings out even more clearly the curatorial spirit of Lina Bo Bardi, to whom the exhibition this year International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale awarded the Leone d'Oro to memory.
«Her career as a designer, editor, curator and activist reminds us of the role of the architect [...] as a creator of collective visions. Lina Bo Bardi also embodies the tenacity of the architect in difficult times, whether they are characterized by wars, political conflicts or immigration, and his ability to preserve creativity, generosity and optimism in all circumstances ", explained the curator of the Architecture Biennale, Hashim Sarkis .
