SUPERSTUDIO 

THE FOUNDATION OF A NEW ARCHITECTURE

Utopic, free and invincible architecture, inspired by highly contemporary themes that were to become the starting point for the reorganisation of the architecture discipline and reinterpretation of our role in society. This was the work of the legendary Italian architecture group Superstudio.

In Italy, 1966, a group of friends influenced by architecture, design and the impossible, founded the Superstudio group in Florence, unbeknownst to them becoming the most famous, influential and iconic group of the so-called radical and visionary architecture.
Developed in the second half of the 20th century, Superstudio’s new architecture was a critical revision of architecture itself, including its role, forms, boundaries and contents. This ‘New Architecture’ abandoned any reference to technical and functional aspects and focused on the dimension of perception and experience of an artificial environment. It went beyond the dimension of the building and the city to imagine fantastic visions of occupation of the landscape.

In Italy the Superstudio group had a decisive role in the re-foundation of the architecture discipline, starting with a critical revision of forms and contents. Superstudio was born on December 17, 1966 with the exhibition Superarchitecture at the Jolly 2 Art Gallery in Pistoia, Italy. The founding members were Adolfo Natalini and Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, who were joined by Roberto Magris (in 1967), Gian Piero Frassinelli (in 1968), Alessandro Poli and Alessandro Magris (in 1970), all from the Faculty of Architecture in Florence.
The exhibition Superarchitecture displayed the result of the experimental work in the early years of Superstudio's activity: brightly colored furniture and objects, sloping wooden panels painted with enamel, white clouds and waves. This first period was linked to their university studies and to the projects developed in the Florentine academic context. They were influenced by pop artists and they were interested in reconsidering the primary geometries and the ‘monumentality’ of Louis Kahn’s work. Superstudio were also focused on studying the ‘Enlightenment Architecture’ of Étienne-Louis Boullée, Claude-Nicolas Ledoux and Jean-Jacques Lequeu directing their thoughts towards the design of monumental figures on a landscape scale.

Since 1968 the thought of Superstudio has evolved, abandoning the pop iconographic system, towards the total rejection of the technical element, and towards an existential conception of architecture. Superstudio worked frenetically in the last part of the 60s to develop new forms of architecture such as their iconic Continuous Monument. It was an abstract geometric monument, with no conventional architectural elements and a gridded surface. The Florentine group envisaged this colossal structure in various settings: from Monument Valley to Graz, from New York to Positano. In a series of photomontages, the Monument was seen alongside the Erechtheum, the Colosseum, and the Taj Mahal. Then came the 12 Città Ideali, the logical development of Monumento Continuo, inspired as much by great classics such as Dante’s Comedy or Marco Polo’s travels as sci-fi novels, in particular the Italian publishing series Urania, which Superstudio had a particular passion for.

Superstudio are considered heroes of their time, like many other protagonists of this new visionary and radical architecture: Archigram in England, Hans Hollein and Haus-Rucker-Co in Austria, Archizoom Associati, and always in Italy Archizoom Associati, UFO, 9999 group, in addition to many others. These architects reviewed their role in society, which had been manipulated by mass consumerism. They thought about a ‘radical action’ able to fight industrial models. Their new concept was based on the idea of restoring the relationship between man and nature post economic development and on the birth of a culture that was characterized by widespread creativity and a re-acquisition of the complexity of reality. Behind Superstudio’s abandonment of the canonical architectural model was a critique of society.

The group responded to consumerism and mass communication by highlighting real and concrete needs and demands, eliminating the superfluous from serial production to make all goods accessible. Superstudio imagined an “architecture of reason” which was defined “as a product of human history and testimony to the creative and representative abilities of an era and an entire society”. Their vision continues to influence designers and thought-leaders worldwide, with Superstudio’s radical work remaining ever-relevant to not only the architecture, but to society that it serves.
 

Text: Bianca Felicori
Images: Gian Piero Frassinelli - Superstudio