Novocomum

Giuseppe Terragni – Novocomum, Como Italy, 1928-1929

The Novocomum is a multi-storey apartment building in Como. Built from 1928 to 1929 and designed by Giuseppe Terragni, it was one of the first examples of modern architecture in Italy.
It takes its name from the real estate company Novocomum of Olgiate Comasco, which built the project.
The building stands on a quadrangular lot, with the main side along Viale Sinigaglia (in front of the stadium of the same name) and two short sides along Via Vacchi and Via Vittorio Veneto.

It is built in the shape of an inverted “C” along the road lines, and therefore delimits an internal courtyard, into which two additional smaller buildings extend. The load-bearing structure is made of reinforced concrete pillars.
The main entrance is located at the center of the main facade, 63,50 meters long, and the configuration of the entire building is symmetrical; there are three stairwells, one central one corresponding to the entrance, and two in the corners, where their presence is highlighted by cylindrical bodies entirely in glass.

The Novocomum has five floors above ground, of which the ground is partly used for offices, and the rest for apartments (two on the ground, eight on each floor from the first to the fourth). It is topped by a flat roof used as a terrace.

What makes the Novocomum so important is its external architectural appearance, made up of pure and simple volumes interpenetrating each other, and highlighted by the different material and chromatic treatment; in addition to the corner stairwells, entirely made of glass, there was a contrast between the plaster of the facades, in hazelnut color, and that of the sectioned parts, in bright orange. This chromatic play was lost following a restoration by Luigi Zuccoli immediately after the war, when all the external walls were covered with a mosaic of white tiles. Currently the building presents itself with its original colors.…Wikipedia…>>