Giuliani-Frigerio apartment house

Giuseppe Terragni – Como, Italy, 1939-1940

The Giuliani - Frigerio apartment house is the last building built by Terragni, located near the Novocomum in via Malta, now Viale Rosselli, which, despite having been called to arms in military training in Verona, does not miss the design opportunity, in partly conducted directly by him and partly conducted by his friend and collaborator Zuccoli, to whom he systematically sends drawings and indications from the field, about the house and every detail, up to the completion of the building.
"Casa Giuliani - Frigerio is a classy, ​​friendly and intelligent apartment house of an astonishing modernity, if compared to the endless buildings built after the war, which has been able to arouse considerable international interest, as confirmed by the studies that Peter Eisenman will reserve for this work over the years ".

In fact, the building appears to be particular and the typological innovation experienced for the central accommodation is undoubtedly an in-depth analysis compared to the studies carried out on the Novocomum and on the five Milanese houses.
The layout of the lodgings, three on each floor, follows an unusual trend: the floors are placed at different levels and the disarticulation can also be read in the facade, through overhangs and broken through. Modular overhanging balconies create floors opposed to backward windows. Even the internal organization of the apartments appears fluid and free, with movable walls for a greater dynamic use of the space.
From the first drawings, Terragni arranged three apartments on each floor, however creating a half-floor offset between the two lodgings to the north and the third place to the south: access to the latter was provided by the intermediate landing by means of a balcony . In the central part of the west facade, this balcony appeared as a band surmounted by a ribbon window and overhanging an opening in length, to allow the detection of air to the accommodation. The top floor apartment was a real villa, surrounded by terraces on different levels.
The building represents a combination of construction - expression, structure - shape, space - volumetry: the facades are composed of obliquities, recesses, elongations, protrusions, compressions, sliding and dilations, to highlight the propulsions of a very dynamic interior.
The staggered arrangement of the floors allows the corridor that gives access to the south apartment, to cross with the central apartment, ensuring air and ventilation from the overhangs obtained. "The section between the corridor and the kitchen on the upper level, with the double ribbon at different depths, is an absolute masterpiece".
The facades are covered in "spaccatello" of precious marble, an unprecedented wall covering, the vertical strips of which, applied with the system of mosaic tesserae, give the body a corrugated and reflective appearance.
On the top floor the "villa" is spread over three different altitudes; the movement of the planes (both vertical and horizontal) and the cuts (both empty and transparent), gives further degrees of freedom to the system "bringing the roof back to a single level.
Terragni also manufactures all the fixed furnishings inside the building, the terrace, the fireplaces, the windows (doors and windows) and the sliding book dividers that allow the opening of the spaces: "In this way, the corridors, the living room are abolished the apartment to the north extends to incorporate the adjacent room, in the central and southern ones the entrance becomes a natural continuation.
The building today shows itself entirely as it was built and retains all the original features and coatings.
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