Interesting is the Casa Solari in Santa Margherita Ligure (1925-28), built by Larco (1901-?) and Rava (1903-1966), one of the greatest advocates of rationalism. The job of Santa Margherita was obtained by very young people from the Solari family, who wanted apartments for themselves and some for rent; they worked under the very clear influence of Hoffman, the rigour of the secession and the simplicity of rationalism, which were merged together in an original way.
The house is symmetrical and is located behind the front of the road, the entrance divides symmetrical housing, whose internal partition is not new, but respects the usual patterns of architecture of the early twentieth century, as well as the internal materials, with a very simple design and decidedly uninnovative.
The first floor is marked by a terracotta cladding in which the windows are cut, clearly taken from Hoffman (in particular from the Austrian pavilion at the Paris exhibition in 1925), the top floor is extremely simple, plastered in white and only in the hole above the access portal, which presents a support always taken from Hoffman's architecture. Following the eighteenth-century tradition we have in the other elevations a short turn-up on the corners and then white plaster; also interesting is the presence of some tiles with bas-reliefs typical of the taste of this moment, as in the ceramics of Gio Ponti.
We can define this intervention as protrationalism, as we can also see in the use of color, with the ground floor green, above terracotta and white plaster. Finally, in the basement there are windows with portholes, typical of rationalism.
They also plan a villa on the hill in Rapallo (1931) and the villa of San Michele di Pagana (1931). In the second presents clear references to the marine climate, the portholes and other lifesaving elements, ground floor porch, re-proposed the pronaos in rationalist scale in the facade, defined by this element and by very thin pillars, more or less the same characteristics are found in the villa on the hill in Rapallo.
They built a villa in Portofino (1933-34), we are on the rocks with a large terrace on the first floor, in connection with this house there was also a garden that ends with a classical exedra scan.
Larco works especially in the colonies with an architecture that takes into account the climate and the native architecture, combining them with influences of classical architecture, according to the indications of Fascist thought and Italian rationalism that wants to be representative of this regime.
Two other exponents of the group are Figini (1903-1984) and Pollini (1903-1982), they work together throughout their lives (both members of Ciam), their meeting with the industrialist Olivetti in Ivrea is important, who understands the importance that the architecture of the time could give to industry. Together they built new Olivetti workshops in 1934-35, very open and with a shed roof, the most interesting being the extension with a very free interior to adapt it to production. They also designed the workers' accommodation and the kindergarten (1939-40) in Ivrea, consisting of a building with a horizontal sense, which connects with the area of the school in the open air through what they call a pedagogical walk. At the back are the houses that are a series of terraced houses, in which the south facade is very open while the north facade is closed with small windows, are houses on two floors plus the ground floor of 2.20 m that could be closed, using brick for masonry and structure of prefabricated reinforced concrete beams.
We arrive at Libera (1903-1963), which represents the connection with Rome and the voice of the G7 and in particular with Piacentini. Secretary of the Miar, in 1926 he joined the group replacing Castagnoli, participated in the Weissenhof in Stuttgart, organized the exhibition of the tenth anniversary of the fascist revolution, in 1938 he won the competition of the Congress Palace of 1942 that is not performed and the symbolic arch in pure aluminum.
He built the Villa Malaparte (1938-40) on Capri on a large rock. Malaparte was a very important writer, his design resembles a sort of ship but inserted in the green, with a staircase leading to the roof where there is a sort of sunshade, overlooking the sea, as open to the sea is the study of the poet on the second floor, while underneath there are guest rooms and service rooms. It had a period of degradation then it was restored.
The continuation should be...