Elogio del Grigio
This project seeks to recognise and integrate some of the contributions of civilisations which are largely forgotten in Western architecture. It accepts Hegel’s invitation to learn to see the endless greys of realities.
This house, built on the outskirts of Castiglione delle Stiviere, on the slope of a moraine hill to the south of Garda, is inspired by the image of the fog-bound lake. Its frontage appears in the form of a miniature palazzo, a symmetry of elongated openings, entrance arch and hipped roof. In the manner of an ancient pianura dwelling, this dominates the side of the building facing the sunset. According to Hegel, consciousness is a discernment of greys. And this architectural design is a journey around a truth. The Soul of this house, therefore, is arranged for listening to that which is unsaid. In the interior, a living room measuring 10.1x4.36x5.23 metres reunites distant echoes, extending the geography of a place in times seemingly far-off: the rectangular cuspidate rooms of Marrakesh, window panes somewhere between Venetian windows and the marble hammams of Istanbul crossed by hidden waters. The living room of the house of greys is thus a mutable constellation of imaginaries. Its idea-forms inhabit a diaphanous space. Tonal gradients link and distinguish in equal measure, conferring that psychological character of the Wagnerian leitmotiv that weaves subtexts. So, through the acquired faculty of a conversation, the virtue of the grey reconstructs an architecture of chromaticisms.
