Continua of interior

The thesis thus to clarify the perplexity of the idea of interior, essentially subsumed in the theory of architecture, employed in Modern and Post-modern architecture and urbanism, and evolved into the idea of urban/territorial interior. To define the concept of interior and to set up the theory of interior, the thesis traces the ideas of interior: 1. being understood in aesthetical, physical, theoretical, and phenomenal ways, 2. being perceived as a society of interiors, 3. being continued from building rooms to urban/territorial rooms (continuum of interior). Therein lies a line of argumentation – architecture composed of the continuously affined rapports between a society of building interiors and a society of urban/territorial interiors – spanning the whole contents of the thesis, which is structured according to the deployment of that idea carried out by tracing the different thoughts of interior. The thesis employs two research methods: literature research and case study. The former is carried out to figure out the theoretical bases (history and theory of design) of architecture and urbanism – the theory of interior –, while the latter validates the former by analyzing selective case studies. The literature research deals with the inclusive references in accordance with the problematic perceptions of interior in aesthetics, physics, phenomenology, architecture and so forth. It limits the references published from the last century to today because the research starts with the expanded idea of urban interior, emerged in roughly the last century with Modern architecture even though it was implicitly presented long before. The references include a number of original Italian texts and a few German texts (e.g., Vitale, 1928 and Heidegger, 1957), unpublished in English. The case study is carried out by selecting the masterpieces dealt with building interior and urban interior, by collecting the published materials (pamphlets, leaflets, books, journals, etc.) and the unpublished original materials in archives (e.g., De Carli’s drawings), by interviewing (e.g., Cobb-Caputo Partnership), and by making field trips (e.g., Berlin, Rome). It analyzes the selective masterpieces in order to verify the theory of interior; there are the continuities of designs between interiors and exteriors, and their different qualities and substantial identities. The thesis consists of three parts. Part I begins with the theoretical thoughts of interior. It deploys the different understandings of interior based on the aesthetical, physical, theoretical, phenomenal, architectural, and urban/territorial theories. In addition, it elaborates the concepts of building interior and of urban/territorial interior, and it finally defines the theory of interior as the theoretical ground of architecture and urbanism: “architecture and a city/territory dwell in a connected system of interior micro-cosmos.” Part II gives an account of the continua of interior and the continuities of form in the way that architecture, as a spatial existence, reconciles the forms of space and the shapes of time. The former are the continuous sequences of internal space and the continuous realities of inhabitable space between a room, a city, and a landscape. The latter are the patterns of history and memory inscribed in the concrete bodies of architecture. Architecture dwells in not only a single interior of building and city – a universal interior – but also in the shape of time. This part clarifies the spatial existence of architecture, i.e., a configuration of intermediary forms between a society of rooms and a society of urban/territorial rooms, and between the past, the present, and the future. It aims to establish the theory of “space-time-matter continuum.” The last Part III validates the theory of (interior, and traces) the continua of interior by analyzing the selective masterpieces. It begins with setting up the criteria in accordance with the shape of time and the form of space in order to analyze, judge, and criticize the selective cases; the criteria contains the fundamental laws that architecture must satisfy “utility, building technology and material, and aesthetic,” developed from Utilitas, Firmitas, and Venustas (Vitruvius’s Triad). The thesis’s third goal is to achieve a validation of the theory of the spatial continua and of the time continuities through the case studies. The thesis reflects a belief that architecture exists as a configuration of intermediary forms between building rooms and urban/territorial rooms; architecture always connects the different realities of rooms (building/urban/territorial) and the different shapes of times. There exist the rapports, the interrelationships, and the specificities of forms; these clarify how architecture makes the continuous sequence and the extensionality of interior clear. Beyond the specificity of singular spaces, there is something that unifies them: in architecture interior’s essence is openness. It manifests that architecture does not appear in the forms defined by the certain tendencies of architectural movements or any others, but rather it does appear in the forms defined by its substantial nature. The qualifying of interior is the fundamental principle in the mission of architecture and urbanism. The thesis provides the theory of interior for the understanding and the critical judgment of architecture and urbanism, and, I hope, for their designs.

La Tesi esplora il mondo degli interni in cui l’uomo vive le sue esperienze quotidiane. “Continuità degli Interni” analizza in modo approfondito e sistematico i concetti di ‘interno’ e ‘interno urbano/territoriale’, e studia i principali approcci alla progettazione architettonica e urbana in tutti i loro aspetti teorici, verificandoli attraverso sette eccellenti casi-studio e la comprensione della continuità dei loro spazi. Questa tesi propone spunti teorici, storico-critici e di riflessione sull’architettura e la progettazione degli interni, affrontando simultaneamente lo studio degli interni edilizi e urbani.