"Cellules": Social Structuring at Casa Maderni

How can architecture encourage and intensify a limited period of life? I examine this by composing an austere cell for living, focused on the interaction of materials, natural light, and human movement through specific distinct sequences. Casa Maderni in Riva San Vitale Switzerland serves as the starting point to receive the concequences of my design with: a new dining room, library, renovation of existing structures, but primarily a new living wing created at the rear of the property.

I focus on the juxtaposition between the introverted private realm of the living cell and the public realm of the dining room. A series of spatial sequences through new and existing building parts is conceived as material manipulations to mediate connections at different scales, combined with the light and color to emphasize important architectural moments in sequence. This sequence of architectural momentss of public and private are choreographed at a larger scale in a master plan.

Although silently assumed here, the role of architecture as a pedagogical tool can ultimately only be gauged through reality and human reaction. The architecture of Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Carlos Scarpa assisted greatly through precedence in my architectural descisions.