RATIONALISM IN COMO

Cantù, the place where AB Italia has its headquarters, has always been home to furniture factories and is located within the Como area and Lake Como. This area is not only linked to the history of design and the frequent visits of certain socialites, extraordinary film locations or international financial and economic summits, but also to important international architectural movements.

Como was, in fact, one of the poles of European rationalism, a movement that saw Giuseppe Terragni as one of its most important members.

Rationalist architecture originated in Germany and is characterized by a strong link between form, function and synthesis, avoiding mere decoration.
The Italian Rationalism movement began in 1927 by a group of architects from the Milan Polytechnic, including the aforementioned Giuseppe Terragni, who together formed the Gruppo 7, a movement that was officially established only later by the name of Italian Movement for Rational Architecture.
In addition to Terragni, the seven members included Luigi Figini, Guido Frette, Sebastiano Larco, Gino Pollini, Carlo Enrico Rava and Ubaldo Castagnoli, who was soon replaced by Adalberto Libera.
Italian Rationalism took up the aesthetics of the European avant-garde, trying to mediate it with the self-representation of the fascist regime.

The Italian movement, which comprised some fifty architects, was in fact formed after the Italian Exhibition of Rational Architecture, organized in Rome.

The most attentive and sensitive of the young interpreters of the Rationalist movement was Giuseppe Terragni, born in Brianza, not far from Como.
The Casa del Fascio, with its geometric structure, and the famous Novocomum, with its clear references to Soviet Constructivism, are particularly memorable works of his in the Lombard city.
His presence in the area and his personality have certainly influenced the vision of architecture and the design style of many young architects for quite some time.