Architecture As The New Museum Going Practice: A Mini Tour Of Caccia Dominioni’s Milanese Creations
As the streets have become emptier, we are now drawn to observe more the oftentimes overlooked surroundings of our neighbourhoods. During these first few months of the academic year, I started taking long walks around the city: embracing turns with no precise destination, I walked down small alleys that opened up into majestic squares and gave unexpected views of some hidden corners of Milano.
Indeed, the South-Western part of the city–which is not far from Bocconi–has many hidden gems to offer.
In an effort to combine an entertaining experience with a leisurely time in the open air, I crafted an itinerary on the footprint of Milanese architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni, commonly referred to as “Caccia”. He stood out as one of the most important Italian architects of the 20th century, and was defined by Mayor Sala as representative of the reconstruction of Milano after wartime.
When talking about his work, Caccia described himself as an architect to the very core, who saw urbanism even in the smallest units: for instance, he conceived of the apartment as a tiny city, with its paths, its social and private spaces.
His buildings stand out for the ability to marry tradition with modernity, with a careful eye for the pre existing surroundings (“preesistenze ambientali” in his own words).
The following itinerary comprises 3 major buildings by Caccia, which I heavily recommend you to visit. Therefore, I invite you all architecture fanatics to follow along this mini guide that I have curated just for you!
Casa Caccia Dominioni, Piazza Sant’Ambrogio 16
The presence of Caccia Dominioni family in Piazza Sant’Ambrogio dates back to the 15th century. After their house was damaged by bombs in 1943, young Luigi was given the task of reshaping it.
The facade is composed of horizontal stripes forming five different stories.
At the height of the second and third floor, are balconies with monograms with the initials of Caccia’s parents, representing the only ornament in a somewhat serious façade. On the other hand, the first and fourth floor, with their hollow cavities, are reminiscent of the Lombard rural tradition. The outside is marked by numerous windows, which according to his view, had to be at the same time as small as possible but also as panoramic as ever. Windows are considered as the real medium between life unfolding inside and life outside, allowing for a continuum between the two, and therefore an integration of the building in the historical urban pattern.
Building for Apartments and Shops, Via Santa Croce 3
The itinerary continues towards Ticinese area, where the building in Via Santa Croce is located.
Raising on a corner, this towering structure realised between 1959 and 1964 comprises seven residential floors with the first one dedicated to commercial purposes. Caccia’s micro urbanism is again present here: the dialectic between inside and outside is fostered in the belief that the plan of an apartment and the way it is designed and furnished, influence the way it is disposed with the rest, and therefore shapes in a way the outside of the building. Working its way towards the exterior, Caccia conceived the outside as the result of the planimetry and everything in the inside, which gave it its final shape with a centrifugal effort.
Convento e Istituto della Beata Vergine Addolorata, Via Calatafimi 10
