It's unclear as to whether myth-busting was on the original agenda of 'Where Architects Live', a show of installations by Francesca Molteni and Davide Pizzigoni at this year's Salone del Mobile. Molteni's project has evolved over nine months, and initially began as an insight into the personal living space of some of the world's most acclaimed architects.
The curator, director and educator has run the MUSE Factory of Projects since 2003 and has been intimately involved with the Salone for many years. 'We thought it would be interesting to see how the big names of architecture, the ones who are really changing the world, live,' Molteni says. 'Do they rent? Do they just have a place to sleep in? Is it a house or an apartment?'
Even though Molteni maintains that the idea 'wasn't voyeuristic, but the idea of discovering details about the connections between their life and work', potential participants weren't convinced. 'What we discovered was that it was hard for them to open the doors to the public. It was a private world, their only place to be out of public life.'
Instead, what has emerged is a hybrid of new design and personal autobiography. After visiting, filming and photographing the subjects, Molteni and Pizzigoni, an architect and theatre designer, have created eight 10 sq m installations in the Fiera's Pavilion 9. The intention is to create a domestic sphere that draws inspiration from the real homes of each participant, conjuring up their material and spatial qualities as well as the relationship between place, things and life.
And what participants. The involvement of Shigeru Ban, Mario Bellini, David Chipperfield, Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, Zaha Hadid, Marcio Kogan, Daniel Libeskind and Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai will certainly pique the interest of most Salone-goers. 'They opened their private homes for filming,' says Molteni, 'and we took photographs and sketches, collecting all the elements needed to design the installations.' The result delivers an undeniable thrill as you step over the thresholds of these industry titans.
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The installation features eight 10 sq m spaces that reflect Molteni's findings throughout the nine months spent travelling the world, entering the personal lives and habitats of these architects. This room interprets Tokyo-based architect Shigeru Ban's zen aesthetic, showcasing his organic cut-outs and use of light
The intention of the exhibit is to conjure up the material and spacial qualities of the homes, as well as the relationship between place, things and life. This window with a view installation reinforces the cinematic approach of Marcio Kogan's São Paulo dwelling
In one corner of the space, Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas' Paris apartment is represented with a series of Jean Prouvé pieces and antique warrior statues that guard the threshold
David Chipperfield's favoured dwelling - his new building in the Mitte District of Berlin - has been depicted with a playful representation of his affection for the city
The architects, including Zaha Hadid, opened their homes for filming, 'and we took photographs and sketches, collecting all the elements needed to design the installations,' says Molteni
Bijoy Jain's space represents his reading room, located in the heart of his Studio Mumbai complex, surrounded by ancient trees, craftsmen and many dogs
Daniel Libeskind's blank canvas riffs off the fact that the architect regularly changes location
Step inside the exhibition through Molteni and Pizzigoni's film. Production by Muse
Extending the exhibition, we meet the designers and take a peak into their natural habitats. Daniel Libeskind (pictured) has called seven major cities home since starting his career, the latest being New York.
Instead of being just about the space, Libeskind's home is about the objects he takes with him - his books, an Aalto chaise longue, a 1905 lamp - all of which shape his domestic sphere, no matter the geographic location.
'A big part of home is not just where you lay your head, but who you are and what you have around you,' says Libeskind. 'Those objects become what remains of home.'
After travelling from Poland to Tel Aviv, the Bronx to Berlin, Milan to Detroit, Libeskind chose New York as his home with his artifacts retracing his journey.
David Chipperfield has identified his recent studio project in Berlin's Mitte district as his domestic ideal. The architect originally chose Berlin as his base after the city commissioned him to rebuild the Neues Museum in 1997.
This site not only includes the practice's German office, but also a grandly-scaled residence on the upper floors.
The apartment is sparsely furnished with mid-century Italian designs
The apartment is built from concrete blocks with large windows overlooking the street and courtyard.
Within this courtyard Chipperfield has also designed a canteen. It's a place where locals can meet along with his studio's staff.
Marcio Kogan still lives in the first building he designed back in the 1980s - a cheerfully chaotic space on the 12th floor of a São Paulo block.
Inside, every surface is filled with mementoes: be it a book, toy, piece of art or traveller's ephemera.
'My apartment is not special,' he explains from his office in Brazil, 'I don't have time for me. But I have a huge collection, just to create a story of my life.'
The internal staircase mimicks the pattern of the building's raw bricks
When the roller shutters are lifted, the building's windows frame the view over the city; like huge panoramic screens for an architect who dreamt of the cinema.
Mario Bellini has a similar relationship to the power of objects as aides-memoires
His current home is part of a large 19th century mansion reworked by the late Italian architect Piero Portaluppi to which Bellini has added a library tower that threads through the two storeys, rising up nine metres and containing thousand of books.
'[The library tower] is the symbolic heart of my house,' the architect says. 'Whenever I go up, I have to go through all my books, my records, my objects, my works of art. It's a rewarding journey for me.
In Paris' Place des Vosges, Massimiliano Fuksas (left) and partner Doriana (right) share an airy, Parisian apartment.
'We've never designed a home for ourselves from scratch,' she says of their Paris residence, 'but we opened up the space.'
The home includes original Jean Prouvé furniture and artworks from Fontana to Paladino.
Shigeru Ban's Tokyo home was designed with a monkish simplicity
When creating the property in the late 1990s, Ban's central challenge was to avoid pulling down a single tree from Tokyo's Hanegi forest, and to instead build the house around them
Ban's home stands immobile within this tranquil Tokyo district, fitted out with the bare minimum of furnishings: 'a round table, a Terragni chair and masses of light'.
From an aerial view you can see the holes where the trees are encouraged to 'grow' through the architecture
Architect Bijoy Jain's home in India is also the base of his practice, Studio Mumbai.
His home is immersed within the countryside of Alibag, some 30 kilometres from the centre of Mumbai.
The house has been designed by Jain to capture the light and shadows of each day.
A large swimming pool melds seamlessly with the garden's ancient trees.
Paired-back and tranquil, the house reflects the atmosphere of a meditation space
Zaha Hadid describes herself as a gypsy of no fixed abode.
Her memories lie in her childhood home in Baghdad, however she now lives in an open-plan space in London
Some of her early designs, inspired by the revolutionary Russian artist El Lissitzky, adorn these walls.
Skylights and large windows allow light to flood into the space - no matter the weather outside.
ADDRESS
Milan Fairgrounds, Rho
Pavilion 9
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