Case Rosse, Framura
Giorgio Zini (progetto delle strutture)
La Scogliera di Framura S.p.A.
The Case Rosse in Framura are located in the Vandarecca hamlet. There are sixteen houses in the seaside complex south of Via Luivi Duina, and twenty-seven houses in the part of the complex north of the street.
The plan of the houses is based on a 5 x 5 metre reticular grid while the story height element is 3.30 m. This plan appears as far back as the very first design drawings and was used by Magistretti for the complexes in Marina Grande and for the Roccolo in the Arenzano pine grove. The load-bearing structure of the construction inevitably reflects the geometry of the layout grid. The reinforced concrete "pier-beam" framework is created three-dimensionally by following the planimetric schema of the modules that make up the "building type" and by following the orography of the rock under the foundations.
"Lowered" beams were used for the floor slabs of the apartments, while "thick" beams were used for the floor of the roof. No expansion joints were used either in the houses above or below the road.
The houses below the road had six liveable floors, while those above the road had nine. The design choice to restrict the buildings to a maximum of two/three floors above ground in each module means that the covered surface area of the houses is considerable compared to their rather modest overall volume. All the apartments are identical (save for a few exceptions) both above and below the road. Each house has a "building type", established by aggregating three L-shaped spatial modules (each 5x5 x 3.3 m); the latter is an extremely functional type, especially when compared to the built surface area.
Excerpt from A. Savio (edited by) "Vico Magistretti. Case rosse a Framura", Florence 2012.
information about the houses /project
Vittorio Duina, Angelo Verderi, the Bellini brothers and Ugo Gregorini founded La Scogliera di Framura S.p.A. In 1964 the company bought a six-hectare plot in the Municipality of Framura, along the coast between the current harbour and the Municipality of Bonassola. Angelo Verderi, who had already worked with Vico Magistretti, proposed that Vico be asked to design the project.
The first project, drafted between 1963 and 1965, envisaged the construction of 12 housing units on the promontory south of Via Luigi Duina. In May 1966 the second project increased the original volume and envisaged two groups of houses: an initial block with 14 units on the sea side of the road, i.e., south of Via Luigi Duina, and a second group of 26 units above the road, i.e., to the north and slightly to the east. The Superintendency of Monuments in Liguria - the authority responsible for issuing approval of the construction project together with the Municipality of Framura - initially withheld approval because the overall dimensions of the volumes and heights of the houses above the road were far too obvious visually. Finally in September 1966 the Superintendency gave the green light, although it did establish several conditions: the use of coloured paste plaster for the exterior façades; Genoa-type dormers for the roofs, and slate slabs for the cladding of gutters and terraces. Work began in November 1966 but was twice stopped by the Superintendency: once in 1967 to allow the demolition of the back filling of the road leading to the units built in concrete.
In November 1967 a new variant of the project was submitted: the inhabitable floors were reduced from 10 to 9, the length of the complex above the road was also reduced, and one more unit was added bringing the total number of housing units to 27. In the complex on the sea side of the road the number of units increased from 14 to 16. In October 1968 the Superintendency again suspended work because it found discrepancies compared to the approved project (position of the volumes, number of floors, volume). Despite pressure by the Municipality of Framura on the Provincial Government of La Spezia and the Ministry of Public Education (with jurisdiction in matters of landscape assets), approval was granted by the Superintendency in April 1970 after demolition of the works that differed from the approved project.
Construction ended in December 1970; in April 1972 the Municipality of Framura issued the certificate of occupancy starting in March 1971.
Excerpt from A. Savio (edited by), "Vico Magistretti. Case rosse a Framura", Florence 2012.
Magistretti in riviera, in Alias 41, 21 ottobre 2006
H. U. Obrist, Hans Ulrich Obrist Interviews: Vico Magistretti, in Domus 866, gennaio 2004
A. Savio, Vico Magistretti. Case Rosse a Framura, Firenze 2012
