Paolo Portoghesi + Victor Gigliotti: Papanice House. 1966-1970.
This is Paolo Portoghesi and Victor Gigliotti’ s Papanice House designed by architect Paolo Portoghesi and engineer Victor Gigliotti in early 70s. A Magnificent manor house with great Baroque influence, with art deco and secessionist touches, enveloping elegance and rhythm.
As you can see on the diagram “The Matrix of Composition” you can see how curved lines flows beyond the building with a very unique language of composition.
This is a very atypical house with three levels, with one room per floor and a small attic. Portoghesi’s concept stands on his influence of Baroque style, it could be seen on the systematic use of the curved line on the modeling of the interior space but also in facades. The curvature of the perimeter walls which alternate between concave and convex formally characterizes the composition, the rythim of the entire skin flows with elegance also the interiors have strong art-deco reminiscences from color details to furniture.
Would like to see how this house got old through years. Certainly curved lines as strategy of design becomes a coherent aesthetic compromise between nature and culture inherited into history.
Image1,8. Geometric Diagram.The Matrix of Composition. Papanice House. Portoghesi and Gigliotti. Von Meiss, Pierre.,1989, Elements of Architecture: From Form to Place, Van Nostrand Reinhold, N.Y., figure21.
images 2-7. Roof plan, Cross Section, Main Floor Plan, Second Floor Plan, aerial view, facade view.: ROSSI, Piero Ostilio. Roma. Guida all'architettura moderna 1909-2011. Roma: Laterza, 2012. also NORBERG-SCHULZ, Christian. Paolo Portoghesi architetto. Milano: Skira, 2001