Adalberto Libera
Encyclopedia
Biography
Adalberto Libera was born in Villa LagarinaVilla Lagarina
Villa Lagarina is a comune in Trentino in the northern Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 20 km southwest of Trento...
in the County of Tyrol
County of Tyrol
The County of Tyrol, Princely County from 1504, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1814 a province of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...
of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
(now in Trentino) in northern Italy. He graduated from Parma's Institute of Art in 1925 and then in 1928 from Rome's Scuola Superiore di Architettura he became acquainted with Futurism through his fellow Trentino Fortunato Depero
Fortunato Depero
Fortunato Depero was an Italian futurist painter, writer, sculptor and graphic designer.Although born in Fondo/Malosco , Depero grew up in Rovereto and it was here he first began exhibiting his works, while serving as an apprentice to a marble worker...
. Even before graduating he was one of the founders of M.I.A.R. (Movimento Italiano per l'Architettura Razionale or “Italian Movement for Rational Architecture”) and later became its secretary. Based in Rome, MIAR was a rival organisation to Gruppo Sette, which was based in Milan and Como. He was invited by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a German architect. He is commonly referred to and addressed as Mies, his surname....
to the 1927 Stuttgart Exhibition (Deutscher Werkbund
Deutscher Werkbund
The Deutscher Werkbund was a German association of artists, architects, designers, and industrialists. The Werkbund was to become an important event in the development of modern architecture and industrial design, particularly in the later creation of the Bauhaus school of design...
). In 1928 and 1931 he organised the MIAR exhibitions of "Architettura Razionale" in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. MIAR then dissolved. He also contributed to the 1932 Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution
Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution
The Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution was a show held in Rome at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni from 1932 to 1934. Opened by Mussolini on 28 October 1932, it had 4 million visitors....
.
An extremely able and talented creative architect more influenced by Futurism than Rationalism, he was also politically astute. His activity as founder and secretary of MIAR enabled him to establish a close working relationship with the high-up officials of the Fascist regime in Rome, where all the big decisions were taken about funding public construction programmes, and who were responsible for commissioning the hundreds of new public buildings required for Mussolini's modernisation programmes. Thanks to these connections he had a prolific career throughout the Fascist regime and designed many notable buildings during the 1930s, some of which are masterpieces of the international modern movement. One of the most important is his Palazzo dei Congressi (Palace of Congress) at the EUR
Esposizione Universale Roma
EUR is a residential and business district in Rome, Italy, located south of the city center. The area was originally chosen in 1930s as the site for the 1942 world's fair which Benito Mussolini planned to open to celebrate twenty years of Fascism. EUR was also designed to direct the expansion of...
in Rome. This building shows Libera's great ability to design ambiguously in a spare, metaphysical language that sits on a knife-edge between modernism and neo-classicism. His use of sail vaults in this building creates an innovative architectural space.
He also designed Casa Malaparte
Casa Malaparte
Casa Malaparte is a house on Punta Massullo, on the eastern side of the Isle of Capri, Italy. It is one of the best examples of Italian modern and contemporary architecture....
for Curzio Malaparte
Curzio Malaparte
Curzio Malaparte , born Kurt Erich Suckert, was an Italian journalist, dramatist, short-story writer, novelist and diplomat...
on the island of Capri
Capri
Capri is an Italian island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrentine Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples, in the Campania region of Southern Italy...
(1938), although there is continuing controversy as to whether Malaparte himself was the main designer.
During the Fascist period, all architects were legally forced to join the party; but the most successful went further and became important party members. Like his contemporaries Giuseppe Pagano
Giuseppe Pagano
Giuseppe Pagano was an Italian architect, notable for his involvement in the movement of rationalist architecture in Italy up to the end of the Second World War....
and Giuseppe Terragni
Giuseppe Terragni
Giuseppe Terragni was an Italian architect who worked primarily under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini and pioneered the Italian modern movement under the rubric of Rationalism...
, Libera's good fortune in this period was due to his close party links. After the fall of the Fascist regime and its defeat in World War II, Libera along with everyone else underwent a period of personal and professional crisis, but after living quiety for several years in his home town of Trento, he recovered and began again to work on numerous projects, including public housing and office buildings, in a new style that turned its back on Fascistic modes of expression. Many of his greatest projects are from this postwar period.
In 1954–1962 he designed and built the Regional Government building for the Trentino Region in Trento.
Main works
- Palace of Congresses at the EUREsposizione Universale RomaEUR is a residential and business district in Rome, Italy, located south of the city center. The area was originally chosen in 1930s as the site for the 1942 world's fair which Benito Mussolini planned to open to celebrate twenty years of Fascism. EUR was also designed to direct the expansion of...
(1930's) - Post office in via Marmorata in Roma (1932)
- Casa MalaparteCasa MalaparteCasa Malaparte is a house on Punta Massullo, on the eastern side of the Isle of Capri, Italy. It is one of the best examples of Italian modern and contemporary architecture....
on Capri (1938) - Housing units in CagliariCagliariCagliari is the capital of the island of Sardinia, a region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name Casteddu literally means castle. It has about 156,000 inhabitants, or about 480,000 including the outlying townships : Elmas, Assemini, Capoterra, Selargius, Sestu, Monserrato, Quartucciu, Quartu...
(1950–53) - The pavilion for the Cassa del Mezzogiorno at the Fair in Cagliari (1953)
External links
- Adalberto Libera at DARC
- "Adalberto Libera's "Mediterranean Climate": from a Problem of Style to a Category of Dwelling." by F. Garofalo in Environmental Design: Journal of the Islamic Environmental Design Research Centre (1990): 10-17
- Villagio Olimpico in Rome (1960) by A. Libera (with drawings and photos)