The “Knotting” as a Morphological Phenomenon. An Interpretation of the Italian Chamber of Deputies Forming Process

Abstract

The article proposes the study of the phenomenon of architectural andurban “knotting”, which the author considers one of the most interestingin the formation of the modern city.It consists in the transformation of a special serial organism (consistingof units repeated and substitutable among themselves) in an organicstructure, where the elements are linked together by a relationship ofnecessity, through the formation of a nodal space.In Italy this phenomenon is quite evident in the formation of newbuilding types for public services, as in the case of the large post officesobtained by transforming existing buildings and then designed ex novowith the knotting idea, giving rise to some of the most importantarchitecture of modern Italian architecture The phenomenon is particularly evident in the formation of the differentpalaces of the Chamber of Deputies in Turin, Florence and Rome.The proposal by Carlo Fontana appears very important, indicating a newpolarity in the urban fabric, a double knotting that links the public spacewith the architectural organism. The project will not be executed but willremain in the deep memory of the plan being formed. Ernesto Basile,author of the project that will be realized, in reality continues, stiffeningit, the idea of Fontana to continue the internal corridors as routes of anurban fabric overturned inside, which is knotted in the central hall.After three temporary experiments obtained in the existing spaces,Basile designed ex novo the large assembly hall in a virtual processualway, as in an existing space to be transformed, designing the structure ofan organism organized around a central open space "subsequently"knotted from a light metal cover.