Casa del Fascio in Como

The former headquarters of the National Fascist Party in Como describes the creative spirit of Giuseppe Terragni within the context of the Italian Rationalist vocabulary. It is an early testament of style, which might explain why, fifty years later, it is still the object of passionate studies. It is a perfect prism with the side 33.20 metres long and 16.60 metres high. It represents a starting point of such rigidity as to encourage a struggle against any classicist potential. The square and the prism are in fact the basic principles of the purism of Le Corbusier. In the building it is these principles that are being questioned because the main volume is not on 'pilotis' and the façades are not free from the structural framework. In fact, they are involved with it, so as to achieve a layered depth. The pulling back of the entrance and breaking up of the top make certain that the building attains transparency (from website Great Buildings Collection).