adalberto libera

Villa Malaparte, Capri
[as seen in Contempt]

Adalberto Libera's 'Mediterranean Climate'; From A Problem of Style to a Category of Dwelling

In 1951 Libera travels to Morocco to participate in an international congress, and stops on the way in Marseille. On returning, he gives a lecture at the Accademia di S. Luca, a paraphrase in the form of his travel accounts, of concepts which inspire the design of Tuscalano. Five hours of flight: the memory of the limit attempted by Le Corbusier superimposes itself on the vision of Casablanca from above, with its medina, that history and climate have created with all the medinas and the casbahs in north Africa. There, in Marseille, the block unit develops in height; here, the building unit develops in surface.

These travel accounts are just a starting point to critically examine the notion of construction. On the one hand, he recognizes that there is a tradition of housing pertinent to civilization and climate, and within it, traditional technical solutions are a necessary completion to assure the relationship between building and 'climate.'