Luigi Moretti and the program of the case albergo in Milan (1947-1950)

This essay is part of the studies on the relationship between architecture and construction techniques in Italy in the twentieth century. The analysis is based on the investigation, through archival documents, of the logics of the architectural genesis of the works examined and on the study of the techniques used in the building construction process. The subject of the essay is a chapter of the design research that took shape in Milan in the second post-war period and that is has not yet been fully considered in the studies on the 20th century Italian history construction. During the second post world war period and the 1950s, Milan experienced a period of economic and demographic growth. These facts corresponded to some urban development programs that defined original design issues and established new relationships between clients, designers, and construction companies. The work of Luigi Moretti, an Italian architect who worked in Milan during the second post-war period, where he founded his own construction company (Cofimprese), took shape in this context. Among the initiatives of Moretti and Cofimprese the program of the case albergo, collective homes intended for single or young couples based on the typological combination of the housing private units with collective services, stood out. According to Moretti, this type of building represented "the most technically and socially advanced building" in the post-war scenario marked by an exceptional housing demand. The figure of the Italian architect was essential for the organization and the rationalization of the entire design and construction process of case albergo. This condition makes the experience, though not fully realized, exemplary in the Milanese context of the time, contributing to the investigation of relationships established between architectural culture and construction evolution due to the typological transformations affecting the city in the 1950s. Initial studies referred to a program of 22 case-albergo, but only three of them were built. The basic scheme involved the combination of 2-4 buildings of 4-5 floors and their collective services. Typological characters supported rationalized construction processes thanks to modular and repeatable solutions. The project of the houses was, in fact, influenced by the debate on the industrialization of the building sector that during those years in Milan involved architects, engineers, and companies. Moretti's interest in this theme, testified by this project, was also the basis of his studies on prefabricated houses and schools developed in part along with Cofimprese.