Located in the building of the “Piedmontese Society of Archaeological and Fine Arts”, the flat designed by Carlo Mollino between 1960 and 1968 is a gem inside Turin.
It is precisely to the city of Turin, with its strong influence of Egyptian culture – which has characterized it since the foundation of the Egyptian Museum in 1824 – that we owed the conceptual inspiration behind the interior design: the ‘Warrior’s Rest Home’, as Mollino renamed it, pick up the concept of the ‘home for the afterlife’, typical of Egyptian tradition, transforming its paradigm: the home becomes a place for meditation on the meaning of life and, consequently, of death.
The nature, as a manifestation of life, is the element which is further enhanced the creation of continuity between inside and outside: overlooking a lush rose garden with a view of the Po River, the hall of the flat is covered by mirrors, today partly oxidized, which originally reflected the external landscape by projecting the view onto the walls; in the few corners where this play of views could not be reproduced, the natural theme is taken up in the wallpaper, which illustrates bucolic landscapes.
There is also a strong echo of the natural world in the furnishings in the home, from chandeliers reproducing bouquets of flowers in crystal to objects that have made their mark on design culture, such as the Tulip chairs in the dining room.
The flat, designed as a place of meditation, shows a strong symbolic component: every object within it is arranged according to a specific plan and due to its positioning acquires a more or less evident meaning within the project designed by Mollino – for example, you can think about the shape of the dining room table that formally recalls an Egyptian title block.
So the visit to this ‘mausoleum of life’ becomes a search for the contents, the images, the hidden symbols that serve as a memorandum to fully live and appreciate the earthly experience of each individual.
Today the house-museum is managed by Fulvio e Napoleone Ferrari, that from 1999 have gained the space, used as a studio following Mollino’s death, and restored it, as far as possible, to its original condition.
Sources
Carlomollino.org – . About & contacts [Internet]. (24/11/2022). Available at: https://www.carlomollino.org/museo-casa-mollino/about-contacts
Pictures
1. V. Silvestrin, 2022. No title available
[Photography] Available at: –
2. V. Silvestrin, 2022. No title available
[Photography] Available at: –
3. V. Silvestrin, 2022. No title available
[Photography] Available at: –