Casa Capriata project. Catalogue of the exibition

Casa Capriata 1954-2008 project is one of the official events of the 23rd UIA World Congress 2008, that will be held in June in Torino, and involves the construction of the "Carlo Mollino" alpine shelter. The building is located at the top terminal of the Weissmassen chairlift, at an altitude of 2100 meters, in the Gressoney Saint Jean commune. It is situated inside a ski district which is currently object of development, aside the Walserweg, with Mount Rosa in sight, facing the waters of the basin for artificial snow, not far from the tea pavilion of Queen Margherita of Savoy. The aim of the initiative, presented in this catalogue, is of honouring the Turinese architect by re-proposing his project of a house prototype with a timber structure. The prototype was elaborated in different versions from 1946 to 1954, the year in which it was perfected for the 10th Triennale of Milan, but it could not be realised because of a disagreement between the organiser and the sponsors. It is an example of aerial architecture and is lifted from the ground. It is a reinterpretation of the "walser" architecture from the high valley of Gressoney, which Carlo Mollino analysed from 1929, and which should have been build in the park of the Palazzo dell'Arte of the Triennale of Milan to offer "a permanent show of construction" . It should have been a prototype followed by a serial industrial production.