Gae Aulenti, Collezionista, Milano (Italy), 1960

Gae Aulenti was an Italian female architect. She was quite known for being original in her way of life. First of all, she was a woman in a world of architects consisting of men, and men only. Anyway, she pretended not to care about it. She had a strong political involvement, taking part in the left wing of the political panorama of Italy. Aulenti was even dual as she took part in both the world of the bourgeoisie and the workers’ world. In her work life, she showed her connection to the poor part of the society, but at the same time she needed the help of the rich part of the society, to help her continuing her work.

Aulenti’s works were really appreciated in architecture museums. She was really good at exposing pieces of art. She worked for example at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, in other large museums and a lots of showrooms.

The interior design by Aulenti of an apartment in Milan is worked out as a one space flat. It’s a symmetrical combination of furniture, creating spaces – and not fully closed rooms. In other words, the design does not consist of many walls. The spaces are half open, because of the lack of doors and the finished lines of walls. The combination of materials and colours used in the design is allowing the space to work as an elegant interior, but at the same time the space is not equipped with very expensive pieces of furniture.

References:

Panorama
Conceptual video
Article Carriera della serra
Enciclopedia
Fontana Arte