Vittoriano Viganò (Milan, 14 December 1919 – Milan, 5 January 1996) was an Italian architect. He obtained his degree from the Politecnico de Milano at age 25. Known for his use of reinforced concrete, his works have been counted among the examples of Italian brutalism.

Vigano was also an architecture teacher, and he worked upon different scale, such as landscape planning and interior design. The following text gives a description of his “Voliera”.

”It was very beautiful. Beautiful was the idea of ​​the aviary in a park, especially in a city like Milan that the animals want to cancel and the pigeons want them all dead’’: Zanuso said referring to the Aviary of the Vigano and Pietro Porcinai project in 1954. During that time X Triennale was asked to rearrange the Parco Sempione in Milan through a series of works. The portion of the park located in front of the Palazzo dell’Arte, which until then had been used as an outdoor cinema, was transformed into a large green lawn on which Vigano decided to place his aviary. This is an inverted cone about 12 meters high made with a nylon net suspended in space through long steel cables to existing plants and metal poles.

Inside it … ‘vertical and horizontal structures in white lacquered iron, float in a game of volatilising deconstruction.’ ‘(A. Stocchi, 1999) This” … internal perch for birds and consisting of uprights and cross pieces and three structures in folded sheet metal: one horizontal for the living room of the birds protected from the rain, one still horizontal for the troughs and one vertical with about twenty niches for the nests … ” (Domus, No. 301, December 1954).

It is an ephemeral, apparently unstable architecture that as A. Stocchi says’ … and a doubt that is transmitted in a dream. An Aviary where our dreams of aerial purity are transported to the countries of the great winds, where objects are raised that are already lighter for the spirit. ” (A. Stocchi, 1999).

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