DARIO FO’S HOUSE | A theatre of the Everyday

Venice is connected to theatre in many ways. The city appears as a human-sized play with an intense urban scenography. The narrow streets appear to be the backstage of the large squares, and the facades on the canals as masks from the Commedia dell’ Arte. As a result, the project is an imaginary house for the playwright Dario Fo who revived the Commedia dell’ Arte in modern theatre. It is located in Cannaregio and links the Scuola Grande di Santa Maria della Misericordia to Santa Caterina. The project is designed as a scenographic promenade through different scenes. It is envisioned as a theatre-habitat, where the inside façade opens to transform the living room into a stage. The idea of the mask is translated into architecture through the careful division between the old and the new. The juxtaposition of ornamental facades and brutalist back walls is quintessential to Venetian architecture.

Venice, Italy

Spring 2011 // Critic: Isa Stürm

Project published in the Best Of Architectural Design, Archizoom, EPFL

Project selected for an exhibition at Università IUAV di Venezia

BCV (Banque cantonale vaudoise) prize awarded