A Giuseppe Terragni for children stars in an exhibition in Como

The exhibition Giuseppe Terragni for Children: the Sant’Elia Kindergarten continues until November 4, 2018, in the spaces of the Pinacoteca Civica in Como, displaying the furniture designed by the great architect Giuseppe Terragni (Meda, 1904 - Como, 1943) for theSant’Elia Kindergarten in Como. The public will have the opportunity to observe the children’s benches, high chairs, lockers in the locker rooms, a long storage cabinet and an original specimen of the Benita armchair (later renamed the Sant’Elia armchair, which was also present in Como’s celebrated Casa del Fascio, probably Terragni’s best-known design): all objects designed for the first “child-friendly” kindergarten, a modern project sensitive to the needs of the little ones. But there are not only objects: the Pinacoteca Civica also has space for historical documents, photographic material, and period texts. And accompanying visitors is a background sound created by director Mario Pagliarini, made from recordings of the voices of the children who attend the Sant’Elia Kindergarten today.

The idea of dedicating an exhibition to the Sant’Elia Kindergarten, a masterpiece ofComo’s rationalist architecture that was designed by Giuseppe Terragni starting in 1934 and built in 1936, arose from the discovery in the Pinacoteca and Kindergarten storerooms of some period furnishings, some of which were made to designs by Terragni himself. Hence the decision to present these furnishings to the public, after careful recovery and restoration work: they have thus been brought together for the first time, allowing visitors to better understand a very topical theme such as the design of a collective space for children.

The exhibition, curators Paolo Brambilla and Roberta Lietti explain, “intends to acquaint visitors, even those not particularly familiar with architecture, with the modernity of Terragni’s design, which was deeply sensitive to the needs of ’little men,’ and also with the particular social significance of the Sant’Elia, conceived in a suburban and particularly poor area of Como and intended for children whose mothers, in addition to heavy housework (in front of the kindergarten one of the many municipal wash-houses where women went to wash clothes is still visible), were engaged as workers in the area’s factories, mostly textile mills.”

Giuseppe Terragni for children: the Sant’Elia Kindergarten opens Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The exhibition can be accessed with the Pinacoteca Civica ticket: 4 euros full, 2 euros reduced (groups of 15 people, children and teens aged 6 to 17, over 70, employees of the Municipality of Como), 10 euros cumulative ticket for three museums (Musei Civici, Pinacoteca Civica and Tempio Voltiano), 10 euros family pass (two adults and two teens aged 6 to 17), free for children under 6, disabled with accompanying person, ICOM members, one teacher for every 15 pupils, members of the Order of Journalists, tour guides, Card Musei Lombardia. More information, with list of collateral and educational activities, at visitcomo.eu. The exhibition is organized by the Cultural Department of the Municipality of Como in collaboration with the Istituto Comprensivo Como Centro Città, is conceived by Roberta Lietti and is curated by experts in architecture and rationalist design such as architect Paolo Brambilla, a connoisseur of Giuseppe Terragni’s work, and architect Matteo Pirola, professor of Italian design history at the Milan Polytechnic.

Image: the facade of the Sant’Elia Kindergarten in a period photo.

A Giuseppe Terragni for children stars in an exhibition in Como

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