In 1953 Carlo Mollino, the Turinese architecture maestro, author of the Teatro Regio, made his entrance as a lecturer at the Politecnico; 20 years later he died, shortly after the opening of his masterpiece, and his archive was transferred to the Faculty of Architecture. To commemorate these dates, the University is celebrating the figure of Mollino by curating an exhibition that ranges through his formation, academic and professional career, works and well-known eccentricities. But whereas much attention has already been devoted to the architect’s biography – to the point of making his home an international aesthetic icon – the exhibition aims to open a partly different discourse, connecting the individual figure to the polytechnic disciplines of architecture and engineering.

The result is a choral curatorial project – not coincidentally titled Mollino/Politecnico. Le culture dell’architettura e dell’ingegneria a Torino (Mollino/Politecnico. The Cultures of Architecture and Engineering in Turin) – developed by Politecnico faculty and researchers through ten sections for as many themes. It starts from the urban scale of many of Mollino’s buildings, to explore his care for building systems, details, eclecticism of solutions for mountain architecture, furniture and product design, and machines in their most literal meanings and applications – such as the airplanes he was passionate about. Then come drawing – between sketching, technical content, and visions for an ideal house – the written word, also in the form of storytelling, and a space devoted to the influence and inspiration of Mollino’s work on the projects of contemporary expansion and transformation of places across the Politecnico campus.