A careful study of Ponti's first work abroad, and the first example of the long experimentation with diamond shape patterns which he developed in the Fifties and Sixties
The Italian Institute of Culture in Stockholm, resulting from the Milanese architect’s encounter with engineer Carlo Maurilio Lerici, the perfect incarnation of the humanist engineer, is the most successful example of Ponti’s idea of architecture as the manifestation of a civilisation, of living within the fruitful collaboration between different cultures.The Stockholm building was intended to be – and succeeds in being – a total work of art: that is, it is not confined simply to the spatial expression, but is extended to cover all the elements of furniture that are here considered to be an expansion of the architecture.With its fine state of conservation and its rich array of original furniture, the Institute is unique of its kind and thus a worthy subject to which to dedicate such a careful study and meticulous reconstruction