Conversazione con Vittorio De Feo

Using a past and never published conversation with Vittorio De Feo, the text analyses his widespread use of geometric references.Is geometry a theoretical model capable of generating diverse forms? Or is it a concrete tool that serves to configure otherwise abstract ideas? The answers offered by De Feo help us to comprehend his architecture and how he conceived of it. Geometry is an instrument and not a model. A means of composition (or recomposition, connection) and never an end. Furthermore, perspective (a view we do not experience in a two dimensional world) is what brings us closest to reality, helping us understand that – as Bernini told us – an object is not valid on its own, but in relationship to other objects near it. «Unlike the Purists – De Feo affirms – I am not seeking a fundamental image that excludes all others. If anything, I seek to include as many figures as possible». The works of architecture mentioned during the conversation include: the project for the school at Cattabrighe; the library in Nocera Inferiore (Salerno); the competition entry for the Town Hall in Legnago; the competition design for a typological Esso petrol station, a reference to El Lissitzky’s «Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge»; the large square courtyard buildings in the Roman periphery of Valmelaina.