Revisiting the “M Stadium” project by Luigi Moretti. A forgotten model of parametric architecture

Nowadays the term parametric modeling refers to a computer-aided design process where digital representation and interactive computation allow designers to have complete freedom on their designs’ form and sometimes behavior. However, the term historically did not reflect such a freedom. In his article entitled «Structure comme Forme» published in 1953 on the «United States Lines Paris Review» [1] Italian architect Luigi Moretti (1907-1973) defined it as: […] The enumeration of the parameters, scientific research, the quantitative mathematical analysis of these parameters, these form a task to be tackled a priori by the new architecture in every case. There will thus be born that architecture I have long demanded, and to which I gave the name parametric. Its ineluctable geometrical character, the rigorous interconnection of its forms, the absolute freedom of phantasy itself which can spring up where equations cannot fix their own roots all this will give it a crystal splendor. […] According to Moretti, parametric architecture is thus expressed through mathematics and the exploration of parametric equations [2]. Therefore, this study revisits Moretti’s work on the IRMOU’s “M Soccer Stadium” project, designed for the XII Triennale Exposition of Milan in 1960, in order to examine his mathematical form-finding approach to architecture. The mathematically generated shape of the M Stadium based on iso-visibility curves is recreated and explored through three-dimensional CAD modeling. The mathematical relationship that drives the design of the stadium analyzed and the influence of its parameters is further investigated using current graphical techniques.