Giochi di costruzione e architettura moderna. Due note su Juan Bordes

“As I began to collect and study about the boxes of construction sets, I noticed that their history had many points in common with the development of modern architecture”: starting from this point, the Spanish sculptor, architect, professor and toys collector Juan Bordes has presented in essays, books and exhibitions the strong relationships between the diffusion of this kind of toys – derived in turn from pedagogical reforms – and relevant episodes of 19th and 20th centuries architecture. The article goes over the main concepts of Bordes’ research, focusing in the first part (Bottai) on the educational aspects, both in Kindergarten and art academies; in the second part Sbrilli traces in Bordes’ texts some of the multifaceted references to architecture and architects, from Vitruvius’ firmitas/utilitas/venustas, up to modern architects designing toys.