In an era in which the boundaries between reality and virtuality are becoming increasingly blurred, and in which the culture of mass media and social networks has irreversibly invaded the domestic space through screens and digital devices, this research aims to investigate the relationship between virtuality and the architecture of the built environment, focusing in particular on the domestic sphere. Within the framework of a doctoral program that seeks to explore the relationship between architecture and construction in a historical phase marked by globalization—tending to homogenize local identities and reduce cultural differences—this dissertation arises from the intention to draw attention to a specific aspect of Italian dwelling: the spectatorialization of domestic space, understood as a design practice that, since antiquity, has resorted to virtual images and illusory and theatrical devices to construct a dwelling dimension rich in visions, imagination, and artifice. From the Roman domus of Pompeii , through the Renaissance and Baroque palazzo , up to the bourgeois and aristocratic house of the twentieth century, a line of continuity emerges in Italian architectural culture which, in different forms, has anticipated a theme that today is central: the encounter between virtuality and domesticity. The dissertation rests on the premise that every historical innovation linked to discoveries in the science of vision has generated transformations in the collective imagination, significantly influencing the perception of space and producing new models of architectural visuality, which in turn have deeply shaped the design of domestic space. Architects and artists, in every age, have reinterpreted the visual innovations of their time, producing imaginative effects that have been translated into new forms of representation and staging of the space of dwelling. The central question guiding this study stems from a critical reflection on the contemporary concept of virtual architecture, usually associated with advanced digital technologies such as renderings and simulated environments. As an alternative to this limited view, the dissertation proposes a reinterpretation of the term virtuality, recovering its original meanings and analyzing its implications within the architectural field. The investigation therefore unfolds as a historical and theoretical path aimed at understanding how virtual images and illusions have shaped the perception of space and have progressively been transformed into true design tools of domestic architecture. At the core of the research lies the relationship between perception and illusion, between corporeal space and virtual vision, conceived as fundamental components in the construction of an architecture of spectatorship. This concept, elaborated and explored by Anne Friedberg in her volume The Virtual Window, constituted one of the main points of departure for the reflections developed in this dissertation. Friedberg describes the screen—whatever its nature: pictorial, cinematic, televisual, or digital—as an architectural element, a “virtual window” that opens the built space onto an imaginary and illusory, yet perceptually real, dimension. In this sense, the screen, understood as a surface carrying virtual images, becomes an integral part of architecture, an interface between materiality and imagination, between vision and body, contributing to the construction of an inhabited space in which virtuality manifests itself as an extension of reality. This study focuses on domestic architectural spaces that have significantly expressed the relationship between perception and illusion, and between physicality and virtuality, employing them as design instruments for the theatricalization and spectatorialization of the domestic environment, in the creation of an architecture of spectatorship. A character that manifests precisely in the intensification of the virtual visual experience lived by the spectator-inhabitant. What defines the spectatorship of a space, in this research, is the relationship between the individual and the physical limit of the building—the wall or the ceiling—on which, or within which, virtual images redefine the very relationship between subject and space. These images, indeed, suggest a possibility of action and movement that nonetheless remains exclusively virtual, activated through the suspension of disbelief associated with sight and with that visual experience which, in certain environments, imposes itself as the predominant sense. In this regard, the research is situated within a contemporary debate, well exemplified by the studies of philosopher Andrea Pinotti on the theme of threshold-space represented by images and on the ancestral desire of the individual to “enter the image”—an impulse that, in every epoch, has been interpreted by each visual culture through the technical and symbolic means available. This issue is particularly relevant today, in light of the capacity of virtual reality technologies to make the image present within the perceived space, generating immersive environments. Indeed, the all-encompassing presence of virtual images has determined the dissolution of the “frames” that traditionally separated the space of the image from that of the body, opening a bidirectional passage between the real world and the world of the imaginary: the individual can penetrate the space of the image, but at the same time the image invades and modifies the real space inhabited by the subject. As will be shown, this process does not concern contemporary digital technologies alone, but also those virtual images of the past which, since antiquity, have transformed the perception of space, suggesting the existence of a “beyond the surface”: this is the theme of pre-digital virtuality. Similarly, these transformations have also affected architectural space, modifying the way in which one perceives—through the screen—a space “beyond the wall,” beyond the physical limit of the built environment, which is transformed into a threshold toward an imaginary elsewhere. The analysis of this relationship between screen, virtual image, and corporeal space, which manifests itself in different forms across historical periods, constitutes the foundation of this research, positioning it as a contribution to the study of the theme in contemporaneity. Deliberately, this work stops short of the entry of digital virtual images into the built environment, focusing instead on forms of virtual imagery up to the advent of the cinematic screen as an architectural device. Addressing the theme of virtual and illusory images, as well as the arts that produce them and their effects on architectural space, implies an interdisciplinary approach. For this reason, the research draws on contributions from art history, media theory, literature, computer science, photography, and cinema, in order to provide a broad and layered vision of the concept of virtuality as applied to interior architecture. In a context in which the term “virtual” tends to be reduced to a simple synonym of “digital,” the objective is to restore historical and theoretical depth to this concept, exploring it as a potential dimension capable of coexisting with physical reality through illusion, since antiquity. It will therefore be essential, throughout the dissertation, to precisely define the concepts of spectatorship, virtuality, and illusion, analyzing the main theories of vision and understanding their application in the design of domestic space. Only through this clarification will it be possible to grasp how the house, in its continuous staging of itself, has always been—and perhaps more than ever today—a privileged site of encounter between reality and fiction, between construction and imagination, between body and vision. The research, conceived as a collection of essays, develops according to a chronological framework, though interspersed with substantial temporal leaps. The guiding thread is the theme of virtual and illusory vision in the context of domestic space design: it is this nexus that makes it possible to establish intertemporal comparisons and parallels, in search of continuities and discontinuities in the concept of spectatorialization and theatricalization of the domestic environment, with particular reference to the Italian context. The study opens with an investigation of the domestic space of ancient Rome, in which the concept of visual illusion and virtuality is analyzed through pictorial apparatuses of architectural and proto-perspectival character. These visual solutions owe much to innovations developed within the science of vision in the Greco-Roman world, particularly through studies on ancient theatrical scenography, from which illusionistic devices later applied to the domestic sphere derive. The trajectory continues with the analysis of the spectatorial and virtual space of the Renaissance and subsequently Baroque palazzo. In particular, attention is devoted to the pictorial and architectural genre of quadratura, the pictorial act of creating architecture through illusory perspectival drawing on walls and ceilings, which marks the structural entrance of the virtual dimension within the architectural design of interiors. In this phase, domestic space becomes a true laboratory of experimentation for that program of theatricalization of civic and religious life that characterizes the entire Baroque epoch. These studies on visual illusion and virtuality in domesticity, both ancient and modern, allow for a further and broader chronological leap, projecting the research into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. At this stage, attention focuses on the effects of technical innovations linked to the science of vision, particularly photography and cinema, along with their nineteenth-century predecessors, the so-called panoramas, which gave rise to new models of architectural visuality and found concrete application in specific domestic interior projects of the twentieth century. These models, while rooted in the technological and cultural spirit of modernity, establish a dialogue—sometimes through continuity, sometimes through rupture—with solutions from antiquity. In this part of the study, the research of various scholars on the theme of spectatorship and theatricality of domestic space is analyzed, highlighting the role of media and optical-technological instruments within the design of interior architecture. As Michele Aaron observes in Spectatorship: The Power of Looking On, “people love to look”: the twentieth century, through the media and cinema, introduced a visual culture that offers the spectator the possibility and the pleasure of seeing what would normally remain hidden, transforming the everyday into spectacle and the spectacular into conventional content. In parallel, some architects worked on the design of domestic interiors to transform the house into a true “machine of vision”: a space to be inhabited in which the primacy of sight and of the visual experience becomes decisive for the identity of the place, where the inhabitant is also, and above all, a spectator. The concluding part of the research focuses on the work of two twentieth-century Italian architects, Carlo Mollino and Renzo Mongiardino, both authors of interiors deeply influenced by their experience in theatrical and cinematic scenography, as well as fully embodying the spirit of the technical-visual models of their time as represented by the camera. In the work of Carlo Mollino, the use of the camera is not limited to a tool of documentation: it becomes an integral part of the design process, a critical device for investigating viewpoints and the staging of domestic space starting from the camera lens. The result is environments strongly characterized by latent theatricality, permeated by virtual images, in which the scenographic and cinematic character of space is amplified by the mediated vision of the lens. Similarly, the work of Renzo Mongiardino conceives the house as an eminently spectatorial space: living environments constructed according to scenic and narrative logics of clear cinematic and theatrical derivation, in which the illusory dimension is not mere decoration, but an expressive tool to shape a true dramaturgy of space. In both cases, interior architecture becomes stage and narrative, a synthesis of design imagination, visual memory, and technology. To fully comprehend the deep roots of this design attitude, it is necessary to leap backward in history and interrogate the domestic spaces of antiquity. It is in these original environments, in fact, that an early tension toward visual illusion and the theatricalization of dwelling space manifests itself, anticipating models that will resurface in later centuries in ever new forms. The research aims to construct a historical and theoretical framework of spectatorship within the domestic space, highlighting the semantic continuities and discontinuities of this concept in the context of the design of the living environment. Although it is possible to trace connections across different historical periods and identify a shared cultural approach to a certain way of understanding one aspect of the experience of inhabiting the home, it is precisely in the tensions and frictions embedded in this theme that the research seeks to focus its critical attention. Spectatorship in the domestic space is therefore not a neutral or linear condition of dwelling within Italian culture; clearly, and above all, it does not constitute its primary characteristic, but rather represents only one of the aspects through which it can be defined, one of the interpretive categories that can be applied to its reading. It is, in fact, an ambiguous quality of domestic space, charged with both potentialities and criticalities, which can be traced across different historical periods in relation to the varying historical and cultural contexts that shape the culture of images and media in each era. In this sense, the idea that every historical innovation linked to discoveries in the science of vision has produced transformations in the collective imagination—thereby influencing the perception of space and generating new models of architectural visuality—can also be read in reverse. Such innovations should not necessarily be understood as the origin of these processes, but rather as their outcome, making a pre-existing, unresolved conflict more visible rather than resolving it. Applied to the reflection on domestic space, this perspective implies that the transformations introduced by innovations in the field of the science of vision—whether pre-digital or digital—can be interpreted not as the primary cause of the spectatorship of domestic experience, but rather as the result of a deeper cultural shift in the relationship between subject, space, and images. The theme of spectatorship in the domestic environment thus becomes not the site in which to investigate how image-based communication technologies have generated entirely new social and spatial models, but rather a critical field in which to observe how innovations in vision emerge in response to, and as a consequence of, changes already underway in collective sensibility, modes of dwelling, and forms of social relations specific to each historical period.

In un’epoca in cui i confini tra realtà e virtualità si fanno sempre più sfumati, e in cui la cultura dei mass media e dei social network ha irrimediabilmente invaso lo spazio domestico attraverso schermi e dispositivi digitali, questa ricerca si propone di indagare il rapporto tra virtualità e architettura dello spazio costruito, concentrandosi in particolare sull’ambito domestico. Nel percorso di un corso di dottorato che si pone l’obiettivo di esplorare il legame tra architettura e costruzione in una fase storica segnata dalla globalizzazione – che tende a omologare le identità locali riducendo le differenze culturali – questa tesi nasce dalla volontà di riportare l’attenzione su un aspetto specifico dell’abitare all’italiana: la spettatorializzazione dello spazio domestico, intesa come pratica progettuale che, sin dall’antichità, ha fatto ricorso a immagini virtuali e dispositivi illusori e teatrali per costruire una dimensione abitativa ricca di visioni, immaginazione e artificio. Dalla domus romana di Pompei, passando per il palazzo rinascimentale e barocco, fino alla casa borghese e aristocratica del Novecento, si delinea una linea di continuità nella cultura architettonica italiana che, in forme diverse, ha anticipato un tema oggi centrale: l’incontro tra la virtualità e la domesticità. La tesi parte dal presupposto che ogni innovazione storica legata alle scoperte nella scienza della visione abbia prodotto trasformazioni nell’immaginario collettivo, influenzando in modo significativo la percezione dello spazio e generando nuovi modelli di visualità architettonica, che hanno inciso profondamente sulla progettazione dello spazio domestico. Architetti e artisti, in ogni epoca, hanno reinterpretato le innovazioni visive del loro tempo, producendo effetti immaginativi che si sono tradotti in nuove forme di rappresentazione e messa in scena dello spazio dell’abitare. Il quesito centrale che guida questo studio nasce da una riflessione critica sul concetto contemporaneo di architettura virtuale, solitamente associato a tecnologie digitali avanzate come rendering e ambienti simulati. In alternativa a questa visione limitata, la tesi propone una rilettura del termine virtualità, recuperandone le accezioni originarie e analizzandone le implicazioni nel campo architettonico. L’indagine si sviluppa quindi come un percorso storico e teorico volto a comprendere come immagini virtuali e illusioni abbiano plasmato la percezione dello spazio e si siano progressivamente trasformate in veri e propri strumenti progettuali dell’architettura domestica. Al centro della ricerca si pone la relazione tra percezione e illusione, tra spazio corporeo e visione virtuale, intesi come componenti fondamentali nella costruzione di un’architettura della spettatorialità. Tale concetto, elaborato e approfondito da Anne Friedberg nel volume The Virtual Window, ha rappresentato uno dei principali punti di partenza per lo sviluppo delle riflessioni contenute in questa tesi. Friedberg descrive lo schermo – qualunque esso sia: pittorico,cinematografico, televisivo o digitale – come un elemento architettonico, una “finestra virtuale” che apre lo spazio costruito a una dimensione immaginaria e illusoria, ma percettivamente reale. In questo senso lo schermo, inteso come superficie portatrice di immagini virtuali, diventa parte integrante dell’architettura, un’interfaccia fra materialità e immaginazione, tra visione e corpo, contribuendo a costruire uno spazio abitato in cui la virtualità si manifesta come estensione della realtà. Questo studio si concentra sugli spazi architettonici domestici che hanno espresso in modo significativo il rapporto tra percezione e illusione, e tra fisicità e virtualità, impiegandoli come strumenti progettuali per la teatralizzazione e spettatorializzazione dell’ambiente domestico, nella creazione di una architettura della spettatorialità. Un carattere che si manifesta proprio nell’accentuazione dell’esperienza visiva virtuale vissuta dallo spettatore-abitante. Ciò che definisce la spettatorialità di uno spazio, in questa ricerca, è il rapporto tra l’individuo e il limite fisico dell’edificio — il muro o il soffitto — su cui, o entro cui, le immagini virtuali ridefiniscono la relazione stessa tra soggetto e spazio. Queste immagini, infatti, suggeriscono una possibilità di azione e di movimento che rimane tuttavia esclusivamente virtuale, attivandosi attraverso la sospensione della credulità associata alla vista e a quell’esperienza visiva che, in alcuni ambienti, si impone come senso predominante. A questo proposito, la ricerca si inserisce in un dibattito attuale, ben esemplificato dagli studi del filosofo Andrea Pinotti sul tema dello spazio-soglia rappresentato dalle immagini e sul desiderio ancestrale dell’individuo di “entrare nell’immagine” — un impulso che, in ogni epoca, è stato declinato da ciascuna cultura visuale attraverso i mezzi tecnici e simbolici disponibili. Si tratta di una questione oggi particolarmente rilevante, alla luce della capacità delle tecnologie di realtà virtuale di rendere l’immagine presente all’interno dello spazio percepito, generando ambienti immersivi. Infatti, la presenza a 360 gradi di immagini virtuali ha determinato la dissoluzione delle “cornici” che tradizionalmente separavano lo spazio dell’immagine da quello corporeo, aprendo un passaggio bidirezionale tra mondo reale e mondo dell’immaginario: l’individuo può penetrare nello spazio dell’immagine, ma al contempo l’immagine invade e modifica lo spazio reale abitato dal soggetto. Come si vedrà, questo processo non riguarda esclusivamente le tecnologie digitali contemporanee, ma coinvolge anche quelle immagini virtuali del passato che, sin dall’antichità, hanno trasformato la percezione dello spazio, suggerendo l’esistenza di un “oltre la superficie”: è il tema della virtualità pre-digitale. Analogamente, queste trasformazioni hanno investito anche lo spazio architettonico, modificando il modo in cui si percepisce — attraverso lo schermo — uno spazio “oltre il muro”, oltre il limite fisico dello spazio costruito, che si trasforma in soglia verso un altrove immaginario. L’analisi di questo rapporto tra schermo, immagine virtuale e spazio corporeo, che si manifesta in forme diverse nel corso delle epoche storiche, costituisce il fondamento di questa ricerca, ponendola come contributo allo studio del tema nella contemporaneità. In modo deliberato, questo lavoro si arresta prima dell’ingresso delle immagini virtuali digitali nello spazio costruito, concentrandosi invece sulle forme di immagine virtuale fino all’avvento dello schermo cinematografico come dispositivo architettonico. Affrontare il tema delle immagini virtuali e illusorie, così come delle arti che le producono e dei loro effetti nello spazio architettonico, implica un approccio interdisciplinare. Per questo motivo, la ricerca attinge a contributi provenienti dalla storia dell’arte, dalla teoria dei media, dalla letteratura, dall’informatica, dalla fotografia e dal cinema, al fine di restituire una visione ampia e stratificata del concetto di virtualità applicato all’architettura degli interni. In un contesto in cui il termine virtuale tende a essere ridotto a semplice sinonimo di digitale, l’obiettivo è quello di restituire profondità storica e teorica a questo concetto, esplorandolo come dimensione potenziale capace di coesistere con la realtà fisica attraverso l’illusione, fin dall’antichità. Sarà quindi fondamentale, nel corso della tesi, definire con precisione i concetti di spettatorialità, virtualità e illusione, analizzando le principali teorie sulla visione e comprendendone l’applicazione progettuale nello spazio domestico. Solo attraverso questa chiarificazione sarà possibile comprendere come la casa, nel suo continuo mettersi in scena, sia sempre stata – e forse più che mai oggi – luogo privilegiato dell’incontro tra realtà e finzione, tra costruzione e immaginazione, tra corpo e visione. La ricerca, concepita come un insieme di saggi, si sviluppa secondo un impianto cronologico, pur attraversato da consistenti salti temporali. A fungere da filo conduttore è il tema della visione virtuale e illusoria nel contesto del progetto dello spazio domestico: è questo il nesso che consente di stabilire confronti e parallelismi intertemporali, alla ricerca di continuità e discontinuità nel concetto di spettatorializzazione e teatralizzazione dell’ambiente domestico, con particolare riferimento al territorio italiano. Lo studio si apre con un’indagine sullo spazio domestico dell’antichità romana, in cui il concetto di illusione visiva e di virtualità è analizzato attraverso gli apparati pittorici di carattere architettonico e proto-prospettico. Queste soluzioni visive devono molto alle innovazioni maturate nell’ambito della scienza della visione greco-romana, in particolare grazie agli studi sulla scenografia teatrale antica, da cui derivano dispositivi illusionistici applicati poi all’ambiente domestico. Il percorso prosegue con l’analisi dello spazio spettatoriale e virtuale del palazzo rinascimentale e, successivamente, barocco. In particolare, si approfondisce il genere pittorico e architettonico della quadratura, l’atto pittorico di creare architettura tramite il disegno prospettico illusorio su pareti e soffitti, che segna l’ingresso strutturale della dimensione virtuale all’interno del progetto architettonico d’interni. Lo spazio domestico diventa in questa fase un vero e proprio laboratorio di sperimentazione per quel programma di spettacolarizzazione teatrale della vita civile e religiosa che caratterizza l’intera epoca barocca. Questi studi sull’illusione visiva e sulla virtualità nella domesticità, sia antica che moderna, consentono di compiere un ulteriore e ampio salto cronologico, proiettando la ricerca nel XVIII, XIX e XX secolo. In questa fase, l’attenzione si concentra sugli effetti delle innovazioni tecniche legate alla scienza della visione, in particolare la fotografia e il cinema, insieme ai loro predecessori settecenteschi e ottocenteschi, i cosiddetti panorami, che hanno dato origine a nuovi modelli di visualità architettonica e trovato concreta applicazione in specifici progetti di spazi domestici nel Novecento. Tali modelli, pur radicati nello spirito tecnologico e culturale della modernità, si pongono in dialogo — talvolta per continuità, talvolta per rottura — con le soluzioni dell’antichità. In questa parte dello studio si analizzano le ricerche di diversi studiosi sul tema della spettatorialità e della teatralità dello spazio domestico, evidenziando il ruolo dei media e degli strumenti ottico-tecnologici all’interno del progetto di architettura degli interni. Come osserva Michele Aaron in Spectatorship: The Power of Looking On, “le persone amano guardare”: il Novecento, attraverso i media e il cinema, ha introdotto una cultura visuale che offre allo spettatore la possibilità e il piacere di vedere ciò che normalmente resterebbe nascosto, trasformando il quotidiano in spettacolo e lo spettacolare in contenuto convenzionale. Parallelamente, alcuni architetti lavorarono sul progetto degli interni domestici per trasformare la casa in una vera e propria “macchina della visione”: uno spazio da abitare in cui il primato della vista e dell’esperienza visuale diventa determinante per l’identità del luogo, in cui l’abitante è anche, e soprattutto, spettatore. La parte conclusiva della ricerca si focalizza sull’opera di due architetti italiani del Novecento, Carlo Mollino e Renzo Mongiardino, entrambi autori di interni profondamente influenzati dalla loro esperienza nella scenografia teatrale e cinematografica, nonché capaci di incarnare pienamente lo spirito dei modelli tecnico-visivi della propria epoca rappresentati dalla fotocamera. Nel lavoro di Carlo Mollino, l’uso della macchina fotografica non si limita a essere uno strumento di documentazione: essa diviene parte integrante del processo progettuale, un dispositivo critico per indagare i punti di vista e la messa in scena dello spazio domestico a partire dall’obiettivo della fotocamera. Ne derivano ambienti fortemente connotati da una teatralità latente, permeati da immagini virtuali e in cui il carattere scenografico e cinematografico dello spazio risulta amplificato dalla visione mediata dell’obiettivo. Analogamente, l’opera di Renzo Mongiardino concepisce la casa come uno spazio eminentemente spettatoriale: ambienti dell’abitare costruiti secondo logiche sceniche e narrative di chiara derivazione cinematografica e teatrale, in cui la dimensione illusionistica non è semplice decorazione, ma strumento espressivo per dar forma a una vera e propria drammaturgia dello spazio. In entrambi i casi, l’architettura d’interni si fa palcoscenico e racconto, sintesi tra immaginazione progettuale, memoria visiva e tecnologia. Per comprendere appieno le radici profonde di questa attitudine progettuale, è necessario compiere un salto all’indietro nella storia e interrogare gli spazi domestici dell’antichità. È infatti in questi ambienti originari che si manifesta una precoce tensione verso l’illusione visiva e la teatralizzazione dello spazio abitativo, anticipando modelli e atteggiamenti che riaffioreranno nei secoli successivi in forme sempre nuove. La ricerca si pone come obiettivo quello di costruire un quadro storico e teorico della spettatorialità nello spazio domestico, mettendo in evidenza le continuità e le discontinuità semantiche di questo concetto nell’ambito della progettazione dell’ambiente abitativo. Sebbene sia possibile rintracciare nessi tra i diversi periodi e una cultura condivisa di un certo modo di intendere un aspetto dell’esperienza dell’abitare, è proprio nelle tensioni e negli attriti che attraversano questo tema che la ricerca intende porre criticamente l’attenzione. La spettatorialità dello spazio domestico non è dunque una condizione neutra e lineare del concetto di abitare nella cultura italiana o occidentale: soprattutto, e chiaramente, non ne costituisce la caratteristica principale, ma rappresenta soltanto uno degli aspetti che possono definirla, una delle categorie interpretative attraverso cui leggerla. Si tratta infatti di una qualità ambigua dello spazio domestico, carica al tempo stesso di potenzialità e criticità, rintracciabile nelle diverse epoche in relazione ai differenti contesti storico-culturali che caratterizzano la cultura delle immagini e dei media di ciascun periodo. In questo senso, l’idea secondo cui ogni innovazione storica, legata alle scoperte nella scienza della visione, abbia prodotto trasformazioni nell’immaginario collettivo, influenzando la percezione dello spazio e generando nuovi modelli di visualità architettonica, può essere letta anche in senso inverso. Tali innovazioni non rappresenterebbero necessariamente l’origine di questi processi, ma piuttosto il loro esito, rendendo un conflitto preesistente non risolto, ma più evidente. Applicato alla riflessione sullo spazio domestico, ciò implica che le trasformazioni introdotte dalle innovazioni nell’ambito della scienza della visione — siano esse pre-digitali o digitali — possano essere interpretate non come la causa primaria della spettatorializzazione dell’esperienza domestica, bensì come il risultato di una più profonda mutazione culturale del rapporto tra soggetto, spazio e immagini. In quest’ottica, il tema della spettatorialità nell’ambiente domestico non diventa quindi il luogo in cui ricercare come le tecnologie della comunicazione per immagini abbiano generato modelli sociali e spaziali del tutto nuovi, ma piuttosto lo spazio critico in cui osservare come le innovazioni nell’ambito della visione emergano in risposta, e in modo conseguente, a cambiamenti già in atto nella sensibilità collettiva, nelle modalità dell’abitare e nelle forme di relazione proprie di ogni epoca.

Architettura della Spettatorialità: visioni virtuali e illusorie nella messinscena dello spazio domestico / Pozzati, Luca. - (2026 Apr 24).

Architettura della Spettatorialità: visioni virtuali e illusorie nella messinscena dello spazio domestico

POZZATI, LUCA
24/04/2026

Abstract

In an era in which the boundaries between reality and virtuality are becoming increasingly blurred, and in which the culture of mass media and social networks has irreversibly invaded the domestic space through screens and digital devices, this research aims to investigate the relationship between virtuality and the architecture of the built environment, focusing in particular on the domestic sphere. Within the framework of a doctoral program that seeks to explore the relationship between architecture and construction in a historical phase marked by globalization—tending to homogenize local identities and reduce cultural differences—this dissertation arises from the intention to draw attention to a specific aspect of Italian dwelling: the spectatorialization of domestic space, understood as a design practice that, since antiquity, has resorted to virtual images and illusory and theatrical devices to construct a dwelling dimension rich in visions, imagination, and artifice. From the Roman domus of Pompeii , through the Renaissance and Baroque palazzo , up to the bourgeois and aristocratic house of the twentieth century, a line of continuity emerges in Italian architectural culture which, in different forms, has anticipated a theme that today is central: the encounter between virtuality and domesticity. The dissertation rests on the premise that every historical innovation linked to discoveries in the science of vision has generated transformations in the collective imagination, significantly influencing the perception of space and producing new models of architectural visuality, which in turn have deeply shaped the design of domestic space. Architects and artists, in every age, have reinterpreted the visual innovations of their time, producing imaginative effects that have been translated into new forms of representation and staging of the space of dwelling. The central question guiding this study stems from a critical reflection on the contemporary concept of virtual architecture, usually associated with advanced digital technologies such as renderings and simulated environments. As an alternative to this limited view, the dissertation proposes a reinterpretation of the term virtuality, recovering its original meanings and analyzing its implications within the architectural field. The investigation therefore unfolds as a historical and theoretical path aimed at understanding how virtual images and illusions have shaped the perception of space and have progressively been transformed into true design tools of domestic architecture. At the core of the research lies the relationship between perception and illusion, between corporeal space and virtual vision, conceived as fundamental components in the construction of an architecture of spectatorship. This concept, elaborated and explored by Anne Friedberg in her volume The Virtual Window, constituted one of the main points of departure for the reflections developed in this dissertation. Friedberg describes the screen—whatever its nature: pictorial, cinematic, televisual, or digital—as an architectural element, a “virtual window” that opens the built space onto an imaginary and illusory, yet perceptually real, dimension. In this sense, the screen, understood as a surface carrying virtual images, becomes an integral part of architecture, an interface between materiality and imagination, between vision and body, contributing to the construction of an inhabited space in which virtuality manifests itself as an extension of reality. This study focuses on domestic architectural spaces that have significantly expressed the relationship between perception and illusion, and between physicality and virtuality, employing them as design instruments for the theatricalization and spectatorialization of the domestic environment, in the creation of an architecture of spectatorship. A character that manifests precisely in the intensification of the virtual visual experience lived by the spectator-inhabitant. What defines the spectatorship of a space, in this research, is the relationship between the individual and the physical limit of the building—the wall or the ceiling—on which, or within which, virtual images redefine the very relationship between subject and space. These images, indeed, suggest a possibility of action and movement that nonetheless remains exclusively virtual, activated through the suspension of disbelief associated with sight and with that visual experience which, in certain environments, imposes itself as the predominant sense. In this regard, the research is situated within a contemporary debate, well exemplified by the studies of philosopher Andrea Pinotti on the theme of threshold-space represented by images and on the ancestral desire of the individual to “enter the image”—an impulse that, in every epoch, has been interpreted by each visual culture through the technical and symbolic means available. This issue is particularly relevant today, in light of the capacity of virtual reality technologies to make the image present within the perceived space, generating immersive environments. Indeed, the all-encompassing presence of virtual images has determined the dissolution of the “frames” that traditionally separated the space of the image from that of the body, opening a bidirectional passage between the real world and the world of the imaginary: the individual can penetrate the space of the image, but at the same time the image invades and modifies the real space inhabited by the subject. As will be shown, this process does not concern contemporary digital technologies alone, but also those virtual images of the past which, since antiquity, have transformed the perception of space, suggesting the existence of a “beyond the surface”: this is the theme of pre-digital virtuality. Similarly, these transformations have also affected architectural space, modifying the way in which one perceives—through the screen—a space “beyond the wall,” beyond the physical limit of the built environment, which is transformed into a threshold toward an imaginary elsewhere. The analysis of this relationship between screen, virtual image, and corporeal space, which manifests itself in different forms across historical periods, constitutes the foundation of this research, positioning it as a contribution to the study of the theme in contemporaneity. Deliberately, this work stops short of the entry of digital virtual images into the built environment, focusing instead on forms of virtual imagery up to the advent of the cinematic screen as an architectural device. Addressing the theme of virtual and illusory images, as well as the arts that produce them and their effects on architectural space, implies an interdisciplinary approach. For this reason, the research draws on contributions from art history, media theory, literature, computer science, photography, and cinema, in order to provide a broad and layered vision of the concept of virtuality as applied to interior architecture. In a context in which the term “virtual” tends to be reduced to a simple synonym of “digital,” the objective is to restore historical and theoretical depth to this concept, exploring it as a potential dimension capable of coexisting with physical reality through illusion, since antiquity. It will therefore be essential, throughout the dissertation, to precisely define the concepts of spectatorship, virtuality, and illusion, analyzing the main theories of vision and understanding their application in the design of domestic space. Only through this clarification will it be possible to grasp how the house, in its continuous staging of itself, has always been—and perhaps more than ever today—a privileged site of encounter between reality and fiction, between construction and imagination, between body and vision. The research, conceived as a collection of essays, develops according to a chronological framework, though interspersed with substantial temporal leaps. The guiding thread is the theme of virtual and illusory vision in the context of domestic space design: it is this nexus that makes it possible to establish intertemporal comparisons and parallels, in search of continuities and discontinuities in the concept of spectatorialization and theatricalization of the domestic environment, with particular reference to the Italian context. The study opens with an investigation of the domestic space of ancient Rome, in which the concept of visual illusion and virtuality is analyzed through pictorial apparatuses of architectural and proto-perspectival character. These visual solutions owe much to innovations developed within the science of vision in the Greco-Roman world, particularly through studies on ancient theatrical scenography, from which illusionistic devices later applied to the domestic sphere derive. The trajectory continues with the analysis of the spectatorial and virtual space of the Renaissance and subsequently Baroque palazzo. In particular, attention is devoted to the pictorial and architectural genre of quadratura, the pictorial act of creating architecture through illusory perspectival drawing on walls and ceilings, which marks the structural entrance of the virtual dimension within the architectural design of interiors. In this phase, domestic space becomes a true laboratory of experimentation for that program of theatricalization of civic and religious life that characterizes the entire Baroque epoch. These studies on visual illusion and virtuality in domesticity, both ancient and modern, allow for a further and broader chronological leap, projecting the research into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. At this stage, attention focuses on the effects of technical innovations linked to the science of vision, particularly photography and cinema, along with their nineteenth-century predecessors, the so-called panoramas, which gave rise to new models of architectural visuality and found concrete application in specific domestic interior projects of the twentieth century. These models, while rooted in the technological and cultural spirit of modernity, establish a dialogue—sometimes through continuity, sometimes through rupture—with solutions from antiquity. In this part of the study, the research of various scholars on the theme of spectatorship and theatricality of domestic space is analyzed, highlighting the role of media and optical-technological instruments within the design of interior architecture. As Michele Aaron observes in Spectatorship: The Power of Looking On, “people love to look”: the twentieth century, through the media and cinema, introduced a visual culture that offers the spectator the possibility and the pleasure of seeing what would normally remain hidden, transforming the everyday into spectacle and the spectacular into conventional content. In parallel, some architects worked on the design of domestic interiors to transform the house into a true “machine of vision”: a space to be inhabited in which the primacy of sight and of the visual experience becomes decisive for the identity of the place, where the inhabitant is also, and above all, a spectator. The concluding part of the research focuses on the work of two twentieth-century Italian architects, Carlo Mollino and Renzo Mongiardino, both authors of interiors deeply influenced by their experience in theatrical and cinematic scenography, as well as fully embodying the spirit of the technical-visual models of their time as represented by the camera. In the work of Carlo Mollino, the use of the camera is not limited to a tool of documentation: it becomes an integral part of the design process, a critical device for investigating viewpoints and the staging of domestic space starting from the camera lens. The result is environments strongly characterized by latent theatricality, permeated by virtual images, in which the scenographic and cinematic character of space is amplified by the mediated vision of the lens. Similarly, the work of Renzo Mongiardino conceives the house as an eminently spectatorial space: living environments constructed according to scenic and narrative logics of clear cinematic and theatrical derivation, in which the illusory dimension is not mere decoration, but an expressive tool to shape a true dramaturgy of space. In both cases, interior architecture becomes stage and narrative, a synthesis of design imagination, visual memory, and technology. To fully comprehend the deep roots of this design attitude, it is necessary to leap backward in history and interrogate the domestic spaces of antiquity. It is in these original environments, in fact, that an early tension toward visual illusion and the theatricalization of dwelling space manifests itself, anticipating models that will resurface in later centuries in ever new forms. The research aims to construct a historical and theoretical framework of spectatorship within the domestic space, highlighting the semantic continuities and discontinuities of this concept in the context of the design of the living environment. Although it is possible to trace connections across different historical periods and identify a shared cultural approach to a certain way of understanding one aspect of the experience of inhabiting the home, it is precisely in the tensions and frictions embedded in this theme that the research seeks to focus its critical attention. Spectatorship in the domestic space is therefore not a neutral or linear condition of dwelling within Italian culture; clearly, and above all, it does not constitute its primary characteristic, but rather represents only one of the aspects through which it can be defined, one of the interpretive categories that can be applied to its reading. It is, in fact, an ambiguous quality of domestic space, charged with both potentialities and criticalities, which can be traced across different historical periods in relation to the varying historical and cultural contexts that shape the culture of images and media in each era. In this sense, the idea that every historical innovation linked to discoveries in the science of vision has produced transformations in the collective imagination—thereby influencing the perception of space and generating new models of architectural visuality—can also be read in reverse. Such innovations should not necessarily be understood as the origin of these processes, but rather as their outcome, making a pre-existing, unresolved conflict more visible rather than resolving it. Applied to the reflection on domestic space, this perspective implies that the transformations introduced by innovations in the field of the science of vision—whether pre-digital or digital—can be interpreted not as the primary cause of the spectatorship of domestic experience, but rather as the result of a deeper cultural shift in the relationship between subject, space, and images. The theme of spectatorship in the domestic environment thus becomes not the site in which to investigate how image-based communication technologies have generated entirely new social and spatial models, but rather a critical field in which to observe how innovations in vision emerge in response to, and as a consequence of, changes already underway in collective sensibility, modes of dwelling, and forms of social relations specific to each historical period.
24-apr-2026
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/1767172
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