Architetture degli anni Quaranta. L'edificio dell' I.N.F.P.S. di Cesare Bazzani su Corso Federico II a L'Aquila

The central axis of the city of L'Aquila is marked by two significant events of the redesign of the urban tissue, placed to mark the elements of the heads of the main course; of these, especially the south, is part of a plan of redefinition and enlargement of the Corso Federico II. Within this program of a renewed urban planning the projects of architect Cesare Bazzani for the new offices of RACI and I.N.F.P.S. are located. Coherently with the spirit of the project of the Great Aquila, promoted by Adelchi Serena, also for the south head the choice is a monumental and representative architecture, developed in the theme of the corner solution, with different compositional articulations, and in the material treatment of the main fronts, made of travertine to define the scanning of surfaces or of the facade elements also integrated with the use of clay, as in the building of I.N.F.P.S. The coating of the facade is in fact, the current mode that qualifies the design of public buildings of the '30s and' 40s in Italy, evoking an image of solidity, permanence and monumentality. At this building grammar typical of the Italian Rationalism, in particular in all those versions in which it is proposed as the language of an official architecture that aspires to modernity, while retaining a classical character, it is accompanied the technical-constructive experimentation of reinforced concrete. This paper investigates the relationship between architectural and constructive choices of INFPS building with the aim of a direct and critical reading of the building systems adopted in a phase in which in Italy the use of reinforced concrete finds different declinations and is often anchored to a combination with the masonry technique or otherwise finds the way of an hidden experimentation.