The ritual of self-forming architecture

Dante Bini on the construction site

Abstract

In the dynamic scenario of Italian architecture of the 1960s, collective rit-uals have played a fundamental role, especially among radicals. During those years, the Faculty of Architecture of Florence was a melting pot of innovation and gave rise to heterodox forms of practice. The essay examines the “Design of a Leisure and Entertainment Venue” course held by Leonardo Savioli in 1966-67, which explored the intersection among architecture, art, technology, and user involvement. Among the course students there was also Dante Bini, whose constructive experi-mentations are investigated in this essay. Specifically, it focuses on the Binishell, emblematic patent of Bini’s approach, which allows the crea-tion of trans-typological, circular, and thin-shell structures in reinforced concrete starting from a pneumatic formwork, at low costs and in a very short time. Bini’s results are crystallized in more than 1.600 creations in over 20 countries.