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The geometric component of architecture can have different meanings: on the one hand, it can indicate the modular format that will lead to the form in space of a given structure; on the other, it may signify the compositional concept that will generate a form referencing elementary figures – a square, triangle or circle. While in most cases, “architectural geometry” refers to a construction’s actual composition, when it is a “symbol”, it carries the connotation of a building able to express a narrative and value shared by the community in which it is located. Not only representative, a symbol also makes reference to an archetype, in other words, an easily recognizable model already extensively studied in the past. A significant example of this symbolic connotation is Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple in Madison (Wisconsin) featuring an upward-pointing triangle, the representation of an aspiration to divinity. Lloyd Wright’s use of geometric and symbolic aspects also echoes the wooden blocks Friedrich Fröbel developed to help children understand abstract figures. The series of games Fröbel invented stimulated children’s sense of form, proportion, and spatial combination, allowing them to develop a spontaneous connection between shapes and their significance: the cube becomes an expression of stability, the sphere a symbol of mobility, the triangle aspiration, and so on. This combination of geometry and symbolism has been given contemporary expression with the design by architecture practice Barreca & La Varra of the sports complex, or Cittadella dello Sport in Italian, in Tortona, in the northwestern Italian province of Alessandria. The design of the site plan is reminiscent of a game board, on which pure geometric shapes (the built structures) are placed according to the relations between their users: athletes, fans, and families.
Taken as a whole, the sports complex is the sum of many...
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