The Helixes of Vittorio Bonadè Bottino: Symbolism, Geometry and Architectural Types

• Published in: Nexus network journal Vol. 17; no. 2; pp. 487 - 506
• Main Author: Bevilacqua, Marco Giorgio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel Springer Basel 01.07.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Architects; Architecture; Automobile industry; Automobiles; Colonies; Consolidation; Design; Engineers; Facilities planning; Factories; Fascism; Geometry; History; History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics; Hotels & motels; Industrial engineering; Industrial plants; Marinas; Mathematics; Mathematics and Statistics; Piedmonts; Popular Science; Propaganda; Society; Studies; Symbolism; Towers; Italy; Geometry; FIAT car industries; Futurism; Symbolism; Rationalist architecture; Fascism; Helix; Heliotherapeutic colony; Italy; Tower; Helical ramp; Vittorio Bonadè Bottino
• ISSN: 1590-5896; 1522-4600
• DOI: 10.1007/s00004-015-0245-9

The works of Vittorio Bonadè Bottino, engineer, were deeply linked to the affirmation and development of the Italian FIAT car industry, for which he worked from 1919, when he began to collaborate in the realization of the Lingotto factory in Turin. His relationship with FIAT grew over time and led him to assume increasingly important assignments. Among these were the social architectures that he designed for the company during the 1930s. The most representative were the two hotel towers in Sestrière and the colonies of Marina di Massa in Tuscany and Sauze d’Oulx in Piedmont; here he tested and consolidated his innovative architectural type of the cylindrical tower, where the helix represents the geometric matrix and the compositional key of the whole structure.