Publisher's Synopsis
In the 1930s the Italian engineer Angelo Invernizzi built the Casa Girasole near the city of Verona. Like the sunflower for which it is named, the house revolves on its axis, turning to follow the sun. This study of a fascinating building combines visual documentation with a spirited discussion of its context and significance. Marco Frascari investigates the origins of the concept of the rotating building, moving from the spinning palace of King Hugo of Constantinople to Palladio's Villa Rotunda, taking in Nero's Domus Aurea on the way. David Lewis argues that the house and its rooftop garden exemplify a particular aspect of the work of the surrealists. In the Casa Girasole, as in the surrealists' game of Exquisite Corpse, a logical set of proecedures and rules produces an unanticipated conclusion at the limits of rational thought.;An extensive research project by students at the ETH in Zurich forms the main source for the visual documentation.
