Wednesday, October 7, 2015

EXEDRA PALACES

PALAZZI DELL'ESEDRA


1886/1903 Gaetano Koch (1849/1910)

So called for the ancient series of porticoes with seats constituting the exedra of the ancient Baths of Diocletian built in the years 298/306

The palaces were built following the circular line of the baths’ exedra

Inside it is possible to see remnants of mosaic, a bathtub and an octagonal fountain

Gaetano Koch himself lived here and now the palaces house offices and the luxury hotel BOSCOLO EXEDRA after modifications designed by the architect Maurizio Papiri and the designer Adam D. Tihany

“The Exedra Palaces, the most significant mark left by Koch in the city, are one of symbolic urban hubs of the Third Rome. Constructed on the ruins of the exedra of the Baths of Diocletian, the buildings have a curved arch form in serial succession - Giant Order - attic executed purely in Roman style, while in the four short ends, with more pronounced plastic character, style and decorative elements (caryatids, curvilinear gables) are concentrated to denote the ease of the designer in making inroads in different historical periods” (Fabrizio Di Marco - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

Cardboard drawn in preparation for “Geography” 1934/36 by Mario Sironi (1885/1961), part of the mosaic “Corporate Italy” exhibited at the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1937 and now in Milan in the Palazzo dei Giornali (Palace of Newspapers)

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