Archizoom Associati

Archizoom Associati was a design studio from Florence, Italy founded in 1966. The group that founded the studio consists of Andrea Branzi (architect and designer), Gilberto Corretti (architect and designer), Paolo Deganello (architect and designer) and Massimo Morozzi (architect and designer), this group later em 1968 joined Dario Bartolini (designer) and Lucia Bartolini (designer).

Archizoom organized his first exhibition called "Superachitettura" in December 1966 along with the group Superstudio. The exhibition featured colorful projections and prototypes handled the concept of radical anti-design as dynamic sofa Superonda (conception by Andrea Branzi) produced by the company Poltronova. During 1967 Archizoom still Remained in the exhibitions as "Super Architettura 2" and "Modena" that brought the concept of kitsch dorms titled "dream beds".

The next few years until its dissolution in 1974, the group was in projects of modernist vision as the theoretical diffuse metropolis "No-Stop City" which featured the formulation of flexible interior products and places that are directed to a practice polychronic environment and constant construction activities in the city itself; idea behind the idealization of the breakdown of the traditional hermetic architecture in functions that trivialize and expand.

The team produced a rich series of projects in design, architecture and large scale urban visions, a work which is still a fundamental source of inspiration for generations to come.

Together with Superstudio, Archizoom invented "Superarchitecture", endorsing creative processes along the lines of Pop in architectural and design development, exemplified by objects such as the "Superonda"-sofa, (still made by poltronova) which invites unconventional postures by its waved shape.

The « Dream Beds » and « Gazebos » are results of "Superarchitecture" transformed into a productive system, which by the creation of eclectic objects and kitsch, undertakes the critical destruction of functionalist heritage and the spatial concept of the modern movement. A system which finally leads Archizoom to the discovery of the concept of the void and neutral, characteristic for the projects of their final period of activity.

The research of Archizoom culminates in "No-Stop-City," one of the most enigmatic and radical visions of the city of the future; without boundaries, artificially lit and air-conditioned. To use and populate No-stop-City's continuous surfaces Archizoom conceived and realized multifunctional furniture and clothing for the inhabitants of the highly artificial environment.

By the end of their activity Archizoom achieved an all-embracing creation, reaching from object to clothing, from furniture design to large scale urban proposals; a heritage transpiring the passionate ideals of a generation believing in a humanity liberated of the constraints of architecture, fighting for alternative cultural concepts, hoping for a nonconformist lifestyle and total freedom.

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Wikipedia