The Casa Capriata wooden refuge

Ahead of its time

The Turinese architect Carlo Mollino presented his design for the Casa Capriata at the 10th Triennale di Milano in 1954. However, it wasn't until 60 years later that the refuge was actually built, at the top of the Weissmatten lift. The project respected the original innovative designs, from the architecture of the building to the interior design. When the house was built, however, it was important to substitute some of Carlo Mollino's ideas with modern-day materials, such as the rubber flooring Zero.4 by ARTIGO.

Carlo Mollino was an architect, furniture designer, photographer and stunt pilot. He wrote books, took part in car and ski races, and designed racing cars, fashion and stage sets. At the 10^th Triennale di Milano, Mollino presented the designs for the Casa Capriata. It was a triangular timber house that appeared to 'float' – a design that reflected his preoccupation with the traditional architecture of the canton of Valais. Sketches dating back to 1929 and 1930 are testimony to his early interest in the wooden houses of the Aosta Valley. Carlo Mollino, renowned for recognising architecture as a holistic work of art, planned the interior design of houses at the same time as he designed the buildings themselves. As a result, his projects included the appropriate furnishings – and sometimes even multi-functional furniture.

Mollino experimented with novel materials and shapes for the furniture and interior design of his buildings and included rubber floorings from the Italian manufacturer Pirelli in his designs. He intended to use a type of flooring that has since become an absolute classic – the hollow chamfer circular stud. The designers contacted ARTIGO, which is a company founded from the Pirelli Group and which is renowned today as a manufacturer of high-quality rubber flooring solutions. The ARTIGO portfolio still includes the hollow chamfer circular stud, marketed under the name of BS Classic.  Because it was important to use a flooring that brought Mollino's concepts up to date with modern times, designers opted for the rubber flooring Zero.4, which was developed for ARTIGO by the architects Sottsass Associati in 2007.

 A modern take on a classic flooring

Basing their work on the classic circular stud, the Milanese design firm – which, at the time, still included Ettore Sottsass – came up with a new design that gave the classic flooring a modern facelift. With different-sized circles arranged in an abstract way, the studs are reminiscent of the pattern that raindrops leave on the surface of water. Zero.4 has won several awards, including the iF design award and the red dot award for product design. Casa Capriata, completed in 2014, features around 150 m² of Zero.4 in black. The dynamic, spatial impact of the flooring complements the natural wood used in the walls and ceiling. This juxtaposition represents the work of two distinguished 20th-century Italian architects.

Design and functionality

The rubber floorings by the Italian manufacturer ARTIGO are characterised by their unusual pattern and modern colours. However, ARTIGO's rubber floorings are not only outstanding in terms of design, but also in terms of their technical properties. For example, Zero.4 has been protected with TXL surface compaction, which makes the flooring particularly low-maintenance. A post-vulcanisation process is used to increase the density of the surface, thereby improving durability. Because the surface of the flooring is less porous, it doesn't get dirty so quickly and is easier to clean. Cleaning therefore requires less water, cleaning products and energy over the flooring's life cycle, which in turn, saves on costs. Zero.4 also goes hand in hand with the sustainability philosophy of Casa Capriata.