History of Interior Design-Pilar Uribe Donatiu-Archizoom & Superachitettura

Archizoom Associati was a design studio from Florence, Italy established in 1966. A group of students had just finished architecture school but were frustrated at the lack of work and the general status of the architecture profession.The founders of this studio were Andrea Branzi (architect and designer), Gilberto Corretti (architect and designer), Paolo Deganello (architect and designer) and Massimo Morozzi (engineer and architect), this gathering later em 1968 joined Dario Bartolini (designer) and Lucia Bartolini (designer). 

Archizoom made his first display called "Superachitettura" in December 1966 with the group Superstudio. The display highlighted bright and colourful projections and models brough up the idea of radical anti design as dynamic couch “Superonda” (design by Andrea Branzi) created by Poltronova. During 1967 Archizoom still remained in the expositions as "Super Architettura 2" and "Modena" that brought the idea of kitsch dormitories called "dream beds". 

Another ironical object is Archizoom's "Mies" seat, named after the famous Mies Van Der Rohe. They used his own trademark chrome tubes, also with Le Corbusier's cowhide cushions. The seat was designed to take consumers of modernism to a stupid extreme.

“The superarchitettura is the architecture of the super production, of the over consumption, of the inducement to over consumption, of supermarkets, of superman and the super fuel and a sample of ‘archizoom’ and ‘super studio’.”  This was written in a poster advertising an event of Superarchitettura in December 1966. In this exposition they presented many of the furniture that they used to criticize. It was a mix of Pop Art related to mass consumption and the irony of Archizoom.

All in al i think that this movement was important forseveral reasons. Even if the movement was to criticise others it ended up being a very creative result which was later “copied” by others in their actual designs. Moreover, a change in society’s mentality was needed, and what better tan creating a movement that satirizes very popular designs to explain to the mass what they were doing wrong and why they should not follow certain trends and movements of the time.