The 1960s surreal house created by a family of architects is in a precarious state, but there is hope for its future

‘Casa Sperimentale‘ (Experimental house) or ‘Casa Albero di Fregene‘ (Fregene Treehouse), on the outskirts of Rome, is a building with a stunning structure. In Fregene, vandals have been unfortunately ruing the jewel of Italian architecture for years and it is in a precarious state. But researchers from all over the world still studying it and one of the architects that designed hopes to refurbish it.

In 1968, a family of architects transformed the construction of their holiday house into technical and stylistic experimentation. The result is one of the most representative buildings of Italian Brutalism. The architectural current that has given aesthetic value to deliberately exposed raw materials such as cement and steel. Architect Giuseppe Perugini, his wife Uga de Plaisant, and their son Raynaldo aimed to stimulate emotional reaction creating forms with evocative power.

Casa Sperimentale is a unique building formed of geometric shapes. Entirely modular, it was designed to be built and expanded upon at will. Spherical rooms hang from the main frame and sit separately in the garden.

They are juxtaposed to box-like rooms that sit in the concrete frame of the main structure. Which is accessible only by a single red staircase that can be lifted like a drawbridge.

Despite its current degradation conditions, the house continues to attract architects and photographers from all over the world. Recently, Patrick Weber and Sabine Storp, architects and researchers at The Bartlett, comprehensively digitally documented the architectural oddity. Their research went on display at the Weissenhof Gallery in Stuttgart for the 100 Years of Bauhaus events program.

Raynaldo Perugini is now hoping to find a financial backer to refurbish it. His dream is to turn it into a venue for cultural events.

Ilona Catani Scarlett