THE HOUSE OF THE EQUI

Where sharing, architecture, art and personal satisfaction meet

APRIL 2024 - TALKS

"There's a voyeuristic component: you're there telling the evolution of your design journey and they'd like to open the fridge to see what's inside or the closet to spy a bit."

Carla Arrabito

Carla Arrabito is a brilliant architect. She has been working for years in Rome, working on projects of different scales in Italy and abroad, experiencing architecture not only as a job, but also as a means of personal expression. An expression that is not so obvious to be able to satisfy: often the projects carried out in the daily exercise of the profession are taken care of by several hands, as is normal. And so the possibility of fully expressing one’s vision and inspiration often turns out to be a chimera.

This is not the case in the case of Casa degli Equi, a project that bears Carla’s signature and that the architect talks about exclusively to The MRV Magazine, on the eve of her second participation in Open House Rome (from 6 to 14 April).

Expressing one's creativity often turns out to be a chimera Expressing one's creativity often turns out to be a chimera

“What does Open House mean to me? A point of arrival of a path of personal satisfaction, because for me it is the demonstration of a successful project and the opportunity to show it to others, to show my world. I project in a broad sense, because it is a house that I was able to buy, on my own, on which I was able to design the project I wanted, realizing it with the companies and artisans I trust and with whom I like to work. I am a rather difficult client, but I have been able to juggle with myself, with my indecisions but also with delusions of perfectionism, obtaining a result that satisfies me, in the tight time frame that I had set for myself, with the limited budget that I had allocated to it.

The initial goal was to make an investment that could bear fruit in a limited time and in fact, since it was finished, Casa degli Equi has been lived in by a young doctor – who was also the tenant I wanted! – so I searched for this apartment, found it, bought it, I designed it and renovated it making it a house of the Equi, I put it to income and, in the meantime, I also make Open House with it! I’m happy, can I say I’m good?

So Open House, for me, is first and foremost a dose of self-esteem. And then it’s also a bit of a voice that compliments me because, also this year, as in the last edition of Open House Rome, with great surprise, shortly after the opening of reservations, I saw that the visits were fully booked. It’s a small house, it’s not luxurious, it’s not in the center… Seeing that people are interested in seeing something done by me is a great compliment, which is good for me.

We then come to the second element. Open House is an event that was born from a group of architects and celebrates architecture and design, but it is not an event intended only for professionals, it is an event for everyone. And this is its most beautiful feature: many people take the opportunity to leave the house – it is no coincidence that it is organized in spring – and see places that are generally closed to them. In my opinion, however, what attracts the most is that Open House offers the possibility of entering other people’s homes. Firstly, because visitors are curious – you are there telling the evolution of your design journey and they would like to open the fridge to see what’s inside or the wardrobe to spy a bit. So there’s all this voyeuristic component, this curiosity that can finally be satisfied. Then, since many have a house to renovate or an environment to modernize, a room to change its look or a bathroom to redo, they are often looking for ideas, solutions, and Open House offers a way to steal some ideas that are right for them.

Another aspect that I like about this event is the opportunity to do something with people I respect, I like to be able to discuss, ask for advice, listen to them, circulate ideas and do it with the people I love. So this year I wanted to share Open House with Valeria Aretusi, fellow architect and friend, co-founder of Uovo alla Pop, a street art gallery in Livorno. I don’t limit myself to hosting a city pop up of the gallery inside Casa degli Equi – which then, has a close kinship with urban art, being inside a building with the façade painted by Guerrilla Spam – but I go further, with the installation of the works curated by Valeria, involving artists we like, who have embraced the project and on this occasion take part in it with us. The works on display, all different in type, are designed and set up WITH the artists: there is the graphic work – perhaps the most architectural one – signed by Abel Bael, which is a representation of the Teatro Marcello, made with one of the identifying colors of the Equi house, sage green; the photographic one by Barbara Oizmud, in which human figures seem to become architectural elements; the pictorial one by Chiara Anaclio, which tells the dream and the game of what to do when you grow up, and finally there are love poems written by Be Purple, one of which is specially written for the occasion.

So for me, Open House is not just an event: it’s a way to show my architectural vision, a three-dimensional business card, a story to tell and also an opportunity to collaborate with friends and people I respect.”

by Carla Arrabito
text collected by Enrica Murru

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