“I’m the last chicken left,” Michele jokes, as he leads us into the woodworking shop beneath the portico, where he shapes wooden models with a chainsaw – objects that later become sculptures. From here, we cross a broad green lawn dominated by an old tree, and finally enter the archive: crates filled with prototypes, sketches and photographs of his projects for Olivetti and for those of fellow designers such as Andrea Branzi. The journey ends in the gallery atelier, where works on paper, watercolours, stitched wood and small model houses are displayed. This is where De Lucchi seeks inspiration for architecture, working through visions, attempts and missteps, answerable only to himself, with no clients in sight. Here, he finds comfort in the contradictions of his profession.

In his homonymous book Il conforto dell’architetto, written with psycho-socioanalyst Giuseppe Varchetta, Michele reflects on the pain architects feel when they see a piece of land burdened by a new building.

It was in Florence that Michele graduated in 1975 and first encountered Radical Architecture, later becoming a key figure in the Alchimia and Memphis movements.

These questions give rise to the works on display in the exhibition, around 40 in total: sculptures such as Sasso, Edificio vuoto, Pagliaio, Legno Cucito and Casetta; tempera paintings on paper including Cultivation Station, Architettura ideografica and Casa con Abbaini; stitched oak pieces and drawn picture frames. They are reflections on the materials, personal gestures and artefacts that follow the logic of thought and storytelling.

“The architect’s job,” Michele continues, “is precisely to analyse society, to understand how the world and new generations are evolving, what are their dreams and desires. In the end, we forget about the human environment. It was Vitruvius who said: How can you design a roof if you don’t know which part of the sky you are going to hide? You don’t build a roof just to protect yourself from rain, snow, bad weather, or sun; you build it because you are giving up something in your relationship with the universe. My relationship with art comes from this as well. The fundamental difference between artists, architects, and designers, is that an artist works in the absence of judges – working on themselves, on their perceptions, on their meaning of things.”

“A designer works with the market as its judge; if what they design doesn’t sell, they are no longer a designer,” Michele explains. “An architect, on the other hand, is judged not only by oneself, by the marketplace, by the building contractors or the building’s inhabitants, but by everyone – even those who don’t care about the building at all. Often, they are the most important judges, because they suddenly find themselves facing a massive intrusion that they did not want and did not need. The beauty of these works that I’ve made – even as an artist, a designer, and an architect – is that I had the liberty to choose them myself. They let you choose who you want to engage with. When you need to work on yourself, free from the prejudices imposed by the environment you live in, that is art. The stitched wood, the small paintings, the watercolours, the stained-glass drawings.”