“In architectural design, analysis is not needed”, says Davide Vargas. It is a statement that the architects of his generation (1956) still make with an air of defiance, to emphasise the distance taken from the dictates of the classical school of design that they grew up with; or with hesitation and an element of doubt. Pronounced in an almost nonchalant but decisive tone by Vargas, who has a shy and retiring manner, it reveals a mature and solid conviction. The analytic moment, the consolidation of the design, the awareness of the path taken, he says, arrives on the building site.

Vargas speaks clearly and calmly about his work, avoiding too much emphasis on the difficulties of the territorial context where most of it is carried out: Campania. However there is a hint of suffering in his tales: for example when he points out that the Town Hall at San Prisco (Caserta) – beautiful, clean-cut geometry, harking back to the tradition of the modern movement – completed in 2001 has become sullied by neglect; or the students’ housing at Aversa, in a converted ex-prison (see Domus 907, October 2007), two years on from the inauguration is still empty and unused. All signs of a “non-love with regards to architecture”, even more painful since they reflect the present attitude of public clients.

These bitter reflections, privy however of any hint of resignation or defeat, also come at a particularly happy time for the architect of Aversa, or rather the literary writer of Aversa, given that his most recent work is a collection of stories that has just been published by Tullio Pironti with a preface by Giuseppe Montesano and twelve photographs by Luigi Spina.

A year, from 2006 to 2007, of instinctive writing, then worked and reworked with extreme precision, in search of the single word that cuts deep. Racconti di qui, already successfully presented in Rome, Milan and Naples, Vargas has dedicated to “my land, that offers continuous inspiration, both painful and loving”: writing, in the same way as architectural design, is the vehicle for relating to reality, that which directly surrounds us and that passes through a place. The “qui”, - here - in the title belongs to all.

There is an aspect that seems to link Vargas’s architecture and literary production: looking at things with a sense of responsibility. Without avoidance, without flattery. With generosity and responsibility. Rita Capezzuto



Town hall at San Prisco (Caserta)
Architect: Davide Vargas
Completion first phase: 2001
The second phase is under construction.



Sierolat offices, Francolise (Caserta)
Architects: Vargas Associati - Davide Vargas, Luciano Palmiero
Collaborators: Angela Pellecchia, Giancarla Verolla
Completion: 2007



Residential units, Lusciano (Caserta)
Architects: Vargas Associati – Davide Vargas, Luciano Palmiero
Collaborators: Angela Pellecchia, Giancarla Verolla
Client: galassia srl
Building contractor: M.N. costruzioni srl
Completion: 2007



Architectural competition for the refurbishment and extension of the cemetery in the district of Carinaro (Caserta)
Architects: Vargas Associati – Davide Vargas, Luciano Palmiero
Collaborators: Angela Pellecchia, Giancarla Verolla
Commissioning body: Comune di Carinaro (CE), Council technical department
Competition: 2007, first prize. The final project has been completed.