Casa Sperimentale (1968–75) is an experimental structure designed as an ‘endless unfinishable house’ by the Perugini family in the town of Fregene near Rome. The house has been largely overlooked by the architectural community and abandoned since the death of the main architects. It is now severely at risk of collapse.

This design-based research aims to understand the creation of the house and its place in the canon of post-war architecture. It investigates Giuseppe Perugini’s interests in Baroque architecture and cybernetics, and his innovations in terms of design and prefabrication. In addition to traditional surveying methods, the project uses 3D scanning to document the house and an Augmented Reality (AR) gaming platform to further explore the modular exchangeable structure of this unique building.

Casa Sperimentale has to date evaded an in-depth study. This research aims to be the first study of its history and an in-depth survey of its current condition, an urgent task given the building’s extreme dilapidation. The outcome will allow for future remote research and interrogation of the building’s fabric via AR, potentially enabling the planning of conservation.