Architecture has to be lived in!

That’s what some architects who helped enriching the contents of the app Rationalism in the Province of Como told me.

You have to be in front of, or inside, rationalist buildings to appreciate spaces, volumes, colors, and notice the numerous details: from staircases to furniture.

And that’s what I actually did, first with inspections during the contents production phase, and then again these days to test the geolocation and geofencing features added in version 1.61, today available on the App Store.

To test it, I walked and rode on my Vespa around the town of Como, a real “open-air museum” of rationalist architecture.
Geolocation allows to track your position on the offline maps, while geofencing (a sort of virtual geographic fence) allows to get a notification when you’re 80-100 meters from a point of interest, even when the app is in background.

When the app is in background, a “hollow” arrow icon in the status bar indicates that geofencing is active.
But don’t worry, it doesn’t waste battery: Apple engineers optimized this feature at best.
Also, with iOS 7 geolocation works very well even with devices without an integrated GPS receiver.
A database of Wi-Fi access points is actually used to determine the location of your device.

The new version was demonstrated on the field during an interview by QuiComo, the daily online news website of Como.

Previously, I had the chance to talk about the project during the daily feature of Espansione TV, Angoli (corners): a pretty appropriate name to talk about rationalist buildings, the Novocomum in particular, the first of its kind built in Como and designed by the architect Giuseppe Terragni.
This video has english and italian captions: you can activate them by clicking on the icon in the lower right of the video frame.

Hotel managers and professionals often debate about initiatives aimed at de-seasoning the tourist flow in the town and on Lake Como, currently mainly focused during the “nice” season.

So, now being able to visit the open-air museum of Rationalism in Como with an app describing the buildings, with no entrance ticket, is actually a good chance to do it in any season, don’t you think? 😉