2024-05-02T19:27:00-04:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/150003415/imagining-the-popular-elena-ferrante-novel-my-brilliant-friend-as-a-building Nicholas Korody 2017-04-17T18:00:00-04:00 >2017-04-17T18:02:58-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/2n/2np6pj146hgfkzik.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>Tension and compression often meld into each another. In this&nbsp;building, two volumes are interwoven by strong connecting rods, extended columns and daring&nbsp;beams, with one of the two seemingly suspended from the other. With its mass and swirled&nbsp;dynamism, the suspended volume (that we will call&nbsp;Lila) seems to be slipping away from the one&nbsp;that is holding it up (that we will call&nbsp;Elena) making it extend and stretch as if it was Lila that was&nbsp;shaping Elena and providing her with her dynamic energy...</p></em><br /><br /><p><em>The name of this architectural complex is </em>My Brilliant Friend<em>, after Elena Ferrante&rsquo;s novel in which the relationship between its two protagonists (Elena, the narrating voice, and her childhood friend Lila) is a constant, alternating flux of blurred identities and imperfect dreams.</em></p><p><img title="" alt="" src="http://cdn.archinect.net/images/514x/co/con4vyhbc224raxy.jpg"></p>