Television vs Interiors

Abstract

This study explores the TV as both an achievement of industrial design and a key element of interior design, influencing home spaces from the mid-20th century onwards. While media theorists such as Adorno, McLuhan and Eco have analysed the communicative power of television, few have examined its physical and symbolic impact in the home, where it has progressively replaced the fireplace as a domestic focal point. The culture of Italian design, characterised by the meeting between architecture and industry, has responded strategically to the growing presence of television. Initially hidden inside furniture, the TV gradually gained visibility, influencing the furnishings arrangement and seating orientation. If modern architects, initially, have often neglected its role, pioneers like Marcel Breuer have integrated it into interior design, shifting the attention first turned to the element of the fireplace as a home hearth. Through a historical analysis of the “Domus” magazine and Italian innovations, including modular solutions and radical reinterpretations by Castiglioni and Zanuso, this study highlights the transformative role of television in domestic spaces, from a hidden object to a central element of living.