Italy has long been a powerhouse of architectural criticism and publications, with an intimate relationship to production. Never criticism for its own sake, the architectural publishing complex of Italy has a tradition of stance-taking, actively shaping the direction of the profession. But the glory days of Casabella and other noteworthy publications has faded, leaving a void to be filled. Luca Molinari paints a portrait of the country’s new critical landscape.
Overwhelmed by the far-reaching European wave of new architecture from Holland, London or even Portugal, Italians too want to be young and up-to-date, fresh as in the pages of Wall Paper or in ‘blob’ architecture, to pretend for a moment that the structural backwardness that separates us from the rest of Europe has suddenly been […]
1998-99. Several major competitions for projects in major Italian cities were staged and brought to a conclusion: Rome, with the project for the Centre for the Contemporary Arts, won by Zaha Hadid; Venice, the enlargement of the cemetery of San Michele, won by David Chipperfield; Venice, the new seat for the University College of Architecture, […]