at work 02: ABDR

Friday 14 march, visiting the ABDR office in Rome, Paolo Desideri opens the visit showing us some projects, and discussing the role of theory in the practice of ABDR. Click on the following links to listen to the final discussion.
- about theory
- about teaching
- about Rome

Laura Arlotti guides us to visiting the office, with a further presentation and discussion with Michele Beccu

ABDR office models

-Craig

The Model City itinerary

1 – Palazzo dei Congressi site, (Massimiliano Fuksas, under construction)

2 – Museo Pigorini, (Brusa, G. Cancellotti, E. Montuori, A. Scalpelli) 1938-43

3 – Museo della Civiltà Romana, (Aschieri, Bernardini, Pascoletti, Presutti) 1938-52

4 – Palazzo dei Congressi, (Libera) 1937-52

5 – Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, (Guerrini, La Padula, Romano) 1938-43

6 – Post Office (Banfi, Belgioioso, Peressutti, Rogers), 1939-1940

7 – Palazzo dello sport (Nervi, Piacentini) 1956-60

8 – Nuova Centralità “Torraccio” (masterplan Purini, under construction)

9 – Laurentino 38 (Barucci), 1975-79
























































-Craig

at work 01: Franco Purini

February, the 15th : visiting the new Franco Purini and Laura Thermes office…

Here Purini's answer about the meaning of theory.

And here some words about the italian architecture.


Purini's piazza in Gibellina Nuovo.


-Craig

the green city itinerary

1 – Piazza Venezia / Via del Mare, Urban renovation 1885-1911 / 1926-32

2 – Circo Massimo, Fascist Temporary Exhibitions 1937-1939

3 – Passeggiata Archeologica, Archeological Park 1908-1914

4 – Caracalla Baths, Proposal for the Rebuilding of the Baths (Aldo Rossi) 1978

5 – Garbatella District, 1920-1934 (G. Giovannoni, M. Piacentini, I. Sabbatini and others)

6 – Mercati Generali at Via Ostiense, (food market), 1913-1924 (E. Saffi) Redevelopment with commerical-leisure-cultural facilities (2000-10 (OMA/Rem Koolhaas)

7 – Post Office at via Marmorata,1933-1935 (Adalberto Libera, Mario De Renzi)

itopia

Building the Public City.
Theory and Practice in contemporary Italian Architecture

A desire to construct the public realm permeates the visions and the concrete experiences of contemporary Italian architecture. This desire, deeply rooted in the past, from the roman basilicas to the piano sistino, has generated various attempts to design and build the utopia of a truly public city: since the beginning of the XX century architecture has been the tool to shape not only the space of the contemporary city, but also the identities of the communities inhabiting it.As a mean to build the public city, architecture has been therefore a public activity in itself, closely connected to the political and cultural context, in which it has found unique conditions to make real some visions and theories about the contemporary city.This specific utopia of a public city rooted in the Italian situation, that we call itopia, has generated all over Italy several powerful - as much as controversial - experiments where ideas coming from abroad were mixed with original contributions related to the specific Italian context. Rome, in particular, due to its peculiar political and social situation, has been an exceptional ground for these kinds of “realized utopias”.

The Architecture Theory course at Cornell will therefore focus on this main issue of Italian contemporary architecture, opening the theory field to the dialogue with concrete experiences, and with the multiple relationships that this kind of public architecture establishes with the cultural context. “Getting out” could be the keyword of this program structured in three main sections of exchanges between theory and reality, practice and society.

on site : four “open-air” lessons will give the opportunity to explore the city of Rome following some major issues, and visiting some outstanding examples of realized utopias - from the garden city model of the Garbatella, to the neorealismo of the Tuscolano, to the radical piece of Laurentino 38 – compared with some of the most recent, celebrated projects.

at work: four meetings in some significant architecture offices in Rome will actualize these issues concerning the construction of the public city in the actual practices and dynamics of transformation on the city field.

in context: four speakers will be invited to trace a profile of Italian architecture seen from the intense relationships established with the modern and contemporary culture, each time focusing on the peculiar dialectics between architecture/politics, architecture/media, architecture/landscape, architecture/history.

Program

Intro

25 gen - Italy/Rome: the Public realm between Architecture and the City (Alberto Iacovoni and Gabriele Mastrigli - Palazzo Lazzaroni)

On site
8 feb - The Green City - Circo Massimo/Park of Caracalla Baths, Garbatella (the collective housing by Sabbatini and the garden city by Giovannoni), S.Paolo/Ostiense (the new university and the renewal of the industrial district of Rome, with the ongoing new Koolhaas’ project for the City of Youth)
29 feb - The Model City - EUR (Palazzo dei Congressi by Libera, Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana by La Padula, Congress Center By Massimiliano Fuksas, Centralità Catellaccio and Eurosky Tower by Franco Purini), Decima, Laurentino 38.
4 apr - The Neorealist City. From reality to fiction - Quartiere Tuscolano (Libera, De Renzi and others), Tiburtino (Quaroni, Ridolfi, Aymonino).
25 apr - The City of Sport and Culture - Foro Italico, Villaggio Olimpico, Parco della Musica By Renzo Piano, Maxxi by Zaha Hadid.

At work
15 feb - Franco Purini – Building the Ideal City
14 mar - Paolo Desideri/ABDR – The challenge of the Contemporary
11 apr - Stalker – Walking in the Metropolis
2 mag - IaN+ - Experiments

In context
1 feb - Architecture and Landscape – Renato Funiciello. Geology and Geography of the City
22 feb - Architecture and Politics – Renato Nicolini. The Politics of Rome
28 mar - Architecture and Media – Massimo Casavola. Cine-Città (found footage)
18 apr - Architecture and History – Cristiano Toraldo di Francia. Radical Cities: Italy 1972