The Critical City Theories, Visions and Practice in contemporary Italian Architecture

Transcription

1 ARCH : Special Topic in Theory The Critical City Theories, Visions and Practice in contemporary Italian Architecture Fall 2013 Cornell University Rome Program College of Architecture, Art and Planning Instructor: Gabriele Mastrigli e- mail: telephone: Superstudio, Salvages of Italian Historic Centers, 1972 Rationale The course aims to offer to students a wide perspective of the role of Architecture in modern and contemporary times, regarding the specific context of Italian culture, in close relationship with the main objectives of the whole Cornell University Rome Program. Course Aims and Objectives The public realm is certainly the ultimate objective of those visions and concrete experiences that better represent contemporary Italian architecture. This is something deeply rooted in the past. The word 'city' itself comes from the latin cives (citizen), a word that still today evokes the implicit supremacy of inhabitants on the physical space that they live (the urbs). In fact, since the beginning of the XX century, architecture in Italy has been the tool not simply to shape the space of the city, but more to envisage the identities of the communities inhabiting it. 1

2 As a means to build the city in its widest, public dimension, architecture has been therefore a public activity in itself, closely connected to the political and cultural context, and often deeply critical towards the status quo. In this respect architecture in Italy has been intended not only as a tool to shelter the various activities of the changing society, but more to proactively engage and instrumentalize them in order to redefine the conditions of contemporary, urban life and make them "real" through new visions and theories. Rooted in the specificity of Italian situation, since modernity this idea of a critical approach to the very notions of 'architecture' and 'city' has generated all over Italy several powerful - as much as controversial - experiments: not only new buildings but also critical visions of a different society in the form of theories and discourses about the city as much as concrete and specific architectural and urban projects. Format and Procedures The Architecture Theory course at Cornell in Rome will therefore focus on that, opening the theory field to the dialogue with concrete experiences, and with the multiple relationships that architecture establishes with its cultural context. Getting out could be the keyword of this program structured in three main activities of exchanges between theory and reality, practice and society: 1) Open- air lessons will give the opportunity to discover, through specific itineraries in the city of Rome, some of the most relevant aspects of the contemporary city and their roots in the modern times - from the "invention" of public space, to the controversial monumentality of the most recent projects. 2) Meetings in some significant architecture offices and cultural institutions 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. 3) Speakers will be invited to trace a profile of Italian architecture theory seen from the intense relationships established with the modern and contemporary culture, focusing on the peculiar dialectics between architecture and history, politics, urbanism, media, etc. Those activities will be organized according to different themes, each of them dealing with a different aspect of the relationship between architecture and the city. Those themes - Space, History, Infrastructure, Culture - will also define four palimpsests for a possible interpretation of the future of Rome, that will be the object of a final project to be presented in the form of a paper and a slideshow. Course Requirements 1. Class attendance and participation policy Class sessions usually will be held during morning hours, between 9:00 and 13:00. (See detailed calendar and syllabus for occasional variations). Meeting is in any case at Palazzo Lazzaroni also in the case of the "on site" lessons. In this case we will utilize photocopied materials in the course handbook to provide those crucial visual documents and texts needed to understand our objects of study. Attendance at all class sessions is required. 2. Course readings As I often say, the city is our text. Most of the information will be, in fact, provided through the direct experience of the different visits and meetings organized during the course. Nonetheless some readings will be necessary to better put in context the different issues faced during the course. Required texts Terry Kirk, The Architecture of Modern Italy, vol. 2, Vision of Utopia present, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2005; (especially chapters about Rome); AAVV, "The Rome Universal Exhibition 1942", Architettura. Rivista del Sindacato Nazionale Fascista, special monographic issue, dec. 1938; 2

3 Luigi Ficacci, "The Discovery of Rome out of the Spirit of Piranesi", in Luigi Ficacci, Giovanni Battista Piranesi: the Complete Etchings, Koln: Taschen, 2000, pp. 8-49; Peter Lang, William Menking, Superstudio. Life without objects, Milan, Skira, 2003; "A reading of Rome through its streets", in Pier Vittorio Aureli, Maria Giudici, Gabriele Mastrigli, Martino Tattara (ed.), Rome: the Centre(s) Elsewhere, Milan, Skira, 2010 pp ; Other readings in the form of handouts will be provided during the course. Background readings Manfredo Tafuri, History of Italian Architecture , Cambridge- London: The MIT Press, 1989; Stefan Grundmann (ed.), The Architecture of Rome, Stuttgart/London: Edition Axel Menges, 2007; 3. Credits This is a 3 credits course. 4. Additional requirements: It would be helpful to have cameras in order to take pictures during the different visits Grading procedures There will be a term project to be presented and discussed in the day of the final presentation. The project will have the form of a paper (5-10 pages) that will be presented by each student with the help of visuals (powerpoint slides). This assignment will allow students to chose a specific argument and propose a critical reading of it, within the frame of the course themes. The relative value of assigned work in determination of the final course grade is the following: Attendance and participation: 30%; Project: 70%. Academic Integrity Each student in this course is expected to abide by the Cornell University Code of Academic Integrity. Please refer to the link below or speak with me concerning any questions: Any work submitted by a student in this course for academic credit will be the student s own work, except in the cases of projects that are specifically structured as group endeavors. You are encouraged to study together and to discuss information and concepts covered in lectures with other students. You can give consulting help to or receive consulting help from such students. However, this permissible cooperation should never involve one student having possession of a copy of all or part of work done by someone else, in the form of an e- mail, an e- mail attachment file, a diskette, or a hard copy. Should copying occur, both the student who copied work from another student and the student who gave material to be copied will automatically receive a zero for the assignment. Penalty for violation of this Code can also be extended to include failure of the course and University disciplinary action. During examinations, you must do your own work. Talking or discussion is not permitted during the examinations, nor may you compare papers, copy from others, or collaborate in any way. Any collaborative behavior during the examinations will result in failure of the exam, and may lead to failure of the course and University disciplinary action. Accommodations for students with disabilities In compliance with the Cornell University policy and equal access laws, I am available to discuss appropriate academic accommodations that may be required for student with disabilities. Requests for academic accommodations are to be made during the first three weeks of the semester, except for unusual circumstances, so arrangements can be made. Students are encouraged to register with Student Disability Services to verify their eligibility for appropriate accommodations. 3

4 Course Schedule: (May change to accommodate guest presenters & student needs) Part 1: Space Lecture: Gabriele Mastrigli. Italy. Architecture and the Project of the Public Realm Itinerary: Piazza Venezia / Via del Mare, Circo Massimo, Passeggiata Archeologica, Caracalla Baths, Garbatella District, Mercati Generali Visit: Luca Galofaro. Ian+. Recent Projects Part 2: History Itinerary: EUR - Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, Palazzo dei Congressi, Museo della Civiltà Romana, Nuovo Centro dei Congressi; Visit: Projecting Rome. Piranesi at the Calcografia Nazionale Field Trip Modern and Contemporary Architecture in Rome: 1. Aventino Post office; 2. Garbatella; 3. Fosse Ardeatine; 4. E42 Headquarters; 5. Corviale; 6. Y2000 Church (together with Francesco Garofalo's Modern History course) Part 3: Infrastructure Lecture: Cristiano Toraldo di Francia: Supersystems. Superstudio and the Myth of Modernization Lecture: Gabriele Mastrigli: Rome. Architecture, Ideology, City. Itinerary: Termini Station, via Marsala, Porta Tiburtina, Tangenziale, Verano, Stazione Tiburtina. Lecture: Joseph Cho: Architecture and Graphic design in Italy in the Sixties Part 4: Culture Round table: Writing Architecture. Matteo Costanzo (San Rocco), Luca Galofaro (the booklist), Cherubino Gambardella (Dromos), Manuel Orazi (Quodlibet). Lecture: Pippo Ciorra. Curating Architecture. Itinerary: Villaggio Olimpico, Auditorium Parco della Musica, MAXXI 4

5 Final Presentations and Discussion Additional Resource Readings Italo Insolera, Roma moderna. Un secolo di storia urbanistica , Torino: Einaudi, 1971; Spiro Kostof, The Third Rome: : Traffic and Glory, Berkeley: University of California, 1973; Dennis P. Doordan, Building Modern Italy: Italian Architecture, , New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1988; Giorgio Ciucci, Gli Architetti e il Fascismo. Architettura e Città , Torino: Einaudi, 1989; Richard Etlin, Modernism in Italian Architecture, , Cambridge- London: The MIT Press, 1991; Maristella Casciato, "Neorealism in Italian Architecture", in Sarah Williams Goldhagen and Réjean Legault (eds.) Anxious Modernisms, Experimentation in Postwar Architectural Culture, Cambridge- London: The MIT Press, 2001; Koff, Sondra Z., Koff, Stephen P.: Italy - From the First to the Second Republic, London: Routledge, 1999; Terry Kirk, The Architecture of Modern Italy, vol. 1, The challenge of Tradition , New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2005; 5