The Architecture of the City (Oppositions Books)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.15 (777 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0262680432 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 208 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-12-13 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Aldo Rossi was an Italian architect and architecture theorist and the author of The Architecture of the City (MIT Press, 1984) and other books. He was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1990.
In contrast to Robert Venturi's Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, appearing in the same year, Rossi's critique focuses not on the sterility of forms or the rejection of stylistic imagery in modern architecture, but rather, as the title suggests, on the neglect and destruction of the city, the repository of 'the collective memory of man.' Perhaps most important to Americans, who face a resurgence of idiosyncratic and highly personal designs, is Rossi's emphasis on the collective, the public realm. (Mary McLeod Design Book Review) . He reminds us that individual reputations and accomplishments are less important than our cities themselves. Written 17 years ago, at a time when the Italian student movement had just begun and interdisciplinary design methodologies enjoyed popularity, The Architecture of the City was one of the first
"Five Stars" according to andrew. Great. "The foundations of "an autonomous urban science"" according to Andrew Armbruster. The Architecture of the City dissects the following principles:*That architecture is intrinsically connected with the overall city.*That architecture `grows' from the past and tradition of the city and of human culture.*That there is "a clearly articulated bond between the shapes of things throughout history".*That we can search in the history of the city to find archetypes of immutable design.*That buildings lack individuality except for in relation to. Rossi's thesis on the city The Architecture of the City is the principal theoretical text by Aldo Rossi, and constituted one of the first attempts to re-examine the function of architecture within its urban context, after the reductive theories of CIAM. Despite some of its contestable aspects [the naïve interpretation of the Mietskaserne in Berlin for instance], and some of its disjointed chapters, it still presents one of the key documents on urban thought in the twentieth
Aldo Rossi, a practicing architect and leader of the Italian architectural movement La Tendenza, is also one of the most influential theorists writing today. The Architecture of the City is his major work of architectural and urban theory. In part a protest against functionalism and the Modern Movement, in part an attempt to restore the craft of architecture to its position as the only valid object of architectural study, and in part an analysis of the rules and forms of the city's construction, the book has become immensely popular among architects and design students.