Category Archives: Italy

Serving up the city

  If, according to Alberti, a house is a small city …  can a tray be a small piazza? These table centres, designed by Fabio Novembre, are available from Driade. In this case the model is the city of Palmanova … Continue reading

Posted in Aventinus, CiA, Italy | Comments Off on Serving up the city

Arcosolium

Nostalgia…The Brion tomb (1969-1978) near Treviso by Carlo Scarpa, note the sarcophagi leaning towards each other below the reinforced concrete arch. Arcosolium

Posted in Carlo Scarpa, CiA, Dominic Roberts, Italy, Nostalgia, Precedents | 1 Comment

‘Not manly enough’

Monday, 7 July 2008: ‘Not manly enough’: Berlusconi’s verdict on Libeskind work Perhaps, when the architect Daniel Libeskind produced his grand plans for an art museum and office tower designed to inspire civic pride in the heart of Milan, he … Continue reading

Posted in Aventinus, CiA, Italy, Milan | Comments Off on ‘Not manly enough’

The Politics of the Piazza

Eamonn Canniffe has written a new book entitled “The Politics of the Piazza: the history and meaning of the Italian square”. The book, which has been published by Ashgate has been described by Professor Nicholas Temple of Lincoln School of … Continue reading

Posted in CiA, Italy, Publications, Research, Sally Stone | Comments Off on The Politics of the Piazza

Interventions in the Broletto 2

As the academic year reaches its climax Continuity in Architecture Year 5 students prepare their own exhibition for the second floor of the Chatham Building. While we await the hanging of their work here is a short video of some … Continue reading

Posted in Aventinus, CiA, Italy, Milan, Student Projects | Comments Off on Interventions in the Broletto 2

Rumble in the (urban) jungle

Milan is the latest location for the on-off face-off between Daniel Libeskind and Rem Koolhaas, in the form of two rival museum projects for the city. Previous to this bout Koolhaas (the most provocative historian of New York) declined to … Continue reading

Posted in Aventinus, CiA, Italy, Milan | 1 Comment

Meier versus Mayor

Is their heritage safe in Roman hands? To return to a question which has been asked previously on this blog, the new ‘post-fascist’ Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, has raked up an old controversy with his suggestion that Richard Meier’s … Continue reading

Posted in Aventinus, Buildings at Risk, CiA, Italy, Rome | Comments Off on Meier versus Mayor

Muzio v Ponti

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR. Giovanni Muzio’s Ca Brutta (1923) faces Gio Ponti’s Palazzo Montecatini (1936) across the junction of Via Fillipo Turati and Via Moscova in Milan. The buildings were completed within fifteen years of each other and display different … Continue reading

Posted in CiA, Dominic Roberts, Gio Ponti, Giovanni Muzio, Italy, Milan, Precedents, Travel | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Muzio v Ponti

Expo Zaragoza 2008

Eamonn Canniffe has been invited to contribute photographs of Italian villas to the interactive exhibition which will feature in the Italian National Pavilion at the 2008 Zaragoza Expo. The theme of the Expo ‘Water and Sustainable Development’ will be represented … Continue reading

Posted in CiA, Italy, Sally Stone, Spain | Comments Off on Expo Zaragoza 2008

Curve and countercurve: Zaha Hadid in Rome

The continuity of the urban grid of northern Rome is relieved by an infrequent series of curved structures, Pier Luigi Nervi’s Palazzetto dello Sport, Renzo Piano’s Auditorium di Roma and Zaha Hadid’s MAXXI , due for completion in 2009. The … Continue reading

Posted in Aventinus, CiA, Italy, Rome, Travel | Comments Off on Curve and countercurve: Zaha Hadid in Rome

Two views of Milan

The abstract and the figurative – two views of Milan: Continuity in Architecture Year 5 students continue to explore projects in Milan. Here are two films, by Tom Keeler and Nick Walkley which take very different routes to exploring a … Continue reading

Posted in Aventinus, CiA, Italy, Milan, Student Projects | Comments Off on Two views of Milan

Renaissance Siena: Art for a City

The current exhibition at the National Gallery in London “Renaissance Siena: Art for a City” presents many unfamiliar delights to the eye. Along with the occasional massive altarpiece, the multifarious work of Francesco di Giorgio Martini in drawing, painting, sculpture … Continue reading

Posted in Aventinus, CiA, Italy | Comments Off on Renaissance Siena: Art for a City