Ten young photographers, between 2019 and 2020, scoured Italy to re / discover contemporary architectures with authoritative signatures including those of Gio Ponti, Mollino, Nervi, Gregotti, Gae Aulenti, Nervi, Portoghesi, Piano.
The cover of the catalog and the photo by Davide Cossu: “I have always thought of architecture as a series of volumes that are composed and broken down in space and in this building I find what I had imagined during composition lessons”.Polaris Gregotti Associati Science and Technology Park, 1993-2009, Pula, CA
A sort of pilgrimage that brought them to the sight of villas and residential centers, schools and churches, sports complexes and cemeteries, theaters and museums for an illustrated diary exhibited at the Milan Triennale and published in the catalog “10 journeys in Italian architecture” ( SilvanaEditoriale), curated by Matteo Balduzzi, Alessandra Cerroti and Luciano Antonino Scuderi.
Luca Girardinie Marco Zorzanello: «The museum is wedged on the top of a plateau… surrounded by a complex of tourist structures, which make the place densely built». Messner Mountain Museum Corones, Zaha Hadid Architects, 2013-2015, Enneberg (Bz)
The exhibition (which deserves to be proposed in other cities as well) proposed only 110 of the 2,800 photographs taken by Roberto Boccaccino, Marina Caneve, Davide Cossu, Louis De Belle, Luca Girardini and Marco Zorzanello, Paolo Lindozzi, Allegra Martin, Simone Mizzotti and Alberto Sinigaglia. Their works will enrich the Atlas of contemporary architecture www.atlantearchitettura.beniculturali.it
Allegra Martin: «The Giomein looks like a fortification with sharp roofs and obsessive geometric shapes, perched on a promontory and surrounded by mountains». Giomein residential complex, M. Galvagni, 19651972, Valtournenche, AO
It is a “visual archeology” project of the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture that accompanies the National Census of late twentieth century architecture, in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Photography.
Louis De Belle: «You can perceive the main volume, iconic, as if it were a temple with a large gable in reinforced concrete. At the base, the graffiti of the students reduce the solemnity of the building ». Elementary school E. Castiglioni, D. Brigatti, 1957-1959, Busto Arsizio, VA
The survey is also a pretext to indicate to the public structures whose value is often ignored or little appreciated because they are integrated into the surrounding architecture or landscape. Others, however, immediately catch the eye for the particularity of the project, its provocations or the dissonant effect. Sometimes because of its dullness. Sometimes one gets the impression of observing almost impenetrable fortresses. On the other hand, the search for play of light and daring geometries is definitely interesting.
Flavia Rossi: «The architectural intervention is articulated in the totality of the available space, also filling the voids with the shadows cast by the monumental bodies, connected through paths on different heights». Extension of the municipal cemetery L. Ricci, F. Luminari, S. Rossini, 1984 -2001, Jesi, AN
It is the narration of an era of Italian planning, its challenges and contradictions, the impact on the communities that received them with the voice and vision of young professionals of the photographic language. The next step could be a possible comparison, with the architecture of the past, the choice of materials, environmental compatibility, the value of their presence in the history of architecture.
Simone Mizzotti: «While I was photographing I met a couple of students and professors, surprised by the fact that I was documenting this building, which in their eyes was not particularly interesting and also uncomfortable». University of Genoa, Department of Physics, T. Badano, A. Battaglieri, L. Calza, 1974-1994
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