Readings of Architecture

Aldo Rossi’s essay on Boullée from 1967, written to introduce the Italian translation of “Architecture. Essai sur l’art”, and Giorgio Grassi’s essay on Tessenow from 1974, which introduces the Italian translation of “Die Architek- tur der Großstadt”, are far more than the results of a revaluation of two forgotten architects. They are the results of an analysis that aims at uncovering the operation of architectural design. They were concerned with the design and mediation of the projects, not in order to put unpublished works and those discovered in the archives into print, but out of a conviction that the French and German masters could be useful for their own work as designers.
At a time when a process of true disciplinary refoundation of architecture was emerging, both were instrumental in developing a different approach to design. There was a time when this activity took on great importance and influenced a review process that would lead to profound changes in the approach to architectural design. I refer in particular to a period of time, ending in the 1980s, in which Italian architectural culture took a leading role in the evolution of the international architectural debate. This panorama of readings by designers on the work of other architects outlines a sort of landscape parallel to that of official historiography.