The architect and the cities exhibition is on the Italian architect Aldo Rossi and presents over 800 drawings, sketches, notes, letters, photographs, models and documents. It celebrates Aldo Rossi over 20 years after his death and offers an opportunity to reflect on his great role in the sphere of Italian and international architecture in the second half of the 20th century.

 

 

 

 

Molteni&C and UniFor have taken part as sponsors of the exhibition which is produced by Rome’s Museo MAXXI and curated by Alberto Ferlenga.

 

 

 

 

Exceptional material from collections and archives all over the world – both public and private, but primarily from the MAXXI Architecture archives –, most of which are on show in the Museum’s display cases manufactured by Molteni&C, will enable visitors to follow the development and the thinking of the great Italian architect and designer.

 

 

 

 

It analyses the extraordinary theoretical and practical contribution of an ‘unusual architect’ in the reconstruction of Berlin and the debate about Barcelona. He places his studies within a broader tradition of national analytical culture and in relation to the most pressing issues of urban contemporary life.

 

 

 

 

 

Cultural projects, architectural projects, domestic set-ups and projects are the three main drivers of a complex, multifaceted history involving training, research and education, building an international network, drawing as independent research, critique and bequests. Materials from the MAXXI Architecture archive as well as archives and collections from all over the world are on display: famous drawings, projects, writings and a spectacular series of models, a kind of imaginary city, tangle of ideas, images, places, identities and memory.

 

 

 

 

 

Among the projects on display are Italian theatres Carlo Felice in Genova and Fenice in Venice, as well as Berlin’s Schützenstrasse and the Disney Headquarters in Orlando. The exhibition finishes with the famous Piroscafo bookshelf designed with Rossi’s lifelong friend Luca Meda for Molteni&C and the Parigi armchairs (1989) for UniFor.

 

 

 

According to the exhibition’s curator Alberto Ferlenga: ‘It is hard to define the figure of Aldo Rossi within the mould of a rapidly evolving profession and, for this reason, he’s an inexhaustible bearer of suggestions and ideas.’

Aldo Rossi: The architect and the cities exhibition is open until 17th October 2021 at the National Museum of 21st Century Arts, Via Guido Reni 4A – 00196 Rome, Italy.

Tickets are available here.