Paolo Portoghesi: Architecture between History, Politics and Media
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Overview
Through the work of the Italian architect, theorist and historian Paolo Portoghesi (1931-2023), this book offers a new perspective on postmodern architecture, showing the agency of other spheres of knowledge – history, politics and media – in the making of postmodern architectural discourse.
It explores how Portoghesi’s personal “postmodern project” was based on the triangulation of a renewed interest in historical architectural language, unprecedented use of media and intertwined links between architecture and politics. Organized in a sequence of critical chapters supported by the analysis of Portoghesi’s most significant architectural projects – including Casa Baldi (1959), The Mosque in Rome (1975–95) and his Strada Novissima exhibition (1980) – and publications, the book unfolds around the three main themes of history, politics and media.
Published as part of the Bloomsbury Studies in Modern Architecture series, which brings to light the work of significant yet overlooked modernist architects, the study features previously-unpublished archival material, interviews by the authors and articles from professional and mainstream press to present Portoghesi in his multifaceted role of mediator, politician, historian and designer.
A new title in the Bloomsbury Studies in Modern Architecture series, examining the work of Paolo Portoghesi, architect and historian.
Part of the new Bloomsbury Studies in Modern Architecture series, which brings to light the work of significant yet overlooked modernist architects
Other publications on Portoghesi are only available in Italian and provide little critical interpretation of the fundamental role that he played in the rise of postmodern architecture internationally
Presenting Portoghesi’s many different facets and social and political contexts in which he was involved, the reader will gain new insight in the figure of Paolo Portoghesi and into the Italian postmodern scene
List of illustrations
Series preface
Acknowledgements
INTRODUCTION
Italian postmodern architecture revisited
State of the art
Methodology and sources
Structure
Setting the scene
1 THE POSTMODERN PROJECT
Impresario of postmodern architecture
Choosing Rossi
Mendini and the Banal
Ideological duel with Tafuri
Beyond Italy
Galleria Apollodoro, a centre for Roman culture
2 TURN TO HISTORY
Architect as historian/historian as architect
Neoliberty polemic
Instrumental value of the past
Technique of lap dissolves
Geometria borrominiana
Casa Baldi, or the rehabilitation of the curve
3 SOCIALISM FOR FREEDOM
Rise and leadership of the PSI
Years of the protests
Craxismo and the end of prohibitionism
Staging the PSI
Control over the lagoon
The Mosque of Rome, between religion and oil
4 EMBRACING MASS MEDIA
Mediatization of the building
Ars oratoria
Through the pages of the magazines
Architecture on the dance floor
From movie protagonist to stage set
Casa Papanice framed by the camera
EPILOGUE
1992 Annus horribilis
Retreat to Calcata
CODA
By Maristella Casciato
Notes
Bibliography
Index: Paolo’s world
- Title: Paolo Portoghesi: Architecture between History, Politics and Media
- Authors: Léa-Catherine Szacka, Silvia Micheli
- Series: Bloomsbury Studies in Modern Architecture
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Pages: 232
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781350117150, 9781350117136, 1350117137, 1350117153
- Resource ID: LLS:9781350117150
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T12:10:01Z
Silvia Micheli is a senior lecturer at The University of Queensland, Australia
Léa-Catherine Szacka is an architect, writer and Senior Lecturer in Architectural Studies at the University of Manchester, UK