and formally defined, but where the significance that springs forth at the end of the operation would be the authentic, unforeseen, and original meaning of the work. Aldo Rossi, ‘Prefazione’, in the second edition of: L’architettura della città. Padova 1969. English translation in: Rossi, see note 8, p. 166. 43 Scolari, see note 10, pp. 182-184. From this perspective, it is no wonder that in the first edition of Architectura Rationale a second book by Aldo Rossi was announced: La città analoga (The analogous city). The book would have complemented L’architettura della città, but never appeared. Rossi’s I quaderni azzuri 1968-1992, however, give a fair indication of how the initial plan to write La città analoga changed in the course of time and finally resulted in the publication of A Scientific Autobiography in 1981. Aldo Rossi, I quaderni azzuri 1968-1992. Milan/Los Angelos (Electa/ The Getty Foundation) 1999. 44 Scolari, See note 10, p.160. 45 Ibid, p. 162. 46 Rudolf Carnap, Der Logische Aufbau der Welt. Leipzig (Felix Meiner Verlag) 1928. English translation: Rudolf Carnap, The Logical Structure of the World. Pseudoproblems in Philosophy. Berkeley (University of California Press) 1967. 47 Ludovico Geymonat, Saggi di filosofie neorazionalistica. Torino (Einaudi) 1953. 48 Ibid, p.24.
The rationalist perspective
37 Ibid, p. 323. 38 Aldo Rossi, ‘Introduzione à Boullée’, in: Etienne Louis Boullée, Architettura. Saggio sull’arte. Padua 1967; Aldo Rossi, ‘L’architettura della ragione come architettura di tendenza’, a contribution to the catalogue of the exhibition Illuminismo e architettura del 700 veneto. Castelfranco 31-8 / 9-11 1969. Both texts also in Scritti scelti, see note 13, pp. 346-364 and pp. 370-378. 39 Grassi, see note 1. 40 The introduction to the Portuguese edition is most informative in this respect. Aldo Rossi, ‘Introduzione all’edizione potoghese de L’architettura della città’, in: Scritti scelti, see note 13,pp. 443-453. English translation in: Rossi, see note 8, pp. 169-177. 41 Giorgio Grassi, ‘Il rapporto analisi progetto’, in: Gruppo di ricerca diretta da Aldo Rossi, L’analisi urbana e la progettazione. Contributi al dibattito e al lavoro di gruppo nell’anno academico 1968/1969. Milano (Clup) 1970. Also in: Giorgio Grassi, L’architettura come mestiere et altri scritti. Milano (Franco Angeli) 19895, p. 52. 42 Aldo Rossi, ‘L’obiettivo della nostra ricerca’, in: Gruppo di ricerca diretta da Aldo Rossi, L’analisi urbana e la progettazione. Contributi al dibattito e al lavoro di gruppo nell’anno academico 1968/1969. Milano (Clup) 1970, p. 20. Translation from: Micha Brandi, ‘Aldo Rossi’, in: A+U Architecture and Urbanism no. 11, 1982, p. 20. See also Rossi’s preface to the second edition of L’architettura della città, where he defines the concept of the analogous city as ‘a logical-formal operation’ in which the elements are pre-established
Henk Engel
Finally, Massimo Scolari must be mentioned, who in fact gave the only concise formulation of the project of Tendenza in his afore mentioned ‘Avangardia e nuova architettura’. Scolari defines the project first and for all as a process of clarification.44 He states that ‘Tendenza aims at a refoundation of architecture as a discipline in terms of its autonomy as a cognitive process. That’s why it refuses to see interdisciplinary work as a remedy for its actual crisis. Tendenza doesn’t ponder over accidental political, economical, sociological and technological questions to mask its own creative and formal sterility. It only takes these contingencies into account in order to enable a clear intervention, not in an attempt to determine these, but neither to become their victim.’45 All this makes clear that, besides its appeal to the rationalist tradition in architecture, the main reference of the rationalism of Tendenza was the philosophy of science initiated by the Wiener Kreis. It provided the ammunition to confront the dominant position of Benedetto Croce’s philosophy in Italian culture. By allusion to Rudolf Carnap’s Der Logische Aufbau der Welt (1928) the very title of Grassi’s La costruzione logica dell’architettura attested of its polemical intension in this respect.46 Special attention should be given, however, to the exceptional Marxist philosopher Ludovico Geymonat (1908–1991) who introduced the so-called New Rationalism in Italy.47 From 1956 till 1979 he held the first chair of philosophy of science in Italy at the University of Milan. Geymonat argued that under the actual conditions of scientific work it makes no sense to talk about one uniform method and therefore philosophical rationalism can no longer pretend to reduce all human knowledge to one absolute system. It can only analyse the historical formation of the different forms of knowledge at our disposal and clarify the presuppositions of each of them.48
I — Departement of Architecture / Complex Projects
Reader Architectural Design
Most important is the joint publication of the research group: L’analisi urbana e la progettazione architectonica (Urban analyses and architectural design, 1970) with two fundamental essays by Aldo Rossi and Giorgio Grassi, focused on the question ‘How architectural analysis can be seen as part of design?’41 In ‘L’obiettivo della nostra ricerca’ (The goal of our research) Rossi states: ‘What we look for in the study of the city is the attempt to put together an “analogous city”, in other words to use a series of elements linked together by the urban and territorial context, to form the basis for the new city. The analogous city uses places and monuments whose meanings are derived from history and it builds itself around those meanings while it defines its form.’42 In ‘Il rapporto analisi progetto’ (Analysis and design) Grassi investigates in depth the methodology implied in this statement. By implication of the choice of a rationalistic approach, the selection and classification of the architectural elements make them part of a logical construction, which shows their value in the formal syntax of the architectural project. A logical construction allows only analytical judgment; its bond with reality is only secured by the input of architectural forms and the meanings they incorporate by virtue of convention. In this sense, the re-foundation of architecture Tendenza aimed at cannot simply be seen as a return to ‘origins’ or ‘archetypes’. It summons to stick to the operational rules of architecture as a cognitive process, which provide the only ground for any speculation. Structured as ‘a genealogy of references’, ‘the analogous city’ would bridge the gap between analyses and architectural design, between the collective corpus of architecture and individual action.43
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‘No school of architecture can do without a theory of design, but most of the time design theory is treated as no more than the post-facto rationalisation of particular design activities.’ Contrary to that practice, Rossi states that a design theory must be seen as part of a theory of architecture: ‘Before we can talk about a theory of design, we have to ask ourselves what we understand by architecture and provide a definition of architecture. Then we need to consider the criteria, which an architectural design needs to satisfy, and the relationship between design and the history of architecture. In short, we have to concentrate on the things that provide us with a concrete understanding of architecture, namely the city, its history and its monuments’.37 This exactly was the subject matter of The Architecture of the City, but the relationship between design and urban analysis as such is not dealt with in the book. Impulses for a design theory were only elaborated in the period after its completion. In 1965 Rossi became professor at the Politecnico in Milan where, in conjunction with Giorgio Grassi and other members of his staff, a new research group was formed, which functioned until he was sacked in 1971. Two key essays by Rossi from this period are ‘Introduzione a Boullée’ (1968) and ‘L’architettura della ragione come architettura di tendenza’ (1969), in which he introduced the concept of ‘analogy’.38 The studies of other members of the Milan group, however, are of equal interest, most of all Giorgio Grassi’s La costruzione logica dell’architettura (The logical structure of architecture, 1967).39 In the forewords of the new editions of L’architettura della città, Rossi consistently refers to the new developed notions of ‘the analogous city’ and ‘the logical structure of architecture’.40