Loaded void

1956. Falling Modernism and Arising Landscape Urbanism. The selected essays are related to the hermeneutical circle established between Europe and US from World War II. Radically changing the 'geography' of architecture, this circle critically acts in the crisis of Modern Movement. The year 1956 in particular sees the coincidence of specific conditions (Waldheim, 2009), which open up a Pandora's box in the researches on the city: the "Urban Design Conference" at Harvard University; the Ciam of Dubrovnik; the exhibition "This is Tomorrow"; the Alba Congress; Hilberseimer's projects on Detroit. These analytical lines mark a first step in the deformation process of the knowledge as activated in architecture from the beginning of the century. Landscape Urbanism is the last passage. Very promising, it reverses the circle's direction, introducing the North-American researches in European knowledge.
The book considers Theory as new Practice. To subtract power to reality for introducing a new modality in knowledge, before than a new shape: this is the first aim of the texts collected in this theoretical anthology. In order to create infinitive platforms of research about the city. It is a 'Baroque anthology', where content floats between surfaces and erases linearity's deep structure.
Elisa C. Cattaneo Adjunct Professor in Landscape and Urban Design at the Politecnico di Milano, she researches on experimental ecological design, and its theoretical implications. After a degree in Architecture, in 2004 she attended the European Master in Strategic Planning for the Architectural, Urban and Environmental Resources; in 2009 she gained a PhD in Architectural and Urban Design, discussing the thesis Void Density: a Relational Approach of Urban Design. Cities without Objects; in 2010 was Visiting Scholar-Post Doc at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, developing the research: Space, Place, Context, Landscape: the Hermeneutical Circle US-Europe in XX Century. Theories. In 2011-2012 was Visiting Scholar-Post Doc at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, developing the research WeakCity: Notes on Landscape Urbanism. She is founder and director of the independent research agency WeakCircus, active in studies, researches and projects on contemporary territories within the Theory of Weakness. Since 2002 she is the principal of her firm, active in public projects and international competitions.
Mirko Andolina Teaching Assistant and Lecturer at the Politecnico di Milano, he graduated in Architecture with the thesis Ologrammatic territory. Ecological Strategy for the West Bank, developed in partnership with the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University. His research is focused on the relationship between ecology and contemporary cities.
Giacomo Ardesio Teaching Assistant and Lecturer at the Politecnico di Milano, he graduated in Architecture with the thesis A Swarming City, Patterns of Interference, developed between Mumbai, Istanbul and Milan, in partnership with URBZ. His research is focused on emerging forms of urbanism and their characters, having the "informal" as one of the main themes.