Gallipoli. Laboratorio di progettazione

The focus of this series is the architectural project. Therefore rather than the series being conceived as a monolithic block, each of its volumes considers either a single project - documenting every phase of its evolution - or the work of an individual architect whose singularities are highlighted via the analysis of one or more significant projects, or - finally - particular occasions on which a range of different projects have addressed a single theme. What gives each volume its unity is the fact that each focuses closely on a theme emblematic of contemporary architectural culture. From this point of view the structure of the individual volumes is particularly significant in that each one is treated as an autonomous "project" with a format that reflects its contents and focus. The series concentrates on the area of architectural design rather than construction, although the latter is documented where and in so far as it offers a useful illustration of the synthesis of ideals and practical applications. In this way, moreover, the aim is to move gradually outwards from the "detail" to a broader overview of the themes via which it becomes possible to define the "personality" of an architect or the singularity of a theme or the variety of possible readings of a particular project. The introductory critical texts provide the kind of historical perspective which, in addressing the theme of the architectural design from the perspective of its theoretical roots and background, permits a continuity of vision that allows each "project" to be considered not in isolation but as one element of an overall picture that forms the context for a particular moment in the history of architectural research. The didactic objectives of the series are also very explicit, the aim being to provide valuable material for study regarding the genesis of diverse projects, from initial sketches to finished construction, with the intention of illustrating as clearly as possible the methodology behind each work. One further aspect characterizes this series, which is dedicated entirely to contemporary architecture: the desire to reveal and focus attention on the dreamlike and surreal qualities ironically symbolic of the contemporary cultural reality on both a public and private level and that typify a kind of research, and therefore of architectural production, for the most part destined to remain ineffectual. The uncompromising eloquence of so many of these designs very clearly reveals the projects' theoretical context but also underlines a moral rigour that in recent years has paid the price of being unwillingly sidelined from the decision-making context. The work of these contemporary architects is also documented via the inclusion of illustrations (above all theoretical) alongside the biographical data, bibliographies and lists of works, furnishing a general overview of each architect's work as a whole and therefore the background context from which the individual project emerges.