LIBRO

Il viaggio dell’architetto La Rivista di Engramma, novembre 2022

di Fernanda De Maio, Christian Toson, Alberto Ferlenga, Marco Scotti, Daniele Pisani, Alessandra Como, Daniela Ruggeri, Isotta Forni, Luisa Smeragliuolo Perrotta, Flavia Vaccher, Guido Zucconi, Anna Ghiraldini, Paola Virgioli

The focus of this issue of Engramma no. 196, “Il viaggio dell’architetto”, edited by Fernanda De Maio and Christian Toson, is on the narratives of architects’ journeys and questions their myth as initiatory journeys, as pilgrimages, or as supreme sources of creative inspiration. Alberto Ferlenga’s contribution, Ciò che il disegno non può raccontare (What Drawing Cannot Tell), concentrates on travel drawing, widespread in architectural publications and monographs. Architects’ sketches and drawings are questioned not for their ability to describe reality and their secret correspondences with future projects, but rather for the relationship they have with a specific moment in their training. In Esperienza soggettiva e racconto collettivo. Architetti sovietici in viaggio (1954-1964) (Subjective Experience and Collective Narrative. Soviet Architects Abroad (1954-1964)), Christian Toson describes the first trips of Soviet architects to Europe in the post-Stalin era, when they were finally allowed to see Western architecture. In Ettore Sottsass, il viaggio e l’archivio (Ettore Sottsass, the journey and the archive), Marco Scotti deals with one of the most prolific architects-writers-travellers of our century, Ettore Sottsass. Storytelling and travel constantly intersect in the life of the architect, who almost obsessively collected and ordered an immense archive. The tale of a journey goes hand in hand with the tale of one's own life, and this combination is particularly evident in the story of Lina Bo Bardi, told by Daniele Pisani in Sola andata. Lina Bo Bardi in Brasile (1946-) (One way ticket. Lina Bo Bardi in Brazil (1946-)). Bo Bardi built up her own personality starting from what at the beginning was little more than a honeymoon trip, although her retrospective narration recounts it as the choice to move to another culture. Similarly, Bernard Rudofsky transformed travelling into the manifesto of his life, as Alessandra Como argues in her paper I Viaggi di Bernard Rudofsky e la collezione di immagini (The Travels of Bernard Rudofsky and his Image Collection). The naturalised American architect shaped his existence and his vision of architecture according to his numerous journeys – a fragmentary collection which became part of his life, to the extent that he defined himself as “a displaced person”. In André Ravéreau architetto viaggiatore: scoperta, indagine e proiezione dell’’altro Mediterraneo’ (André Ravéreau architect traveller: discovery, investigation and projection of the 'other Mediterranean') Daniela Ruggeri describes a young and uprooted Ravéreau, who after experiencing the war, leaves Paris and travels to Algeria. Originating in the footsteps of Le Corbusier, his journey will eventually define his existence as an architect. As Isotta Forni and Luisa Smeragliuolo Perrotta explain in “Food for thought”. Il viaggio lento da Venezia all’India di Dolf Schnebli (1928-2009) ('Food for thought'. The slow journey from Venice to India by Dolf Schnebli (1928-2009)), Dolf Schnebli also follows Le Corbusier’s footsteps. His formative pilgrimage will always remain in the background as a palimpsest, though leading to a completely independent path, which will have a strong impact on generations of students. In In viaggio nella mia Africa. Intrecci, corrispondenze, luoghi e tempi (Travelling in my Africa. Interweaving, correspondences, places and times), Flavia Vaccher sketches the architecture of Senegal, Benin and Togo by intersecting the works of artist-architects such as Patrick Dujarric, Alan Richard-Vaughan, or Demas N. Nwoko. She investigates the espace métisse – a concept that brings together the idea of adaptation and at the same time re-invention, hybridisation, and overlapping. Guido Zucconi’s Mario Praz, viaggiatore antiromantico (Mario Praz, an anti-romantic traveller) explores Praz’s travel literature by emphasising his tendency to bring out the spirit of places. Praz’s eye for architecture, urban landscapes, and tourist