Aldo Rossi’s «Architecture of the Territory», 1950-1970: Toward a Theory of «Primary Elements»

Abstract

In post-World War II Italy, the countryside, suburbs and territory were the privileged subjects of studies and projects for a radical reinterpretation of the city, which was no longer the historical one, but the one spreading across the landscape. Buildings, neighbourhoods and plans were conceived for this kind of city, together with new interpretations able of revealing its structure
and meanings. This article analyzes Aldo Rossi’s studies between 1950 and 1970 on suburbs, countryside and territory. Tackling aspects generally overlooked by critics, this paper is based on unpublished documents and drawings, essays and projects and reveals how Rossi’s first reasoning, contrary to a common belief, did not focus on the heart of the city. Rossi was firstly concentrated on the parts of the city in continuous transformation, lacking regularity and identity. It is here that Rossi identified forms and concepts for an interpretation of the contemporary city with pictorial traits: a «corpo inseparabile» constituted by a territory that includes the countryside with silos, farmhouses and villas, the city with monuments and suburbs, and the infrastructure. For Rossi, this territory is an abstract surface inhabited by vital permanence, or «primary elements» according to his words, whether they be urban monuments, rural emergencies, infrastructures and cities. They are all “solides et durables” like Paul Cézanne’s forms, from which to derive principles for the foundation of a new architecture.