Bruno Zevi
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (February 2011) |
Bruno Zevi | |
---|---|
University of Rome, Harvard Graduate School of Design | |
Occupation(s) | Architecture critic, architect, historian, author |
Spouse | Tullia Calabi (m. 1940) |
Bruno Zevi (22 January 1918 – 9 January 2000) was an Italian architect, historian, professor, curator, author, and editor. Zevi was a vocal critic of "classicizing" modern architecture and postmodernism.
Early life
Zevi was born and died in Rome. His family was
On finishing school in 1933, he enrolled at the Faculty of Architecture at the
In 1940 he married Italian journalist and writer Tullia Calabi.[1] While in the US he discovered the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, which became one of the bases for his championing of organic architecture.[2] Zevi returned to London in 1943, working as a translator in the war effort.
Association for Organic Architecture
In 1944, he founded the influential Association for Organic Architecture (APAO).[2] The following year the magazine Metron-architecture reviewed his book Towards an Organic Architecture, which brought him international acclaim.
University professor
In 1945, Zevi became Professor of Architectural History at the
Editor, writer and politician
From 1955 onwards, he wrote a column for the weekly
The Modern Language of Architecture is one of Zevi's most significant publications. In this book, Zevi sets forth seven principles or “antirules” to codify the language of architecture created by
Architecture as space
Zevi argued in Saper vedere l'architettura that space is essential for both the definition and appreciation of architecture.[4] He also maintained that space is empty until it is occupied by visual messages.[5] Zevi held that this space is animated by gestures and actions of those who inhabit it.[5] He is also known as an advocate of the spatial ideas of Frank Lloyd Wright.[6]
Modern architecture movement
Zevi participated in the influential International Architecture Symposium "Mensch und Raum" (Man and Space) at the
Such was Zevi's uncompromising critique of any tendency in modern architecture towards classicism that he even would criticize those architects he otherwise admired: "When Gropius, Mies and Aalto produced [symmetrical buildings] it was an act of surrender. Lacking a modern code, they weakened and regressed to the familiar womb of classicism."[3] Zevi claimed that modernism is superior to classicism for its tendency to equate symmetry with fear of living, schizophrenia, and passivity.[7] He also criticized the use of artificial light, stating that it is offensive and antithetical to architectural values.[7]
Quotes
"In 1973, Zevi set out (his) ideas as a set of invariants – a sort of anti-classical codebook that attempted to define modernity as a language of asymmetry and dissonance, which he propagated via his magazine L'architettura, cronache e storia. This exciting theory of architecture as rupture and fragmentation marks him out as the seminal theoretician for all currents of modernism interested in iconoclasm and deconstruction, from Alvar Aalto in the 1930s to Daniel Libeskind in the 1990s."[8]
Select publications
- Zevi, Bruno (1945). Verso un'architettura organica (in Italian). Torino: Giulio Einaudi editore.
- (English translation) Zevi, Bruno (1950). Towards an Organic Architecture. London: Faber & Faber.
- Zevi, Bruno (1948). Saper vedere l'architettura (in Italian). Torino: Einaudi.
- (English translation) Zevi, Bruno (1957). Architecture as Space. How to Look at Architecture. Translated by Milton Gendel. New York: Horizon Press.
- Zevi, Bruno (1950). Storia dell'architettura moderna (in Italian). Torino: Einaudi.
- Zevi, Bruno, ed. (1964). Michelangiolo architetto. Milan: Etas Kompass.
- Zevi, Bruno, ed. (1970). Erich Mendelsohn Opera Completa. Milan: Etas Kompass.
- (English translation) Zevi, Bruno, ed. (1999). Erich Mendelsohn: The Complete Works. Berlin: Birkhäuser Verlag. ISBN 3764359757.
- (English translation) Zevi, Bruno, ed. (1999). Erich Mendelsohn: The Complete Works. Berlin: Birkhäuser Verlag.
- Zevi, Bruno (1973). Spazi dell'architettura moderna (in Italian). Torino: Einaudi.
- Zevi, Bruno (1978a). Cronache di architettura (in Italian) (2 ed.). Rome–Bari: Laterza.
- Zevi, Bruno (1978b). The Modern Language of Architecture. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 0295955686.
- Zevi, Bruno (1979). Editoriali di architettura (in Italian). Torino: Einaudi.
Notes
- ^ His kin never kept him from openly expressing his own ideas: Art Kutcher ("Politics could do more harm than the planners in Jerusalem". The Times. No. 59483. 25 August 1975. p. 6.) remembers a protest in 1970 against Teddy Kollek, opposing the project of building an underground parking near the Jaffa Gate.
References
- ^ Donadio, Rachel (27 January 2011). "Tullia Zevi, 91; Led Italian Jewish Community". The New York Times. p. 23. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
- ^ a b Pilat 2016, p. 63.
- ^ a b Zevi 1978b.
- ^ Sauchelli 2012, p. 53.
- ^ ISBN 0-262-58188-4.
- ISBN 0-262-13364-4.
- ^ ISBN 0-415-23292-9.
- ^ Muirhead, Thomas (1 March 2000). "Bruno Zevi, Architectural philosopher who railed against the evils of classicism". The Guardian (Obituary).
Works cited
- Pilat, Stephanie Zeier (8 April 2016). Reconstructing Italy: The Ina-Casa Neighborhoods of the Postwar Era. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-07030-6.
- Sauchelli, Andrea (2012). "On Architecture as a Spatial Art". Nordic Journal of Aesthetics. 43: 53–64.
General references
- Dulio, Roberto (2008). Introduzione a Bruno Zevi (in Italian). Rome–Bari: Editori Laterza. ISBN 9788842087168..
- Lenci, Ruggero (1995). "Zevi, Bruno". Enciclopedia Italiana (in Italian).