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Francesco Zuddas - The Eccentric Outsider (2019).pdf (7.43 MB)

The Eccentric Outsider: Or, Why Reyner Banham Dismissed Giuseppe Samonà's Mega-Project for the University of Cagliari

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-07-26, 14:35 authored by Francesco Zuddas
In 1976 Reyner Banham codified megastructure according to its mere pragmatism and lack of ideology, the essential qualities given by the British contribution – from Cedric Price to Archigram and their celebration of technology for a nomadic homo ludens. On this point he contrasted the Italian mega-architecture of the same period, dismissing it for its political collusions and figurative anxiety. While it is a truism that the postwar Italian architectural discourse was imbued in political ideology, Banham’s dismissal purposely misses out the intricacies of a period still awaiting thorough international reconsideration besides few recognised highlights of theorisation. By reviewing a neglected project whose gigantism is second to none of Banham’s examples – Giuseppe Samonà’s University of Cagliari – this essay digs into a chapter that ultimately reclaims its nature as outsider within the phenomenon of megastructure.

History

Refereed

  • Yes

Volume

1

Issue number

3

Page range

50-71

Number of pages

22

Publication title

Histories of Postwar Architecture

ISSN

2611-0075

Publisher

Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna

File version

  • Published version

Language

  • eng

Legacy posted date

2019-04-08

Legacy creation date

2019-04-04

Legacy Faculty/School/Department

ARCHIVED Faculty of Arts, Law & Social Sciences (until September 2018)

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