Born in Milan in 1935, is one of Italy’s most important modern architects and part of the so-called Italian rationalist school.
Image source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Grassi#/media/File:Giorgio_Grassi.jpg
Architect, Writer and Professor
Grassi was born in Milan, Italy. He studied architecture at thePolitecnico University in Milan, where he graduated in 1960. He worked for the magazineCasabella-continuitàfor 3 years until 1964 and has been a professor at the Politecnico, as well as other universities, since 1965.
Grassi is aprolific writer and theorist,having most notably writtenThe Logical Construction of Architecture(1967),Architecture as a Craft(1979) and other influential works. Together withAldo Rossi, Grassi argued that architecture had to look within itself to anautonomous methodology, separate from political, economic, social and technological events.
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Unconventional Designer
Grassi has often been described as anon-conformistanda critic of conventional mainstreamarchitecture. In fact, he holds an idea of architecture as an intellectual process, a rational discipline thatprioritizes reason above form为了避免修辞形式主义的回归models of architectural production. Moreover, his extremely formal work is predicated onabsolute simplicity,clarity, andhonestywithout ingratiation, rhetoric, or spectacular shape-making; it refers to historical archetypes of form and space and has a strong concern with the making of urban space.
Image source:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Berlin_-_Park_Kolonnaden_2.jpg
Grassi’s Trademarks and Influences
Though described asseverely rational, Grassi’s architecture also incorporates asensitivity to classical and neo-classical architecture(Alberti, Schinkel) but is at the same time deeply influenced by themodern movement, especially in Germany and Austria. Grassi’s trademarks are his use ofexposed brickin most of his buildings as well assquare windows. In his writings, he refers to the socialist German architects of the 1920s as well as references to selected public buildings and public spaces as his guidelines. His works have been extensively published in the top international architecture magazines.
Images source:https://divisare.com/projects/342881-giorgio-grassi-progetto-di-restituzione-e-riabilitazione-del-teatro-romano-di-brescia
Famous Works
- Municipal center of the Visconteo Castle of Abbiategrasso (1970);
- Student house, University of Chieti (1976);
- Prinz-Albrecht-Palais, Berlin (1984);
- Roman theatre of Sagunto (1985);
- Building complex at Potsdamer Platz, Berlin (1993).
Images source:https://divisare.com/projects/337701-giorgio-grassi-student-halls-of-residence-in-chieti
Info sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Grassi
https://www.domusweb.it/en/reviews/2005/06/21/theory-and-design-in-grassi.html