The Urban Fact

An extensive monograph on the extraordinary theoretical and practical contribution of an "unusual architect"

The Urban Fact examines Aldo Rossi's formulation of a theory of the city, developed over the period of roughly ten years, from Architecture of the City published in 1966, to Analogous City exhibited in 1976. Rossi's theory is not taken as an abstract argument, but is seen through his work from that period. A careful selection of twenty-three projects is here presented at face value. These projects, bound by the reality of their setting, but also charged with cultural and civic ambition, illustrate the intricacy of an architectural project as a complex "whole". They also demonstrate how architecture could contribute to the changing urban context of the field, hinting at an oeuvre painfully aware of its limitations and stubborn in its intentions.

Aldo Rossi,born 1931 in Milan, died 1997 in Milan, was an architect and designer who rose to international prominence in the ninety-seventies. In 1959 he opened an architectural office in Milan. During the early 1960s he began his lifelong career as a teacher at various institutions, including Polytechnic of Milan, the IUAV in Venice and ETH in Zurich. Rossi lived and worked in Milan.