Turning to stone
By Rachel Spence
Published: September 9 2006 03:00 | Last updated: September 9 2006 03:00
Since the days of ancient Egypt, obelisks have been employed by
architects to signal the presence of sacred sites to pilgrims. "It is
the calling card of the city of stone," says Claudio D'Amato Guerrieri,
professor of architectural design at Bari Polytechnic.
This week, a 15.5-metre example will loom over the red-brick warehouses
and docks of Venice's medieval shipyard, marking the entrance to a
special exhibition that is part of the city's 10th Architecture
Biennale. Appropriately, the show is called Cities of Stone and the
material is its undisputed star.
....
Photographs and critical studies illustrate and analyse the broad
streets - ideal for military processions - clean porticoes and angular,
spartan buildings of Portolago, the foundation city built by Italian
architects on the Greek of island of Leros, an Italian colony between
1912 and 1947. We see the pristine neoclassical palace that was built to
house the ministry of foreign affairs in Albania (not an Italian colony)
by Florestano di Fausto between 1928 and 1932 and the severe, commanding
facades that overlook the seafronts at Bari and Taranto. Less obviously
imperial are the buildings the Italians built on Kos, their austere
lines softened by Ottoman-style crenellations and Moorish arches.
Earlier D'Amato had claimed that Cities of Stone was
"anti-globalisation" but the reality is more complicated. For armies -
and architects - are no respecters of national boundaries.
'Cities of Stone' is part of the Venice Architecture Biennale, which
runs from September 10 until November 19. Tel: +39 041 51 8711;
www.labiennale.org
cont'd....
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/983b41c0-3f18-11db-a37c-0000779e2340.html