Lecture: A Vademecum of ‘City Making’
⚠️ We are sorry to announce that due to unforeseen circumstances Umberto Napolitano's lecture, originally scheduled for June 30, has to be cancelled. We apologise for any inconvenience!
Please consult our website and social media channels to learn more about our upcoming events.
7 PM, English
Lecture by Umberto Napolitano (LAN, Paris)
In the exhibition ‘Napoli Super Modern’, Parisian practice LAN (Benoit Jallon and Umberto Napolitano), together with photographer Cyrille Weiner, draw attention to a series of buildings from the period 1930–1960. A timespan in which Italy’s architecture was marked by Fascism and post-war reconstruction, but in Naples also brought forward a highly contextualized form of Modernism.
Umberto Napolitano explains that the criterion – when selecting the works that form the basis for this study – was not only historical, but also critical: at a time when we collectively aspire to the sort of urban renewal geared toward creating ecological, egalitarian and inclusive cities, re-examining this heritage helps us to formulate new urban models, formally and linguistically, putting many of the certainties acquired thus far to the test.
This project of renewal calls upon LAN’s interest in ‘city making’ and the need to reinvent the context in which the project itself operates. City making requires entering into a continuum of forms and events that define the specificity of a place, responding to the lofty or low ambitions that society expresses at the time when an architectural project is required.
Umberto Napolitano (Naples, 1975) studied architecture at the Università Federico II in Naples and then at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris-La Villette. Founder of LAN (Local Architecture Network) with Benoit Jallon in 2002, he also conducts a theoretical work through research projects, exhibitions and conferences all around the world.
In collaboration with Urban Studies, The University of Basel
Place: Alte Universität, Rheinsprung 9, Basel
Admission: CHF 12.-, red. CHF 8.-
Foto: © Tom Bisig
