A Study On Roma Interrotta In 1978

In 1978 the Italian architect Piero Sartogo,invited to make an exhibition by the association Incontri Internazionali d’Arte,joined eleven other leading architects on the international scene to design a ‘New Rome’ based on the city’s historical nucleus.The project was titled Roma Interrotta(‘Rome Interrupted’).Its point of departure were the twelve sheets,defined by the size of the printing plates that constitute Giambattista Nolli’s famous Nuova pianta di Roma of 1748.Each architect was assigned a sheet or ‘sector’ on which to develop a fictional design.The projects were exhibited in the Mercati di Traiano in May-June 1978 and the show subsequently traveled to various prestigious venues around the world.Roma Interrotta has continued to fascinate architects and architectural historians ever since,especially now the oeuvre of contributors such as Robert Venturi,Colin Rowe and James Stirling again attracts much attention.Roma Interrotta was an ideological experiment,its core purpose was to explore possible ways to maintain the continuity of urban history while developing.12 architects show a variety of understanding of the spirit of the city,used Nolli map as a medium,by operating on morphology or image,they presented Roman city spirit from views of topography and architecture,figure-ground and texture,places and space,monuments and "monumentality".After the exhibition in Rome,Roma Interrotta went on a world tour,aroused a worldwide discussion and inspired many later research events,exerted an important influence in the field of architecture and urban design theory.Until today,Roma Interrotta drawn little attention in China,there are only several paper mentioned the event,and neither of them give a comprehensive introduce to the exhibition,not to mention make a study of it.This dissertation attempts to fill this vacancy,with the exhibition and the promise map as the object of study,discusses the role of the exhibition in Western modern architecture and urban design theory.Based on reading of English material,this dissertation study on the process of the event,Nolli map and participants’ invention,discusses the exhibition’s influence on participants’ latter practice and the development of city design theory.From view of history of event and academic,this dissertation explores the origin,organization and thoughts of Roma Interrotta.