Sinead Hennessy

Aldo Rossi: Architecture and the Nature of Memory

The aim of the research is to investigate the work of the Italian architect Aldo Rossi (1931–97), and particularly his treatment of the concept of memory. The work is based on original archival research undertaken at the MAXXI, Rome and the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal, and on visits to a significant number of Rossi’s buildings in Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, and the USA. The study covers Rossi’s approach to buildings and the city as networks of signs and meanings that play on the individual and collective memory. It examines how he manipulates those signs, and the extent to which their validity is rooted in underlying cultural conditions.

Supervisors: Sam Austin, Andrew Ballantyne

Aldo Rossi, Monument to Sandro Pertini, Milan

Aldo Rossi, Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht