This essay systematically analyzes Italian participation in the international competition for the Centre du Plateau Beaubourg, moving beyond a historiographical narrative traditionally focused solely on the winning project. Drawing on a substantial body of archival materials that have thus far been little explored or entirely neglected – including project reports, presentation panels, photographs, drawings, and administrative documents preserved in French and Italian archives – the study reconstructs a constellation of design experiences that reflects the cultural, educational, and disciplinary complexity of the event. The investigation demonstrates how established architects, university professors, recent graduates, and research groups interpreted the Beaubourg program as an op- portunity to experiment with new megastructural forms, urban models, technological languages, and symbolic strategies. Through a comparative analysis of the Italian proposals, the essay highlights the tensions among structural poetics, typological research, political agendas, and the renewal of architectural education in the years immediately following 1968. Particular attention is devoted to the role of architectural schools, to processes of cultural transfer, and to the circulation of theoretical and formal models, for which the competition functioned as a genuine “contrastive filter,” revealing ambiguities, contradictions, and a plurality of positions. The use of previously unpublished documentation also enables a detailed reconstruction of the modes of presentation, evaluation, and exhibition of the projects, restoring the competition in its media, political, and spectacular dimensions. The study thus demonstrates that the Italian proposals for the Beaubourg competition constitute a privileged observatory for understanding the transformations of European architecture in the early 1970s, offering new interpretive tools for rethinking the relationship between experimentation, cultural institutions, and the construction of disciplinary identity.
Non solo Piano. Gli italiani al concorso internazionale del Centre du Plateau Beaubourg
Savorra M
2025-01-01
Abstract
This essay systematically analyzes Italian participation in the international competition for the Centre du Plateau Beaubourg, moving beyond a historiographical narrative traditionally focused solely on the winning project. Drawing on a substantial body of archival materials that have thus far been little explored or entirely neglected – including project reports, presentation panels, photographs, drawings, and administrative documents preserved in French and Italian archives – the study reconstructs a constellation of design experiences that reflects the cultural, educational, and disciplinary complexity of the event. The investigation demonstrates how established architects, university professors, recent graduates, and research groups interpreted the Beaubourg program as an op- portunity to experiment with new megastructural forms, urban models, technological languages, and symbolic strategies. Through a comparative analysis of the Italian proposals, the essay highlights the tensions among structural poetics, typological research, political agendas, and the renewal of architectural education in the years immediately following 1968. Particular attention is devoted to the role of architectural schools, to processes of cultural transfer, and to the circulation of theoretical and formal models, for which the competition functioned as a genuine “contrastive filter,” revealing ambiguities, contradictions, and a plurality of positions. The use of previously unpublished documentation also enables a detailed reconstruction of the modes of presentation, evaluation, and exhibition of the projects, restoring the competition in its media, political, and spectacular dimensions. The study thus demonstrates that the Italian proposals for the Beaubourg competition constitute a privileged observatory for understanding the transformations of European architecture in the early 1970s, offering new interpretive tools for rethinking the relationship between experimentation, cultural institutions, and the construction of disciplinary identity.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
