Aldo

Rossi (born 1931), one of the most influential architects during the period 1972-1988, has accomplished the unusual feat of achieving international recognition in three distinct areas:Theory Drawing and Architecture

 Casa

Aurora, Turin, Italy, 1987. Gallaratese Quarter II in Milan, Italy (19681974) with Carlo Aymonino. San Cataldo Cemetery, Modena, Italy (1971). Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Italy (1981). Centro direzionale, Perugia, Italy (198288). Palazzo Hotel in Fukuoka, Japan (198689).

Bonnefanten

Museum, Maastricht, The Netherlands (199094). Quartier Schtzenstrasse in Berlin, Germany (199498). Ca' di Cozzi in Verona, Italy, his last project.

Architect

: Aldo Rossi Location : Fukuoka, Japan map Date : 1987 timeline Building Type: hotel Construction System: brick masonry with expressed steel lintels Climate : temperate Context; urban Style: Post-Modern

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building was one of the late Aldo Rossi's commercial projects. This Pritzker-prize winner designed this (former) office headquarters for GFT, parent company to the designer labels of Valentino, Emanuel Ungaro and Giorgio Armani. Like most of his buildings this office building exhibits "rationalist" qualities and a sense of timelessness.

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is achieved in his buildings through the use of geometric essentials like circles, squares, and equilateral triangles and by using "perpetuating typology," in this case the portico, a design element that has been historically successful and still has a public function.

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wings of the two street elevations use stone porticoes, a contrast with the brick cladding elsewhere and a way of emphasizing the porch that is a feature of much traditional Northern Italian architecture. Although "Rationalist" architects usually eschew ornament, the green steel I-beams frame the openings of the colonnade--and green metal even punctuates the

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angled corner entrance. Rossi uses giant double columns surmounted by a green steel I-beam lintel. (This motif is repeated as well in the inside auditorium.)

"Quartier

Schtzenstrasse" consists of a classical Friedrichstadt block defined by the Schtzenstrasse, Markgrafenstrasse, Zimmerstrasse, and Charlottenstrasse.

Aldo

Rossis used the historical urban structure of the division of land into small plots as his concept for Quartier Schtzenstrasse. The individualized houses signal individual plots but the total number of facades exceeds the number of houses standing independently of each other. While two of the buildings are reserved exclusively for residential apartments the rest

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Quartier Schtzenstrasse is a collage of icons and archetypes with several obvious references to other Rossi buildings as well as historical references. Schtzenstrasse 8 is a copy of the courtyard facade of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome, built in 1516 by Antonio Sangallo, that was modified by Michelangelo. The court yard facade copies three of the centre line of

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path through the smallest, ornamental courtyard behind the Palazzo Farnese. The intense colorfulness, inspired by the colors of antique architecture, tie the block together and draws attention to the allotment structure, which distinguishes the individual houses. Rossi used particular colors for particular facade materials; the more "artificial" the material, the more "vivid" the color.

Blaring

green and bright red signal aluminium. Muted colors; egg yolk yellow, carmine red and cornflower blue are all stucco. The earthy tones shading into red- brown or yellow indicate bricks. The pale facades are two kinds of natural stone; light and dark gray, sand and pink. The silver-grey sheet metal stays.

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