Bruno Zevi
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Bruno Zevi (born January 22nd 1918, Rome, died January 9th 2000) was an Italian architect, historian, professor, curator, author and editor. Zevi was a vociferous critic of 'classicising' modern architecture and postmodernism.
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[edit] The University Years
On finishing school in 1933, Zevi enrolled at the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Rome. Due to the anti-Semitic laws, Zevi was forced in 1938 to abandon his studies, and so left for London, UK, before moving to the USA. Zevi graduated from Harvard University, then under the directorship of Walter Gropius.
While in the USA he discovered the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, which became one of the bases for his championing of organic architecture. Zevi returned to London in 1943, working as a translator in the war effort.
[edit] Association for Organic Architecture
In 1944 he founded the Association for Organic Architecture (APAO). The following year the magazine Metron-architecture reviewed his book Towards an Organic Architecture, which brought him international acclaim.
[edit] University Professor
In 1945 Zevi became Professor of Architectural History at the University of Venice. Later, he was a Professor at the University of Rome, and a member of the "International Academy of Architecture (IAA)" in Sofia, Bulgaria.
[edit] Editor & Writer
From 1955 onwards he wrote a column for the weekly L'Espresso magazine. He was an active member of the Italian-Jewish community, and took part in anti-fascist activities within the Justice and Liberty Action Party. From 1954 until his death in 2000 he was editor of his own magazine L'Architettura, Cronaca e Storia.
The Modern Language of Architecture is one of Zevi’s significant published pieces.In this book Bruno Zevi suggests seven invariables or “anti- rules” to organize the language of architecture created by Le Corbusier, Gropius and Mies van der rohe. Abandoning the principle of order, proportion and symmetry promoted by Beaux- Art, the author advances another communication system of architecture which is formed through interpreting the internal function. Zevi advocates variety but opposes unity, supports decomposition but is against repetition, and is in favor of listing function but in opposition to pursue rules. Resorting to the interaction between architecture and historiography, Zevi finds the essences of the modern language of architecture and discusses the process of creating architecture. The author emphasizes diverseness, discord, different prospects resulting from dynamic schemes, the relationship among elements, the organic method of associating construction and design, the concept of living space designed for functional purpose, and the integration of buildings and environment.
[edit] The Modern Architecture Movement
Zevi participated in the influential International Architecture Symposium "Mensch und Raum" (Man and Space) at the Vienna University of Technology (Technische Universität Wien) in 1984, also attended by Justus Dahinden, Ernst Gisel, Jorge Glusberg, Otto Kapfinger, Frei Otto, Ionel Schein, Dennis Sharp, Paolo Soleri, and Pierre Vago.
Such was Zevi's uncompromising critique of any tendency in modern architecture towards classicism that he even would criticize those architects he otherwise admired: "When Gropius, Mies and Aalto produced [symmetrical buildings] it was an act of surrender. Lacking a modern code, they weakened and regressed to the familiar womb of classicism." (Zevi, The Modern Language of Architecture).
[edit] Quotes
"In 1973, Zevi set out (his) ideas as a set of invariants - a sort of anti-classical codebook that attempted to define modernity as a language of asymmetry and dissonance, which he propagated via his magazine L'architettura, cronache e storia. This exciting theory of architecture as rupture and fragmentation marks him out as the seminal theoretician for all currents of modernism interested in iconoclasm and deconstruction, from Alvar Aalto in the 1930s to Daniel Libeskind in the 1990s." (Thomas Muirhead, March 1st, 2000; The Guardian, Obituary, 2000)
[edit] Select list of Publications by B. Zevi
Verso un’architettura organica, Einaudi, Torino 1945 (trad. ing., Towards an Organic Architecture, Faber & Faber, London 1950)
Saper vedere l’architettura, Einaudi, Torino 1948; (trad. ing., Architecture as Space. How to look at Architecture, Horizon Press, New York 1957; Da Capo Press, New York 1993)
Storia dell’architettura moderna, Einaudi, Torino 1950
Michelangiolo architetto, edited with P. Portoghesi, Einaudi, Torino 1964
Erich Mendelsohn Opera Completa, Etas Kompass, Milano 1970; Testo & Immagine, Torino 1997 (trad. ing., Erich Mendelsohn. The
