AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.06.2003, Page 12

Vonarland 1956. Mjög miklar breytingar, „útvatnaður” fúnkisstíll.
Vonartand 1956. Considerable alterations, „diluted” fúnkis-style.
Vonarland 1991. Ath. Sólstofa er enn ekki byggð.
Vonarland 1991. Note, solarium not yet built.
Vonarland (dag, Ijósm. Anna Lísa Guðmundsdóttir, 2002.
Vonarland today, photo. Anna Lísa Guðmundsdóttir, 2002.
in Italy. Muratori rejected the pre-
vailing idea of the architect as an
artist whose task was one of per-
sonal expression. He wanted
architects to think of themselves
as technicians of the urban fabric,
where they had to interpret needs
in the society by transforming
inherited urban fabrics, just
as previous generations had
altered it before (Muratori 1959).
It was therefore essential for a
good architect to know in detail
the medium in which he worked.
A good design is achieved by
recognising the collective works
of the urban landscape that the
new building becomes a part of.
Typo-morphology
Caniggia carried on with the
ideas of Muratori and developed
a typo-morphological approach
to architecture and urban design.
He divided buildings into two cat-
egories: basic and specialised.
During an urban growth period, a
basic type (tipo portance) is cre-
ated, which reflects the condition
of the society at that time. The
basic type is modified according
to changing social and economic
conditions within the society,
constantly reflecting its values.
Buildings become more complex
with the addition of rooms
designed for specialised activities.
The aim of Caniggia’s (1993) the-
ory is to understand the built form
by examining the historical
process of its formation.
Typological Process
ln his analysis of the process of
the basic type, he starts by mak-
ing a distinction between spatial
correlation and temporal correla-
tion. The spatial correlation of
built objects is based on a set of
subdivision that forms a hierar-
chy. The components are: ele-
ments, structure of elements,
system of structures, and organ-
isms of system.
Restauro
Most of Caniggia’s architectural
work was in the field of restora-
tion (restauro). The word restora-
tion is hardly the right term for
these imaginative projects, which
are less concerned with the
prevalent conservation dogma
that insists on allowing succes-
sive layers to coexist, but rather
attempts to reinterpret the
essence of each building as it is
adopted for its new use.
Caniggia’s work has been the
implicit basis for much work on
conservation and rehabilitating
historic towns.
Como
Last year saw an exhibition in
Como, in honour of Caniggia
(Samuels 2002). The exhibition
showed that Caniggia did not see
the reinterpretation of classical
motives as a universal solution to
architectural projects.
The show demonstrated an archi-
tect who was ever-conscious of
the context, both spatial and
temporal, and allowed the genius
loci to influence his projects. ■
References:
Caniggia, G. & Maffei, G.L. (Ottava
edizione) 1993: Composizione
Architettonica e Tipologia Edilizia,
Lettura DellEdilizia Di Base.
Marsilio Editori, Feneyjar.
Muratori, S. 1959: Studi per una oper-
ante storia di Venezia. Róm.
Samuels, I. 2002: The Caniggia
Seminar, Cernobbio in Urban
Morphotogy,
Journal of International Seminar on
Urban Form.
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