Architect · Italy · 1931-1997
Aldo Rossi Biography, Buildings and Best Books
Italian architect and theorist (1931-1997) whose book The Architecture of the City and buildings such as the San Cataldo Cemetery shaped architecture after modernism. Pritzker Prize 1990.
Image: San Cataldo Cemetery, from the ArchEyes article
Biography
Aldo Rossi (1931-1997) was an Italian architect, theorist and artist and one of the leaders of the Tendenza movement. His book L’architettura della città (1966) argued that cities are built from types and monuments that carry collective memory, and his buildings, from the Gallaratese housing in Milan to the San Cataldo Cemetery in Modena, reduced architecture to a few archetypal forms. He received the Pritzker Prize in 1990.
Milan and Casabella
Rossi was born in Milan in 1931 and graduated from the Politecnico di Milano in 1959. He wrote for Casabella-continuità under Ernesto Nathan Rogers and began teaching in Milan, Venice and later Zurich, where he influenced a generation of Swiss architects.
The Architecture of the City
Published in 1966, L’architettura della città opposed functionalist planning with a theory of the city as a collective artefact, made of permanent elements and typologies that persist while uses change. It was translated into English in 1982 and became one of the most read architecture books of its time, along with his later A Scientific Autobiography (1981).
Gallaratese, Modena and Venice
His first major building was the Gallaratese housing block in Milan (1967-1974), a long white gallery on pilotis within the Monte Amiata complex designed with Carlo Aymonino. With Gianni Braghieri he won the competition for the San Cataldo Cemetery in Modena in 1971, a walled city of the dead with a roofless cubic ossuary. In 1979 he built the floating Teatro del Mondo for the Venice Biennale.
Later work and legacy
In the 1980s and 1990s Rossi built widely, including the town hall of Borgoricco, the Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht and the Quartier Schützenstrasse in Berlin, and designed objects for Alessi. He died in Milan in 1997 after a car accident.
The Architecture of the City
Rossi’s founding text on typology and memory in the city, still the clearest way into his buildings and one of the key architecture books of the twentieth century.
View on AmazonLooking for a shorter read? A Scientific Autobiography (128 pages).
Timeline
- 1931Born on 3 May in Milan.
- 1959Graduates from the Politecnico di Milano.
- 1966Publishes L’architettura della città.
- 1967Begins the Gallaratese housing in Milan.
- 1971Wins the San Cataldo Cemetery competition with Gianni Braghieri.
- 1979Builds the Teatro del Mondo for the Venice Biennale.
- 1981Publishes A Scientific Autobiography.
- 1990Receives the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
- 1997Dies on 4 September in Milan.
Best Books on Aldo Rossi
As an Amazon Associate, ArchEyes earns from qualifying purchases. Book links open on Amazon.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Aldo Rossi known for?
Aldo Rossi is known for his book The Architecture of the City (1966) and for buildings such as the Gallaratese housing in Milan, the San Cataldo Cemetery in Modena and the Teatro del Mondo in Venice. He won the Pritzker Prize in 1990.
What is The Architecture of the City about?
It argues that the city is a collective artefact built from lasting types and monuments, and that architecture should work with this memory rather than with function alone.
Was Aldo Rossi a postmodernist?
Rossi is often linked to postmodernism, but he belonged to the Italian Tendenza, a rationalist movement interested in typology and the history of the city rather than in ornament or irony.
What is the best book by Aldo Rossi?
The Architecture of the City (MIT Press) is essential. A Scientific Autobiography is a shorter and more personal text. For a study of his work, see Diane Ghirardo’s Aldo Rossi and the Spirit of Architecture (2024).
When did Aldo Rossi win the Pritzker Prize?
He received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1990.
