Paolo Portoghesi

Portoghesi in 1970

Paolo Portoghesi (2 November 1931 – 30 May 2023) was an Italian architect, theorist, historian, and professor of architecture at the Sapienza University of Rome. He was president of the architectural section of the Venice Biennale (1979–1992), editor-in-chief of the journal Controspazio (1969–1983), and dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano university (1968–1978).

Biography

Portoghesi was born on November 2, 1931, in Rome. He graduated in architecture from the Sapienza University of Rome in 1957, and completed a second degree in the history of art in 1958. He began teaching the history of criticism at the Faculty of Architecture in Rome in 1961. In 1964, he established a professional partnership with architect-engineer Vittorio Gigliotti (1921–2015). Their first commissions together included the interior design for the ENPAS (National Social Security Institute) offices in Pistoia (1958–1961) and its headquarters in Lucca (1958–1959).

Portoghesi specialized in the history of Classical architecture, particularly the Baroque period, with influential studies on Borromini and Michelangelo. In 1966, he was appointed Professor of the History of Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano, where he served as the Dean of the Faculty of Architecture from 1968 to 1978. He later returned to Sapienza University, serving as a professor of architectural history from 1982 and full professor of urban planning from 1995.

His theoretical contributions were pivotal for Italian Postmodernism, starting with his 1958 essay "Dal Neorealismo al Neoliberty" in the journal Comunità. Alongside his colleague Bruno Zevi, he advocated for a more organic form of modernism influenced by Victor Horta and Frank Lloyd Wright, and in Italy by Liberty style and Neorealism. His career-long interest in nature-inspired design led to the publication of Nature and Architecture (2000).

Portoghesi was a member of the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, where he served as president for the 2013–2014 term, and a national member of the Accademia dei Lincei. In 2006, he was appointed Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. He died on May 30, 2023, in Calcata, at the age of 91.

Selection of projects and works

Mosque of Rome (1974)

Casa Papanice currently part of The American University of Rome, Rome circa 2012

• Casa Baldi, Rome (1959)
• Palazzo INPDAP Lucca (1960)
• Casa Andreis Scandriglia (1964)
• Casa Bevilacqua (1964)
• Theatre of Cagliari (1965)
• Casa Papanice Roma (1966)
• Church of Sacra Famiglia, Salerno (1969)
• The Grand Hotel, Khartoum, Sudan (1972–73)
• Royal Court, Amman, Jordan (1973)
• Mosque of Rome (1974)
• Academy of Fine Arts, L'Aquila (1978–82)
• The Presence of the Past, curator of architecture exhibition at Venice Biennale (1980)
• ENEL Condominium, Tarquinia (1981)
• Centola Palinuro (Salerno, Italy) Town Plan (Piano Regolatore)(1984)
• Tegel residence, IBA Berlin, Germany (1984–88)
• Le terme di Montecatini, Pistoia (1987)
• The Politeama Theatre, Catanzaro (1988)
• The garden and library of Calcata (1990)
• The Letto di Ulisse, created by Savio Firmino for the Abitare il Tempo exhibition (1992)
• La piazza Leon Battista Alberti, Rimini (1990)
• Chapel of Don Giuseppe Rizzo, Alcamo (1995)
• Church of Santa Maria della Pace, Terni (1997)
• The Rinascimento in Talenti park, Rome (2001)
• The Montpellier Gardens (Lattes), France
• The Central American Parliament, Esquipulas, Guatemala
• The Primavera restaurant, Moscow, Russia
• Town Hall square, Pirmasens, Germany.
• Headquarters of the Royalties Institute, St. Peter's College, Oxford, UK
• Public square, Shanghai, China (2006)
• Strasbourg Mosque, 2011
• Cimitero Nuovo di Cesena, 2011

Awards

• Honoris Causa in Technical Sciences from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland
• Legion d'Honneur, France.

Selected publications

• Portoghesi, Paolo (1982). After Modern Architecture. New York: Rizzoli. ISBN 978-0-8478-0408-5.
• Portoghesi, Paolo (2000). Nature and Architecture. Milan: Skira. ISBN 978-88-8118-658-7.
• Portoghesi, Paolo; Irace, Fulvio, eds. (2004). Emilio Ambasz: A Technological Arcadia. Milan: Skira. ISBN 978-88-8491-823-9.

Further reading

• Christian Norberg-Schulz, Alla ricerca dell'architettura perduta, Rome 1982
• G.C. Priori, L'architettura ritrovata, Rome 1985
• G.C. Priori, Paolo Portoghesi, Bologna 1985
• M. Pisani, Dialogo con Paolo Portoghesi, Rome 1989
• P. Zermani, Paolo Portoghesi a Palazzo Farnese, Parma 1990
• M. Pisani, Paolo Portoghesi, Milan 1992
• G.C. Argan et al., Il punto su Paolo Portoghesi, Rome 1993
• C. Di Stefano and D. Scatena, Paolo Portoghesi designer, Rome 1998
• C. Di Stefano and D. Scatena, Paolo Portoghesi architetto, Rome 1999
• Stanley J. Grenz, A Primer on Postmodernism, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996
• Benjamin Chavardès, L'Italie post-moderne. Paolo Portoghesi, architecte, théoricien, historien, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2022

External links

• Portoghesi biography