Under this title we display architectural works by fifteen American students who study under professor Brian Andrews in Italy. Professor Andrews had an interesting idea: to ask each student to imagine a house promoted by ICARCH (that is, based on a program launched by us) inserted into a Piranesi etching from his series "Views of Rome". Thus, that Rome that Piranesi depicted becomes the locus of various interventions... A House for Mike Tyson, A House for Lady Gaga, The House of Stunts, etc... indeed, through this kind of insertions architecture gains a double status: that conferred by Time and History, mediated in this case by the brilliance of Piranesi's etchings, and the one attempted through these contemporary gestures... the result being one that is tensioned, iconoclostic, irreverential and ultimaley fresh, because alive...
Could we ask for more...?
Maybe it is worth reflecting on the fact that the words Tradition and Treason have common roots... and thus maybe arrive at the conclusion that Tradition, in order to remain alive, must assume a certain degree of Treason... that is, a necessary level of betrayal (see "innovation") is necessary in order to avoid a risk Tradition not always succeeds in avoiding, that is: sclerosis.
Piranesi + A House for... = a double biography, one enhanced by the layered, dense, hyper-narrative of Rome itself.
