International Competitions in Architecture
A NEW FAÇADE FOR SAN LORENZO
We do not know (although we could) much about San Lorenzo, the church built by Brunelleschi in Florence. Nor do we know about how many architects tried to imagine a (new) façade for this much celebrated church. But we do know that to this day the structure built by Brunelleschi still doesn't have a façade proper. It is quite surprising to us that the proud and rich city of Florence didn't do very much in order to create a façade for this important building… Why is it so? It is hard to tell, even if it is quite possible that important scholarship does explain the details of this affair… But if we contemplate for a second the ``waiting" façade, if we look at the sketches done by Michelangelo or Raphael, if we consider the exceptional character of the building and the context within which it finds itself, we cannot be satisfied with the passivity of 500 years, unable or unwilling to honor this great building with an equally great façade. While an applied façade could lead straight to unpardonable Potemkin architecture, a serious, sensitive, organic, even exuberant one might do the very opposite: glorify the building behind, enhance it, make it sing, as Eupalinos would have liked…This is not nostalgia, this is living in the here and now. And it is in the name of the here and now that we invite you to imagine, with all the creativity you are capable of, a (new) façade for San Lorenzo! What could be more exciting? At a time when architecture is reduced to either abstruse negation of life, or, looking the other way, to the trivialization of it through the eternally growing predicaments of capitalism, we invite you to address the problem of continuing the work of Brunelleschi and Michelangelo (and who knows how many others?) in order to preserve and enhance life beyond the cul-de-sac of today's existential prose. We expect a contemporary work, one willing to face the great challenge posed by the great predecessors. We are not businessmen, nor politicians. But animated by idealism (in whose absence we might just as well perish…) we intend to offer to the great city of Florence this gift: a series of brilliant designs for a (new) façade for San Lorenzo! Can we do it? Can we elevate ourselves to the task? The answer cannot be but "yes," if we only try for a second to imagine that greatness is still possible and that the legacy of Brunelleschi and Michelangelo can and should be continued… So, welcome to Florence in the year 2002, looking at a building built 500 years earlier, but whose façade awaits us, to imagine, to dream again! We cannot promise you a "contract," but we can aspire to believe that the city of Florence will acknowledge our efforts and who knows…? Maybe those very dormant politicians and businessmen will wake up and will regenerate our thirst for greatness by building one of the entries… We invite you to this competition with the belief that art is indeed a force made by man in his attempt to transgress death. At a time still unable to avoid wars, terrorisms, fears, and increasingly complex psychological disorders, we invite you to re-connect in a dynamic, creative way, with Brunelleschi and Michelangelo! We welcome you to "A (new) Façade for San Lorenzo!"
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