Identities of destruction

editorial

Issue No. 3 of Journal of Architectural Design and History completes the double issue devoted to the theme of destruction and its relationship to architectural heritage and the built environment. In relation to the previous issue about the theme of memories of war and destruction (Issue No. 2, May 2024), the published essays question the different nuances and consequences of disruption and loss of identity of a fragile architectural and urban heritage in a perpetual cycle of demolition and reconstruction.

The Essay by Images (“Destruction as Memento,” edited by Luca Cardani, Federica Causarano, Francesca Giudetti, Luciana Macaluso, and Martina Meulli) starts precisely from those catastrophes of vast territorial scale capable of rewriting, through their destructive nature, whole passages of city and landscape.

Brazil, China, Italy, Belarus, France, Turkey, Switzerland and the UK compose the geography of the ten long essays collected in No. 3 of ADH. The interpretations of the topic of identity and its relations to destruction are multiple: starting from an interesting analysis of the walls of Florence and their demolition, Carlo Francini, Vanessa Staccioli and Gaia Vannucci narrate the project Firenze Forma Continua (2023), contributing to underwrite the cultural and social value of such defensive structures. Julia Viallon also reasons about absence, with the damaging process that affected houses in the old city of Marseille during the 18th century. Giorgio Nepote Vesin and Martina Ulbar recount the Olivetti typewriter company's loss of identity, Maryia Rusak brings to light an interesting case of manipulation of historical narrative in present-day Belarus. While Azize Elif Yabacı directs her research toward the conflicting significance of modern architectural heritage in Turkey, Jiayao Jiang and Pedro Marroquim Senna address a cross-analysis of the destruction in São Paulo and Beijing. Another Italian case is presented by Giacomo Serangeli, who looks at Milan's Teatro Fossati as a metaphor for the loss of identity of the city and its society, emphasizing its rebirth due to the enlightened collaboration between Giorgio Strehler and Marco Zanuso. 

Ayla Schiappacasse reflects on the triad transformation, demolition, and crisis that has affected and is altering urban structures and spaces in the city of Genoa, while Kalinka Janowski rediscovers the Swiss naturalist Jakob Scheuchzer's thinking on the creation and regeneration of natural forms. Susan Holden opens to the very current topic of the mediatization of destruction by presenting the case of the TV series Demolition, which where broadcasted on the UK's Channel 4 in December 2005.

The Essay from the Archive, edited by Annalucia D'Erchia, Lorenzo Mingardi, Michela Pilotti and Claudia Tinazzi, also addresses the issue of historical city identity negotiation, in this case of Paris, reinterpreted through the lens of creative destruction. Critically analyzing the case of Les Halles area, the essay presents an interesting selection of handwritten documentation by the artist Gordon Matta-Clark, who was called to participate in the 1975 Paris Biennale, during which he produced the work Conical Intersect: a hymn to the ongoing dialogue between destruction and reconstruction.

Finally, in the tradition of the Journal, the issue closes with a selection of “recommendations” by the editorial staff that span different chronologies and geographies. Our “American cousin” Rosa Sessa takes us to Detroit with Marchand and Meffre's beautiful photographs to reveal a city of “permanence and evanescence, of creation and destruction.” Alessandro Benetti brings us back to Paris, with a fine collection of essays by André Fermigier, published by Gallimard in 1991, which provide an overview of two centuries of the city's urban and architectural history.  Fabio Marino recalls a sad page in the history of the city of Palermo in the second half of the 20th century, with the city's urban speculation and transformations narrated by the pen of engineer Rosario La Duca. Beatrice Moretti, last but not least, introduces us to Issue No. 54 of The Architectural Review (2023), questioning a highly topical issue: Should anything ever be demolished?

Wishing you a pleasant reading.