Modern Italian architecture is subject of campus exhibition

Design for a transversal section of a high-velocity railway station in Rome, by ABDR Architetti Associati, is one of the images on display in Sibley Hall's Hartell Gallery through April 16. Many of the contemporary Italian architects represented in the exhibition will take part in discussions on campus and in New York City April 1-2, on what constitutes modern architecture in Italy today and where it is headed. Provided

The College of Architecture, Art and Planning is hosting a discussion and exhibition on contemporary Italian architecture and photography, featuring some of its top practitioners.

The program takes place April 1 on Cornell's campus and April 2 in New York City and is free and open to the public. The exhibition, also free and open, runs through April 16 in Hartell Gallery, Sibley Hall, on campus.

Said Dean Mohsen Mostafavi: "The college has long been sending our architecture, art and history of architecture students to our Rome program for inspiration. Now, some of the most original work being done in Italy today, the ideas behind it and the questions Italy's young architects are grappling with, are coming to us. This is clearly the beginning of something new. What is particularly interesting is the regional diversity of the architects. In addition to the expected places such as Rome and Milan, there are practices based in such places as Bari and Casserta, Messina and Brescia."

The exhibition and the program were put together by Alberto Alessi, an internationally known architect.

Some of the architectural designs on display in the Hartell Gallery incorporate architectural ruins as part of contemporary buildings. Others involve reclaiming old industrial neighborhoods. Works are from these Italian architectural firms: ABDR; Benno Albrecht; Cliostraat; Corvino + Multari; Cristofani & Lelli; Nicola Di Battista; 5+1; Cherubino Gambardella; Garofalo Miura; Ian+ ; Itaca Architetti; Labics; Antonella Mari; Vincenzo Melluso; Metrogramma; n!studio; Efisio Pitzalis & Genevieve Hanssen; Beniamino Servino; Vulcanica; and Cino Zucchi. The exhibition also includes works by photographers Gabriele Basilico, Francesco Jodice, Armin Linke and Alberto Muciaccia.

Program participants include representatives from the architectural design firms of Alessi; Pier Vittorio Aureli; Sandro Marpillero; Gabriele Mastrigli; Mostafavi; and many of the participants and exhibitors.

"Dialogues: Country Positions 1. Necessities and Possibilities" is the title of the April 1 program, which takes place in 305 Ives Hall from 2 to 6 p.m. Participants will seek to define contemporary Italian architecture and its links to history, geography, politics and marketing.

"Country Positions 2. Debate on Debate" takes place April 2 at the Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, New York City, from 2 to 5 p.m. Participants will strive to link Italian architecture's past and present with its future, look at the role architecture plays in Italian society, the issues that might be debated and who might be included in a broader debate.