Architectural sculpture in Italy as a compositional method. From impressions to principles

This essay is a re-elaboration of a lesson held at the “Sculptural Presences” Workshop of the CSAC of Parma on 23 July 2016. The lesson entitled "Architectural sculpture" started from the hypothesis that certain 20th-century architecture had an architectural design attitude that tended towards sculpture, without actually reaching it. Architectural examples have been identified since Rationalism and throughout the 20th century which can be considered "architectural sculpture" for various characters. The thesis subsequently opened the field to more in-depth reflection on the relationship between architecture and sculpture, and above all on some common composition elements in architecture and sculpture as well as on some tendencies of architecture to present itself as a pure formal act.