"new palladians"

8/6/2019 "New Palladians"

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New PalladiansThe Relevance of Palladio in New Traditional Architecture

Lucien Steil

Timber Bridge in Bassano, Andrea PalladioFrom Giacomo Leonis The Architecture of A.Palladio in Four Books..c.1725Courtesy of the Heesburgh Libraries of Notre Dames Architectural Library

Palladio, a sweetheart of the Moderns and Modernists alike, as wellas of the New Classicists is often misleadingly understood andmisunderstood as an architect of lordship and land owners. To brandPalladios architecture restrictively as one of domination and ofrepresentation is a painful caricature, but to celebrate him solely

for the excellence of his exquisite villas is probably a missedopportunity to acknowledge the broader significance of Palladio.

It is indeed astonishing how little attention Palladios substantiallycontextual and urban architecture got other than as a listing ofoften unfinished Palazzi, and how superficially his didactic precisionand efficiency have been addressed, not to mention how rarely hisecological and artisanal intelligence and capacity have beenmentioned? More than often Palladios whole cultural heritage isreduced to some of his better known villas presented asfreestanding suburban architectural icons, picturesquely installed in

the Veneto countryside. Sometimes even Palladios whole work ispresented in the most trivial, condensed and expeditious shortcutwith one single of his masterworks, the Villa Rotonda with its foursymmetrical temple fronts and central cupola, an exceptional andunique project, but an exception among a wide range ofexceptional, surprising and delightful buildings and designs.

Referring to a most updated discussions on contemporaryarchitecture and urbanism, Palladio would deserve to be mentionedin a context of both Agrarian Urbanism and why not LandscapeUrbanism, and undoubtedly as an Ecologist who would have

accumulated more Leed Awards in a single project than manycontemporaries in their whole lifetime career.


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The festivities for Palladios 500th anniversary in 2008 have notcontributed substantially to correct these limitations and prejudiceswith a few rare but pointed exceptions. In the context of a series oflectures organized by the Institute of Classical Architecture in New

York, Victor Deupi presented a comprehensive argument onPalladios importance as an urbanist and urban architect, whereas inLondon, The Princes Foundation together with the TraditionalArchitecture Group (TAG/RIBA)presented an exhibition with around 50 New Palladians,contemporary architects from Europe, the USA and Australia forwhich the principles of Palladios architecture continue to representan operational and practical paradigm and a desirable modernitywith a deep cultural resonance in the 21st Century. The exhibitionNew Palladians demonstrated a unique freshness and vital varietyproviding from an inventive continuity and a wide range of practice

where Urbanity, Contextualism,Regionalism, Biophilia, Ecology, etc.complete, enhance and enlarge a wide and complex Palladiantradition.

The New Palladians, a heterogeneous group of architects, whichemerged in the seventies of the XXth Century and since thenconsistently grew and expanded, follow an articulate and complexunderstanding of the philosophy and precedents of Humanism andof the Classical Tradition. The vivid consensus they share embracesgenerously vernacular and regionalist architecture, Rationalism,Classicism, Bioarchitettura, traditional European Urbanism,

Biourbanism and New Urbanism. The New Palladians areempathically supported and fostered by HRH The Prince of Walesand refer to theories, ideas and projects from Camillo Sitte, KarlGruber, Jane Jacobs, Colin Rowe, Leon and Rob Krier, Raymond Erith,Quinlan Terry and Demetri Porphyrios, Christopher Alexander andNikos Salingaros, Andres Duany, Paolo Marconi, among the mostimportant ones. The intellectual, scientific and artistic work of theseoutstanding group of maitres a penser are integratedsyncretically, flexibly and creatively interconnected and networkedwith Tradition and a vast historic culture of Classicism. They alsoaddress consistently the immense themes of the 21st Century:

globalisation and world demography, environment and climatechange, etc. The urban and traditional architecture of this NewHumanism is not only a confirmation of the Vitruvian ideal ofFirmitas, Utilitas, Venustas, but a new paradigm of quality and aplea for an ecological, healthy, natural New Culture of Building* ina perspective of the Common Good.

Unlike Landscape Urbanism and increasingly New Urbanism,the New Palladians are not all too much concerned of celebratingthe legacy of the XXth Century and prefer a rather wider historicperspective and culture than the disastrous experimentations and

short-lived avant-gardes of Modernism. New Palladians do notnecessarily reject or discredit the legacy of the Modern Movement


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but dont think the modernity of the XXth century should beuncritically built upon because it is historically so much closer to usthan Antiquity or Renaissance. If it was true that we have a culturalobligation to the memory of the XXth Century, it is obviously notreasonable to expect that we have a moral obligation to carry on

with its political, ecological and cultural failures. The precedents ofthe New Palladians do not need the XXth Century pass anddemonstrate successfully that a 21st Century modernity has totranscend a nostalgic revival of the XXth Century modernistexperiments and cultural dogmas !

Building activities are directly or indirectly responsible for morethan 50% of carbon dioxide emissions, and mainstream modernismas well as proliferating Greenwash Architecture generously makeuse of the oil industrys devils kitchen with its paraphernalia ofproducts and chemicals offering dubious toxicological pedigrees and

poor ecological performances. The New Palladians oppose time-tested alternatives to this anti-humanist and un-naturalarchitecture: a durable, timeless, sustainable, and refined artisanal,biophilic building culture which creates identity, meaning anddignity, fosters community and pride, stimulates business and art,and operates immediate and sensible improvements of energy,climate and comfort performances. Besides New Palladianarchitecture is consistently popular and evident and quite widelyconsidered as a highly desirable and valued cultural achievement.

Interestingly the New Palladians are not locked and fanatically

stuck in Palladios Villa architecture, in his elegant designs withmagnificent symmetries, or in his finely proportioned temple frontsand column orders, or generally in an imagery providing literallyfrom the Quattro Libri etc. They like to refer themselves to a morecomprehensive, more complex role model, to Palladios integrity asa Baumeister, to his professionalism as a practicing architect, tohis sobriety and commitment as a learner, apprentice and scholarand particularly to his subtle and creative balance betweenuniversality and province, between the city and the country-side.They are interested in his built work in city, countryside and region,in his Quattro Libri, in his prolific work at drawing-board, desk,

workshop and building-site, and in his admirable, virtuous andconvivial craftsmanship.

The New Palladians find no reason here for a melancholicnostalgia, but a positive inspiration and example of a conscientiousprofessional normality, beyond stardom, beyond compulsorygeniality, hollow fame and provocative non-architecture. Theyrecognize in beautifully articulated buildings and projects theproportions of poetry and eternal harmonies of nature resonatingwith both our reason and feelings over generations, time and space.All the frivolities of false geniality and maniac Zeitgeist obsession

seem so utterly out of place in presence of the highest aspirations ofprofessional ethics and sound cultural ambition embodied in


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Palladios work and emulated by the New Palladians: creatingbuildings and places in harmony with nature, city and peoplestriving to standards of beauty, comfort and permanencecomparable with the timeless masterworks of generations ofcraftsmen and artists in human history.

Palladio is the master of the New Palladians, the 21st Century istheir building-site!

The travelling exhibition New Palladians: Modernity andSustainability in 21stCentury Architecture will open at the School ofArchitecture, Bond Hall, at the University of Notre Dame on FridayJune 10th at 5.00pm

http://architecture.nd.edu/palladio.aspx
http://architecture.nd.edu/palladio.aspxhttp://architecture.nd.edu/palladio.aspx

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