aldo rossi's architectural paintings spread vivid colors & bold geometries in berlin's museum

‘Aldo Rossi. Insulae’ in berlin’s Museum for Architectural Drawing

Tchoban Foundation Museum of Architectural Drawing in Berlin hosts the exhibition ‘Aldo Rossi. Insulae’, a retrospective of the works of the postmodernist Italian architect. The display presents 110 lively architectural drawings that bear his signature style characterized by bold geometric forms and bright colors. designboom attended the opening at the venue and had the chance to view Rossi’s artworks, with the majority of them being displayed publicly for the first time. The title of the exhibition is a quote from Rossi and refers to a traditional method of construction of Roman homes that the renowned architect often incorporated into his architecture.

drawings ©Eredi Aldo Rossi, image by designboom

lively drawings bear Rossi’s extraordinary design language

The exhibition ‘Aldo Rossi. Insulae’ at Tchoban Foundation Museum of Architectural Drawing (see more here), shown in collaboration with the Fondazione Aldo Rossi in Milan (more here) is divided into three narrative cores that include three independent yet complimentary ‘insulae’ (translated from the Latin word as ‘islands’): ‘Corpus Mediolanensis’, ‘Insula’ and ‘Works for Berlin’. All three narratives are dedicated to Rossi’s unmistakable signature that flawlessly blends bright colors with characteristic forms and geometric shapes found in architecture since antiquity, such as triangles or cylinders, and which are reinterpreted by Rossi.

Between 1986 and 1987, the architect created the ‘Corpus Mediolanensis’, introducing graphic works based on photocopies of previously made drawings in an attempt to compose an autobiography in images. The works are redrawn and painted over, and details and titles are added or highlighted to bring past narratives into the present. The Corpus takes its name from his hometown of Milan, a city that played a crucial role in his urban and architectural vision. ‘This section of the exhibition opens the view on a personal aspect of his work, in which autobiography, artistic production, and technical experimentation are intertwined.’

image ©Eredi Aldo Rossi, courtesy Fondazione Aldo Rossi | The big construction site of Fukuoka, 1987, Aquarell, and ink on offset print 42×29.5cm private collection

‘A special role in Rossi’s oeuvre is played by ‘Insula’, a series of drawings inspired by models from antiquity and their reinterpretation by Baroque artists such as Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Claude Lorrain. In complete contrast to the zeitgeist of the 1970s, which animated architects and artists to create a better architecture or even a better society by breaking with the past, Rossi found his models in the buildings of earlier centuries.’

The city of Berlin informed Rossi’s career, as he designed unique projects for the German capital. Some of these, like the Schützenstraße Quarter, saw their fruition while others, such as the project for the German Historical Museum, remained on paper.

image ©Eredi Aldo Rossi, courtesy Fondazione Aldo Rossi | The poet’s window in N.Y. with the hand of the saint, himself, and other situations, 1987, Aquarell, pen, and felt-tip pen on offset print, 42×29.5cm, private collection

drawing ©Eredi Aldo Rossi, image by designboom

image ©Eredi Aldo Rossi, courtesy Fondazione Aldo Rossi | The personal times and those of a city, 1987, Aquarell, felt-tip pen and tempera on offset print, 42×29.5cm, private collection

project info:

name: Aldo Rossi. Insulae

location: Tchoban Foundation Museum for Architectural Drawing, Berlin | @tchoban_foundation

dates: on view until May 14, 2023
curators of the exhibition: Chiara Spangaro, Director of Fondazione Aldo Rossi; Nadejda Bartels, Director of Tchoban Foundation