The architecture of the late twentieth century presents an important testimony within our cities; and although many of these buildings are celebrated by the historiography and are part of the surveys promoted by the Italian Culture Ministry, projects for their alteration are becoming increasingly insistent, at the risk of marring their formal and expressive values as well as the cultural meanings they embody. This paper seeks to highlight the events that have affected the headquarters ofthe Banca Agricola in Novara, designed by Vittorio Gregotti, Lodovico Meneghetti and Giotto Stoppino in the early sixties. Built in the city’s historic center, it represents the three designers’ outlook in the debate at the time on the relationship between the new architecture and the established city, as well as marking a fundamental advance in Vittorio Gregotti’s architectural thinking in the Novara period, when he was concerned in particular with the themes of housing and the workplace. The alterations made in recent years for economic and speculative purposes, the result ofapproaches that ignore the asset’s cultural value, prompt important reflections on how to protect and enhance the built heritage of the late twentieth century.

Prospettive di conservazione e riuso per la Banca Agricola di Gregotti-Meneghetti-Stoppino a Novara (1960-1962). Necessità di una rilettura critica

F. Albani;M. Gambaro
2022-01-01

Abstract

The architecture of the late twentieth century presents an important testimony within our cities; and although many of these buildings are celebrated by the historiography and are part of the surveys promoted by the Italian Culture Ministry, projects for their alteration are becoming increasingly insistent, at the risk of marring their formal and expressive values as well as the cultural meanings they embody. This paper seeks to highlight the events that have affected the headquarters ofthe Banca Agricola in Novara, designed by Vittorio Gregotti, Lodovico Meneghetti and Giotto Stoppino in the early sixties. Built in the city’s historic center, it represents the three designers’ outlook in the debate at the time on the relationship between the new architecture and the established city, as well as marking a fundamental advance in Vittorio Gregotti’s architectural thinking in the Novara period, when he was concerned in particular with the themes of housing and the workplace. The alterations made in recent years for economic and speculative purposes, the result ofapproaches that ignore the asset’s cultural value, prompt important reflections on how to protect and enhance the built heritage of the late twentieth century.
2022
2030 d.c. Proiezioni future per una progettazione sostenibile
9788849245585
20th Century Architecture, Preservation, Reuse, Vittorio Gregotti, Novara
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11311/1224610
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