Alternatives to modernity in architecture: the work of Giancarlo Puppo

摘要

Like many other Latin-American architects from the second half of the twentieth century, Giancarlo Puppo seeks to reconcile international nostrums with local culture, without abandoning his commitment to contemporaneity. The rehabilitation of the typology of the casa chorizo (sausage-like house) and the rescue of traditional construction systems of that epoch exemplify this intent. Puppo seeks a new language that transcends literal interpretation of the standard refer ences and the banality of fashion. Thus, Pre-Columbian culture, colonial Bolivian Baroque, mediaeval cities, Italian craftsmen who migrated to Argentina, the construction methods of the Industrial Revolution, Aalto, van Eyck, late Le Corbusier, Erskine, Scarpa ... they all are possible references points for his architecture-but none of them wholly explains it. Four invariant design strategies repeatedly appear in his work: typological continuity, the expressiveness of materials and construction resources, design of architectural boundaries and the particular character of his work defined by a tight repertoire of minor elements that are distinctly 'his'. The bond between these strategies is what characterises his architecture, his urban housing in particular, and what ensures its internal consistency.