FORGOTTEN ARCHITECTURE: the book

Previously on WeVux, Forgotten Architecture project was created three years ago. The idea behind is very simple: rediscover projects by little-known architects, forgotten works and to deepen “minor” figures. Started by Bianca Felicori, researcher and author of architecture, the project has become a social phenomenon and has shown the potential of the digital world, giving life to a real active community of professional and non-professional.

Today, Forgotten Architecture is a book, trying to maintain its characteristics of collective, dynamic and horizontal experience, born on social networks. To remain faithful to the group’s principles, the central chapters use the architectural categories published most frequently on Facebook as a content outline: from ephemeral architecture to playgrounds. Many of the texts were written and edited by active members of the group, who freely interpreted the architectural theme. Each chapter is then accompanied by a selection of projects published online, each of which shows, in the caption, the name of the person who shared it on Facebook.

The book is the result of a long research and collection of material, possible thanks to the collaboration with professional firms, private archives and institutions. Professional photographers such as Giovanna Silva, Luca Caizzi, Federico Torra, Roberto Conte, Stefano Perego and large architecture and design studios and archives such as Gaetano Pesce, Fornasetti, Nanda Vigo, Vitra also contributed to the publication.

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The chapters are: ephemeral architecture, that architecture with a short biological cycle, often designed for large events (pavilions, installations, displays); animal and animal architecture, i.e. biomimetic architecture and architecture designed to house animals; playgrounds, outdoor playgrounds, public or private, designed by architects and artists; leisure, which includes a range of leisure projects, from holiday resorts to night clubs; on the road, dedicated to service stations and buildings built for road travelers; cemetery architecture, on cemeteries; religious architecture, on the churches; facade, dedicated to projects in which the characterizing element is the design of the facade; arch & video, on the architecture that appears in the music videos of Italian rap and trap artists; houses, a great classic, on residential architecture, from the great architect’s villa to radical and visionary solutions. Finally, last but not least, a famous forgotten, a chapter entirely dedicated to the great Dante Bini, the architect known for inventing the Binishell construction system, left in the shadows for decades by architecture critics.

Once again, to emphasize the collective nature of the project, the chapters were written by authors and participants in the Facebook group: Aurora Riviezzo, Carlotta Franco and Debora Tintis, Eugenio Cosentino and Luca Marullo (Parasite 2.0), Giulia Matteagi, Davide Coppo, Luca Cei and Giorgio Scanelli (HPO), Giulia Ricci, PLSTCT (Gabriele Leo and Grazia Mappa). The book concludes with the critical essays by Franco Raggi, Nina Bassoli, Azzurra Muzzonigro, Nicolò Ornaghi and Cino Zucchi, who reflect on the Forgotten Architecture phenomenon as a collective experience.

The book is produced by Prima o Mai (a project by Raitgher + NERO Editions), with the support of Carhartt WIP. Prima o Mai method arises from the need to explore new forms of publishing production and distribution, useful to overcome the problems of traditional publishing. Prima o Mai gives life to projects that were impossible before, never replicable.

The Forgotten Architecture. Un archivio di progetti compiuti e scomparsi book, curated by Bianca Felicori, is on sale from 7 March to 7 June 2022, and then never again. Visit NERO Editions to buy your copy!

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