ALDO ROSSI (1931-1937)

Italian Architect, Theorist, Product Designer

‘Caught between the classical world and the industrial world’. 

“One can say that the city itself is the collective memory of its
people, and like memory it is associated with objects and
places.  The city is the locus of the collective memory.”
“The Architecture of the City” 
Aldo Rossi
SAN CATALDO CEMETERY
MODENA ITALY

Architect: ALDO ROSSI

Year of completion: 1971
Location: Modena, Italy
Type: Cemetery Complex
Style: Neo Rationalism
 Parallel running
ossuary Communal Grave

Entrance
Gateway Red cubic ossuary, Wide green areas
Funeral Structure

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aldo_Rossi,_Modena_C
emetery,_Model,_c.1983.jpg.png
 EXTERIORS
• Unadorned exteriors
• Static Volume
• Uniformity in
openings
• Discomforting Space
Source: http://www.archinomy.com/case-studies/1922/aldo-rossi

The Bounding Wall of

the Complex

Source:
http://rubens.anu.edu.au/htdocs/laserdisk/0242/24216.JPG The interior
RED CUBE STRUCTURE
Rhythmic articulation of openings
interrupted by the ossuary cube

Ossuary, funeral Square Pillars, Square windows,

Symmetrical stripped architecture
structure

Source:
Source: http://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/arc-
http://rubens.anu.edu.au/htdocs/surveys/mo
318l-final-buildings/deck/1661624
darch/byarch/display00242.html
INTERIORS “House of Dead”

• No Floor Slabs
• No Roof
• Windows and Doors

Shell of
Openings

Source: http://www.archdaily.com/95400/ad-classics-
san-cataldo-cemetery-aldo-rossi/
RIB-LIKE OSSUARIES
Series of Parallel running Ossuaries
representing Bone Structure in humans

Central vertebral axis

Uniformity of negative spaces

Source:
http://rubens.anu.edu.au/htdocs/surveys/mo
darch/byarch/display00242.html
Increase in height as length decreases
 Communal Grave

Conical Grave at the End of

the Complex

Shape representing the

industrial Landscape beyond
the site

Source:
http://rubens.anu.edu.au/htdocs/surveys/mo
darch/byarch/display00242.html
 TEATRO DEL MONDO
According to Rossi theatres were “ places where architecture ends and world of
imagination begins
Architect: ALDO ROSSI
Construction year: 1979
Location: Venice, Italy
Type: temporary theatre
Style: modern
“OBSERVATION IS THE BEST ARCHITECTURAL SCHOOL”
Rossi's repeated use of familiar
architectural elements create a
feeling of a place vaguely
remembered.

http://www.archidose.org/Feb99/rossi2.jpg
 PLANS

GROUND FLOOR PLAN FIRST FLOOR PLAN

ROOF PLAN
Section and elevations
 Structure

Tubular steel
frame

Zinc cladded
roof

Upper galleries

Central stage

Wooden
http://en.wikiarquitectura.com/images/0/0a/I
cladding
magen_virtual_8.jpg
 Bonnefanten museum ,Maastricht

Architect: ALDO ROSSI

Construction year: 1992
Location: Maastricht,
Netherlands
Type: Museum
Style: Post modern

http://www.holland.com/upload_mm/0/d/2/6398_fullimage_maastricht_bonnefant
en_museum_560x350.jpg
Is the museum a collection of mementoes of
life or is it itself a part of our lives? My
architecture leaves an open verdict in this
regard."
 PLAN
Axis of the building

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/- http://www.cultuurnetwerk.nl/producten_en_diensten/bronnenbu
EsEglcgTOqU/UNedBTo3QwI/AAAAAAAAAGw/So455PqkQjw/s640/bonnefanten.jpg ndels/2000/2000_97c.jpg

The design of the building is symmetrical and forms an E-shape

Entrance
Rossi was a great product designer. Connection between his objects and
architecture were obvious. His timeless designs are based on simple geometrics,
primal forms. His Architecture was based on form.
 Façade treatment

Red brick cladding Zinc cladding

Use of square windows
 Building features
Circular skylight

Central staircase with 4 story http://www.marc-kocher.com/img/aldo_rossi_225x277.jpg

wall height
http://www.bonnefanten.n
l/content/upload/crop/cro
p_14561_colw_358.jpg
SCHOLASTIC BUILDING
SOHO, NEW YORK

Architect: ALDO ROSSI

Year of completion: 2001
Location: Soho- a
neighbourhood to Ney York
Style: Post Modern
 Green House atrium

Penthouses

Resource centre, Living Room, Offices,

6,700-square-foot store with the company's books,

magazines, CD-ROM's, videos, games, puzzles, toys and art
supplies.

Basement 299-seat auditorium 

Source: http://phaidonatlas.com/node/204196
 A Building Fits in by Standing Out
TO FIT IN

• Uniformity in Height
and Scale

Source: http://phaidonatlas.com/node/204196
SCHOLASTIC BUILDING LITTLE SINGER BUILDING

• COLUMNAR
FACADE

• SAME COLOURS
USED

• DEEPLY RECESSED
CURTAIN WALLS

• CONSTRUCTION
TECHNIQUE USED-
“KIT OF PARTS”

Source:
http://huntersandgatherersathome.blogspot.in/2010_07
_01_archive.html Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singer_Building
 TO STAND OUT

Source: http://www.nyc-
architecture.com/SOH/SOH001.htm
 SCHOLASTIC BUILDING
LITTLE SINGER BUILDING

• MATERIAL USED

STEEL, GLASS TERRACOTA,CAST

IRON, BRICK

FRONT FACADE
• CYLINDRICAL
COLUMNS

• MONUMENTAL
REAR FACADE
RED ARCHES
5 TIERS OF TWO
STORIES

Source: http://www.nyc-
REAR FACADE architecture.com/SOH/SOH001.htm
Source: http://clapforbacon.blogspot.in/2011/08/cast-
iron-landmarks-in-soho.html
 SCHOLASTIC BUILDING LITTLE SINGER BUILDING

• BOLTED
HORIZONTAL
STEEL BEAMS

• DETAILING
ROOF
CORNICE

• FAÇADE
DETAIL

Trabeated façade constructed with Extremely ornate roof cornice with

steel lintels iron brackets

Source: http://www.nyc-
Source: http://clapforbacon.blogspot.in/2011/08/cast- architecture.com/SOH/SOH001.htm
iron-landmarks-in-soho.html
 INTERIORS
PERFORMING ARTS THEATRE
CAFÉ INSIDE THE BUILDING

Modelled on
Palladio’s 16th
Century
theatre

Teatro Olimpico (16th century Palladian Theatre)

Use of Steel inside as outside

Source: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/scholastic-
auditorium-and-greenhouse-with-rooftop-terrace-new-york-
2?select=stnt0b09cRQUcKtG0vIOCQ#RZ0E_zLsUeIzuaU0Kr-
GGw Source: http://www.libertychurchnyc.com/lower-
manhattan-church-services-new-york-city/
arch critic Paul Goldberger, for one, has described the
building as one that "will teach generations of
architects the proper way to respond to historic
contexts."
 REFFERENCES
• http://www.archinomy.com/case-studies/1922/aldo-rossi
• http://huntersandgatherersathome.blogspot.in/2010_07_01_archive.html
• http://www.scholastic.com/eventservices/eventservices.htm
• http://
ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/06/05/the_scholastic_building_a_newcomer_steeped_in_history.php
• http://
turismo.comune.modena.it/english/thematic-channels/discover-the-area/art-and-culture/modern-archite
cture/san-cataldo-cemetery-by-aldo-rossi
• http://www.archdaily.com/95400/ad-classics-san-cataldo-cemetery-aldo-rossi/