The book shows every project of the Basilica Palladiana of Vicenza in details.
Over the last twenty years Vicenza’s Palladian Basilica has hosted a series of exhibitions on architecture, which have been important both for their contents and the original way they were exhibited. From the end of the eighties onwards numerous architects have exhibited their work in the Palladian hall: from Tadao Ando to Alberto Campo Baeza, Mario Botta to Sverre Fehn, through to Gabetti & Isola, Steven Holl, Toyo Ito, Renzo Piano, Gianugo Polesello, Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa/ SANAA, Alvaro Siza, Oswald Mathias Ungers, and Gino Valle. The book is introduced by an essay on the building of the Palladian Basilica itself written by the historian Donata Battilotti and a further essay on the exhibitions by Sergio Polano, which illustrates the numerous projects behind the exhibitions in detail. Each one faced the dual task of displaying the architect’s work to its best advantage and reconciling the exhibition with the huge echoing spaces of the Basilica, enhancing and harmonising the overall effect in an enthralling example of the creative potential in exploiting monumental buildings as creative venues. The book is the accompanying volume to the exhibition on the twenty years of shows at the Basilica. The exhibition is scheduled for the beginning of October at Villa Caldogno, designed by Andrea Palladio, and is one of a series of events planned to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the maestro’s birth.