Catalogue of the italian pavillion at the 2008 Architecture Biennale. This is a hot theme at the moment, what with the construction boom and instable global climate caused by the american subprime mortgage crisis
According to the curator, by placing housing as the key issue affecting the Italy’s architectural culture, the project “tests [this] culture […] in the challenge posed by the demand for quality housing at accessible prices. The end of popular building, the loans crisis, urban unrest and demand from new users have catapulted this issue to the fore. These days, with insitutional investors turning to housing, we need to consider which programmes and projects will provide the answers. The Italian pavilion intends to move from the revival of the “house for every person” to a “house for each person”. Guest architects include Milanese architect Andrea Branzi, a key player in the radical architecture of the 1970s and a great designer and innovator concerning the concept of the home, and Baukuh (Genova), a group of thirty-year-old architects who won a European competition for young architects to design a series of council flats in Amsterdam. The guest list, which is still being finalised, includes Studio Albori (Milan), Francesco Careri (Rome), Francesco Cellini (Rome), Mario Cucinella (Bologna), Luca Emanueli (Reggio Emilia), Ian+ (Roma), Marco Navarra_NOWA (Caltagirone), Italo Rota (Milan), Salottobuono (Venezia), and Beniamino Servino (Caserta).