A book on the activity of the Pisan architect, especially his discreet, industrious experience as director of the Design Office of Pisa.
[Massimo Carmassi. The architecture of simplicity] In the mid-1970s Massimo Carmassi (Florence, 1943) was appointed head of a department in Pisa, which he transformed into an unusual structure, the Design Office, with which he continued to work for fifteen years. Under his guidance the Office developed projects – many of which were built – for schools, community centers, low-cost housing, restoration of important public buildings, recovery of the medieval fortification walls, and the Master Plan of the city.
At the same time the Office undertook a unique work of documentation of the architectural heritage of Pisa, catalogued in a large quantity of survey panels – fully illustrated in this volume – that are the expression of a very unusual effort aimed at equipping the public administration with a fundamental tool of knowledge of the city. This book analyzes the multifaceted experience of Carmassi in Pisa, a fine example of rigorous procedure and solid culture that the institutions were not capable of understanding.