Luigi Moretti: Lessons of SPAZIO focuses on the theoretical work of the Italian architect Luigi Moretti (Rome, 1906–1973). It does so selectively, focusing on the editorials he published between 1950 and 1953 as editor-in-chief of the magazine SPAZIO, as well as a further essay on parametric architecture, published in 1971–1972, in the first issue of the magazine MOEBIUS, directed by his friend Giulio Roisecco. This book rediscovers Moretti's personal impact on international architectural theory through thoughtful comments that shed light on the architect's modernity and original approach. Although Moretti is an architect renowned for his projects and buildings, his theoretical essays are less well-known. The aim of this book is therefore to explore Moretti's theoretical work, which covers many topics, including pictorial art, sculpture, architecture, urban planning, music, cinema, poetry, mathematics, computer science, parametricity. In addition to the translation from Italian to English, the book contains reproductions of the original articles, accompanied by a series of essays of critical commentary and updated interpretations that show new ways of approaching, reading, and understanding the foundations of current architectural theory and its progress over the last 50 years. This book approaches Moretti's thought from a new perspective, with the aim of reconsidering the originality of this brilliant and visionary architect who was intellectually ostracised for many years due to political and ideological contingencies, even though he personified the ideal of the 'Renaissance man' in modern times. A re-reading of Moretti's work is more justified today than has ever been before, both to reconnect the threads with contemporaneity and to make his intensity and farsightedness of vision known to researchers, teachers, and students working in the areas of architecture and design theory, technology, and art today.

The Pocket Books series is an assemblage of small publications which compile theoretical texts by various architects or institutions in different collections. These writings reflect different areas of interest and performance in the architectural discourse. For its second edition, written and compiled by Federico Bucci, the series reflects on the multidisciplinary work of Luigi Moretti (1906?1973). He was the embodiment of the intellectual architect, capable of interweaving art and architecture, and his works are considered among the most original examples of Italian modernism. This book reveals the complex aspects of his theory on form and structure, space and time.

Luigi Moretti is the first English-language monograph on the Italian architect and will introduce his writings to the English-speaking world.

This book looks at architecture history in reverse, in order to follow chains of precedents back through time to see how ideas alter the course of civilization in general and the discipline of architecture in particular. Part I begins with present-day attitudes about architecture and traces them back to seminal ideas from the beginning of the twentieth century. Part II examines how pre-twentieth-century societies designed and understood architecture, how they strove to create communal physical languages, and how their disagreements set the stage for our information age practices. Architecture History and Theory in Reverse includes 45 black-and-white images and will be useful to students of architecture and literature.

More than a decade in the making, this is a textbook of architecture, useful for every architect: from first-year students, to those taking senior design studio, to graduate students writing a Ph.D. dissertation in architectural theory, to experienced practicing architects. It is very carefully written so that it can be read even by the beginning architecture student. The information contained here is a veritable gold mine of design techniques. This book teaches the reader how to design by adapting to human needs and sensibilities, yet independently of any particular style. Here is a unification of genuine architectural knowledge that brings a new clarity to the discipline. It explains much of what people instinctively know about architecture, and puts that knowledge for the first time in a concise, understandable form. Dr. Salingaros has experience in the organization of the built environment that few practicing architects have. The later chapters of this new book touch on very sensitive topics: what drives architects to produce the forms they build; and why architects use only a very restricted visual vocabulary. Is it personal inventiveness, or is it something more, which perhaps they are not even aware of? There has not been such a book treating the very essence of architecture. The only other author who is capable of raising a similar degree of passion (and controversy) is Christopher Alexander, who happens to be Dr. Salingaros’ friend and architectural mentor. “Surely no voice is more thought-provoking than that of this intriguing, perhaps historically important, new thinker?” From the Preface by His Royal Highness, Charles, The Prince of Wales “A New Vitruvius for 21st-Century Architecture and Urbanism?” Dr. Ashraf SalamaChair, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar “Architecture, Salingaros argues, is governed by universal and intuitively understood principles, which have been exemplified by all successful styles and in all civilizations that have left a record of themselves in their buildings. The solution is not to return to the classical styles… the solution is to return to first principles and build within their constraints… ” Dr. Roger Scruton Philosopher, London, UK “A fundamental text, among the most significant of the past several years.” Dr. Vilma Torselli Architect and Author, Milan, Italy “A Theory of Architecture demonstrates how mathematics and the social sciences offer keys to designing a humane architecture. In this brilliant tome Salingaros explains why many modern buildings are neither beautiful nor harmonious and, alternatively, how architects and patrons can employ scale, materials and mathematical logic to design structures which are exciting, nourishing, and visually delightful.” Duncan G. Stroik Professor of Architecture, University of Notre Dame, Indiana “Salingaros explores ways to clarify and formalize our understanding of aesthetic forms in the built environment, using mathematics, thermodynamics, Darwinism, complexity theory and cognitive sciences. Salingaros’ remarkable observations suggest that concepts of complexity and scale can someday provide a full-bodied explanation for both the practice and the appreciation of architecture.” Kim Sorvig Architecture & Planning, University of New Mexico See this book’s Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Theory_of_Architecture Nikos A. Salingaros is an internationally known urbanist and architectural theorist who has studied the scientific bases underlying architecture for thirty years. Utne Reader ranked him as “One of 50 visionaries who are changing your world”, and Planetizen as 11th among “The top 100 urban thinkers of all time”. He is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Texas at San Antonio.