Materia e memoria in architettura: il reimpiego dell'antico
In: Quaderni dell'Istituto di Storia dell'Architettura: n.s. 2019, 2020
DOI: 10.48255/1061
Substance and Memory in Architecture: the Reuse of the Antiquity
The study on the recovery, reuse and recycling of both materials and elements, as well as parts of older
buildings in architecture, is a field of research strongly connected with many disciplinary areas. This is a
matter that is flurishing in current studies, as they have been dealing for several decades with the theme of
reuse and self-construction, taking up the issues of reuse of pre-existent artefacts in the past at large. This
contribution aims to present some observations on the state and progress of studies over the last decade,
pointing out the open questions and the development of specific aspects related to the general theme of
the reuse of antiquity. It also offers some ideas for a critical analysis of the reuse, taking into consideration
the polysensical nature of the phenomenon, the methods of execution (which involve the practice of the
construction site and the selection of recycled materials), the meanings and reasons concerning the value
of the ‘formed’ substance as a bearer of memory.