Two decades of patient research conducted by Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani in the Department of History of Urban Design at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich has resulted in the compilation of an atlas of public spaces both ancient and recent, codified by a strict analysis procedure. The manual represents an important corpus of references for contemporary city planning.

According to Renato Rizzi, an obligatory necessity in order for Tafuri’s “architect of the future” to become reality is the bringing of theoretical, design and architectural thought down to the cognitive foundation of image: Fabian Carlos Giusta analyses the key points in the three volumes of Rizzi’s analytical treatise.

The exemplary recent project by this Irish husband-and-wife team proposes a complex functional solution between diverse buildings old and new, all lying on different site levels. The volumes were patiently stitched together and carefully juxtaposed on a steep urban slope.