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Gallaratese is not an architecture based on ocular centric
as many modernistic buildings are. Instead, he treated the
boundary as a saturated space that contributes to the private
and the public; A meaningful apparatus to proximate the two
realms by creating a potential space for unexpectedness,
beauty, and memory-making. Architectural critic, Aaron Betsky,
give an inspirational explanation of his visit there, "Those fins
acting in the place of columns are the most extreme examples
of that deformation of common forms and practices. They are
thin, tall, and tightly spaced. While they refer to columns and
act as such, they are too close together to be logical. They
have none of the accouterments of the classical traditions
out of which such elements came. They create a rhythm on
the outside and the inside of the building. But also they offer
a border that is both overstated and ambiguous.Moreover,
nothing is meant to happen in this space—it is just 600 feet
of shaded emptiness, with a few bicycles tucked indiscreetly
into the corners... Don't get me wrong. While we were visiting,
people went in and out of the building, carrying children and
leaving their strollers in the gallery, while a lonely kid kicked
a ball around, waiting for his friends to show up. Music drifted
down from one of the apartments, and a workman fidgeted
with a pipe. There is life in this building."
4
4 Making the Bones Dance
Aldo Rossi’s Gallaratese housing project gets at the essence of apartment
buildings.