ARCHITETTURA ITALIANA IN ERITREA

Anna Godio ARCHITETTURA ITALIANA IN ERITREA. ITALIAN ARCHITECTURE IN ERITREA fuori collana 6 2008 PP 272 ISBN 88-7219-063-0 EURO 50,00 Questo libro amplia la documentazione della mostra “Asmara – Africa’s Secret Modernist City”, curata da Omar Akbar e da Naigzy Gebremedhin: la mostra, dopo l’esordio a Berlino lo scorso 2 Ottobre 2006, e dopo numerose tappe di un itinerario internazionale, viene presentata per la prima volta in Italia, a Torino, nell’ambito del XXIII Congresso Internazionale degli Architetti (29 giugno – 4 luglio 2008). Il libro, basato sull’album fotografico dei numerosi viaggi dell’autrice in Eritrea, illustra, attraverso la scelta di immagini significative, le manifestazioni architettoniche che hanno segnato il periodo coloniale italiano in Eritrea dal 1882 al 1941. The fruit of its author’s professional experience in Eritrea, this book provides readers with an upbeat, original presentation of the architectural developments that marked the history of the Italian colonial administration in Eritrea from 1882 to 1941, recording them with an extensive repertoire of contemporary and historical photographs and documents. Architects, town planners, engineers and other professionals working in the African colony seized the opportunity to experiment with new concepts, erecting modern architectural forms that they would not have been able to propose with the same degree of freedom in Italy itself, especially from the twenties onwards. The resulting artistic heritage is unique for the creative traits that range from interpretations of neoclassical taste to modern expressions of Rationalism, as well as the unusually balanced way in which they were inserted into their environmental context.