Forays beyond the Modern – The Architecture of Umberto Riva, edited by Claudia Mion, is a revised and expanded anthology on Italian architect Umberto Riva (1928–2021) — a student of Carlo Scarpa whose work ranged from lamps and objects through urban housing and exhibition installations, and who remains one of the more quietly essential figures in postwar Italian architecture.
About This Book
Umberto Riva inherited from Carlo Scarpa an artistic and artisanal attitude, a taste for open forms, and a sensitivity for an operational scale that extends from the material detail to the landscape. His career resists easy summary: he designed furniture and lighting — objects in which light becomes the protagonist — alongside urban housing projects, private and public buildings, and exhibition installations, as well as maintaining an active painting practice. This book is conceived as an anthology, with texts by Maria Bottero framing a series of critical essays drawn from out-of-print books by Francesco Cellini, Pierluigi Nicolin, Giovanni Raboni, Marco Rapposelli, Marco Romanelli, and Mirko Zardini. A collaboration with the architect’s personal archive and with the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal enabled the retrieval and presentation of sketches and drawings not previously published. This revised edition updates the original 2021 publication with new material.
Key Features
- Texts by Maria Bottero, Francesco Cellini, Pierluigi Nicolin, Marco Romanelli, and Mirko Zardini
- Drawings and sketches from the Umberto Riva archive at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal
- Trilingual edition — Italian, French, and English throughout
- Revised edition of the 2021 original with additional material
What You'll Discover
- Riva’s inheritance from Carlo Scarpa and how it inflected his approach to material, detail, and scale
- The range of his practice, from luminaire design to urban housing and exhibition installation
- Critical essays that situate Riva within the broader context of Italian postwar architecture and design
- Previously unpublished drawings and sketches from the CCA archive in Montreal
About the Author
Claudia Mion is an architect and editor whose work focuses on the critical re-examination of Italian architecture of the twentieth century. The volume includes texts by Maria Bottero, whose writing on Riva spans several decades, alongside contributions from leading Italian architecture critics.
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Pages: 352
- Dimensions: 22 x 33 cm
- Language: Italian / French / English
- ISBN: 9782491039011
- Publisher: Cosa Mentale
- Publication Date: 2021
Perfect For: Architects and historians with an interest in postwar Italian architecture and design, the Scarpa tradition, and the relationship between craft, material, and architectural form