The Architecture of Public Space turns Italy's galleries, loggias, porticoes, steps, and courtyards into a theoretical laboratory — thirty-two historic case studies reanalysed as contemporary artefacts in pursuit of a general design theory for public space.
About This Book
Rather than publishing their own designs, Roman firm Labics took a more demanding path: systematically documenting and categorising historic Italian public spaces to construct a theory of urbanism grounded in physical evidence. Editors Maria Claudia Clemente and Francesco Isidori, alongside their collaborators, treat arcades, courts, and steps not as heritage objects but as active models for understanding how architecture structures civic life. Newly commissioned photographs, plans, and diagrams give each case study fresh analytical rigour. The underlying argument — that the relationship between architecture and public space precedes and operates independently of architectural language — positions this as essential reading for urban designers, architects, and anyone grappling with how cities actually work at the scale of the body.
Key Features
- 468 pages of newly commissioned photographs, measured plans, and analytical diagrams across thirty-two case studies
- Edited by Labics — Maria Claudia Clemente and Francesco Isidori — with collaborators
- Thirty-two historic Italian public spaces examined as case studies, including galleries, loggias, porticoes, steps, and courtyards
- Essay by Marco Biraghi, professor of history of contemporary architecture at the Politecnico di Milano
- Published by Park Books, ISBN 9783038603115
What You'll Discover
- A typological framework for reading public space through recurring architectural elements — the loggia, portico, courtyard, and stair — as structural categories rather than stylistic ornament
- The argument that urban experience is shaped by the relationship between architecture and public space prior to, and independent of, any particular formal language
- How historic Italian spaces can be treated as contemporary artefacts — documents for design thinking rather than monuments to be preserved
- A method of analysis combining new photography, plans, and diagrams that positions documentation itself as an act of architectural interpretation
About the Author
Labics is one of Italy's leading architectural firms, directed by Maria Claudia Clemente and Francesco Isidori. The essay contribution is by Marco Biraghi, professor of history of contemporary architecture at the Politecnico di Milano.
Specifications
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 468
- Dimensions: 230 x 310 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783038603115
- Publisher: Park Books
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architects and urban designers working at the civic scale, academics and students of urban morphology and typology, and design researchers interested in the theoretical foundations of public space.