The Hero of Doubt. Selected Writings by Ernesto Nathan Rogers

Roberta Marcaccio (ed.) MIT Press, 2022

The architect, editor, critic, proselytiser and educator Ernesto Nathan Rogers (1909–1969), a founder of the Milan-based Studio BBPR (established 1932), made key contributions to expanding the appreciation of modern architecture within Italy and beyond. Known for his pivotal role within the International Congresses of Modern Architecture (CIAM), Rogers is also notorious for his heated exchanges with Reyner Banham on the subject of neo-Liberty, famously played out on the pages of the magazine Casabella-continuità, which Rogers edited between 1953 and 1965. Yet, despite this very public role, and despite his powerful influence on more prominent figures such as Aldo Rossi and Robert Venturi, Rogers remains relatively unrecognised in the historiography of twentieth-century architecture.

The Hero of Doubt addresses this oversight by making a collection of his writings available for the first time to an English-speaking audience. The selected texts, drawn from different moments of Rogers’ life, are accompanied by a biographical note written by myself and a critical essay by the distinguished scholar Joan Ockman, together with a number of archival drawings and photographs.

The project has been awarded a Publication Grant by the Graham Foundation as well as a Research Publications Fellowships by the Architectural Association.


Architects After Architecture: Alternative Pathways for Practice

Harriet Harriss, Rory Hyde, Roberta Marcaccio (eds.) Routledge, 2020

The book reflects on emerging modes of practice by tracing the broader applicability of architectural thinking beyond the act of making buildings and towards addressing the multiple systemic crises of our time: from the climate emergency to extreme social inequality.
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AD The Business of Research: Knowledge and Learning Redefined in Architectural Practice

Deborah Saunt, Tom Greenall, Roberta Marcaccio (eds.) Architectural Design, Wiley, 2019

This issue of AD looks at the emerging landscape of practice-based architectural research: a mode of working which is destabilising the separation between academia and practice, demanding a new definition of the term ‘research’, one that is relevant to both parties.

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