Alessandro Poli fonds

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Part of

• Fonds: Alessandro Poli fonds, 1963-1996

People

• Alessandro Poli (archive creator)

Title

Alessandro Poli fonds

Dates of creation

1963-1996

Form

• archives

Level of archival description

Fonds

Extent and Medium

• 471 drawings (including approximately 12 reprographic copies)
• Approximately 57 artefacts
• 0.3 l.m. of textual records
• 33 photographic materials
• 8 sketchbooks
• 7 publications
• 6 models
• 2 posters

Scope and Content

The Alessandro Poli fonds documents Poli's work as an architect and designer. The fonds contains materials related to projects that he created while studying architecture, and also in the context of his work with Superstudio as well as personal projects, between the early 1960s to the mid 1990s. The fonds includes conceptual and artistic projects, such as the project "Architettura Interplanetaria (1970-1971)" [See AP148.S1.1970.PR02] with Superstudio and Poli's project "Zeno, une cultura autosufficiente (1972 to 1980)" [See AP148.S1.1972.PR01]. Material from both projects were exhibited at the Canadien Centre for Architecture in the exhibition "Other Space Odysseys: Greg Lynn, Michael Maltzan, Alessandro Poli" in 2010. The archive also includes material from competition entries and architectural projects, mainly in Italy as well as some of Alessandro Poli's designs for furniture.

The fonds includes drawings, predominantly conceptual and design development drawings, as well as sketchbooks of Poli's study sketches for various projects, and some presentation panels. The archive also contains photographic materials, such as photomontages, and textual records, as well as storyboards, notebooks, project documentation and some publications on Alessandro Poli's work or regarding his involment in Superstudio. Various artefacts are also part of the material, predominantly related to the project "Zeno, une cultura autosufficiente", showing Poli's attempt to document Zeno's way of life through everyday objects. Finally the fonds contains models, some of them from Poli's student project "Piper (1966-1967)" [AP148.S1.1966.PR01] or models for Poli's furniture designs.

Reference Number

AP148

Arrangement

Material in this fonds was arranged by the creator and has been kept in its original order, except where material has been physically stored separately for preservation purposes. The fonds is arranged in two series: the first series (AP148.S1) documents Poli's architectural projects, as a student, during his work with Superstudio, and his own projects. The second series (AP148.S2) groups various documentation, drawings, and sketches by Poli.

Biographical notes

Alessandro Poli was born in 1941 in Fiesole, Italy. He studied architecture at the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Florence with Leonardo Savioli, and obtained a Master of Architecture degree in 1970. From 1970 to 1972 he was part of the Italian radical architecture group Superstudio (with Adolfo Natalini, Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, Roberto Magris, Gian Piero Frassinelli, and Alessandro Magris), and continued to collaborate with the group on projects through the 1970s. In 1972 he participated with Superstudio in the exhibition “Italy: The New Domestic Landscape” at the Museum of Modern Art. From 1973 to 1982 he taught at the Faculty of Architecture in Florence, focusing in 1974-1980 on the research for Cultura materiale extraurbana, a project that was presented at the 38th Venice Biennale (1978) with Superstudio. Poli started his own architecture practice in 1973, and founded the firm Poli Sgaravatti in the 1980s with partners Mariella Sgaravatti and Irene Bartolozzi. Poli’s later research and design interests include exhibition design and contemporary art jewelry.

Conditions governing access

• Access by appointment only.

Conditions governing reproduction

• For copyright information or permission to reproduce material from the collection, please contact the CCA (reproductions@cca.qc.ca).

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

• Gift of Alessandro Poli on June 30, 2011 and January 18, 2016.

Custodial history

The fonds was acquired by the Canadian Centre for Architecture from Alessandro Poli in two accessions. The first accession in 2011, was made in the context of the CCA exhibition "Other Space Odysseys: Greg Lynn, Michael Maltzan, Alessandro Poli" presented in 2010, which exhibited some of Poli's materials. The latest addition to the fonds was made in 2016, also from Alessandro Poli.

Archivist's note

• The first two accessions of the fonds, which included Alessandro Poli's three earliest projects, were processed in 2012 by Leanne Arnison. The addition of 2016, and the bulk of the fonds, was procesed in August and September 2016 by Pamela Casey. The finding aid was created by Pamela Casey and Catherine Jacob. The rehousing of the material was completed by Catherine Jacob in October 2016.

Credit line

When citing the collection as a whole, use the citation:
Alessandro Poli fonds
Collection Centre Canadien d'Architecture/
Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal;
Don de Alessandro Poli/ Gift of Alessandro Poli.
When citing specific collection material, please refer to the object’s specific credit line.

Other finding aids

• The finding aid is in English.