The exchange between Italian and US architecture in the post-war years has been characterized by a continuous shifting in intensity and quality of interest. If, on the Italian side, American architecture was initially presented by some observers as a synonym of democracy, at the beginning of the 1960s it began to be regarded in a more depoliticised way. Conversely, on the American side Italian architecture was interpreted as an example of alternative to modernism. In both cases, these reciprocal attentions were often distorted and oversimplified. The aim of this presentation is to analyze the forms of exchange between Italian and American architectural cultures, the protagonists of this exchange, and the reasons of the above mentioned distortions and simplifications.

Paolo Scrivano teaches at the University of Toronto. He graduated at the Politecnico di Torino in 1992 and received a Ph.D. in History of Architecture from the same university in 1997. Between 1997 and 2001 he has taught at the Politecnico di Milano. Most recent publications and activities include “Storia di un’idea di architettura moderna Henry-Russell Hitchcock e l’International Style” (Milan 2001), “Olivetti Builds. Modern Architecture in Ivrea” (Milan 2001), and the organization of the exhibition “Building the Human City. Adriano Olivetti and Town-planning” (Milan Triennale, 2002).

Paolo Scrivano was a Visiting Scholar at the CCA in 2002.