Not Existentialist, but Existential. Leonardo Ricci and the Philosophical thought of Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus and Enzo Paci
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2611-0075/14283Keywords:
Existentialism, Enzo Paci, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, AestheticAbstract
Was Ricci actually an ‘existentialist architect’? And if so, was he existentialist ‘in the manner of whom’? Was his thinking influenced by the phenomenological approach? And in particular, how and why his research dealt with the key theme of the ‘architectural form’?
This essay focuses specifically on Ricci’s theoretical attitude, with the aim to contextualize it in its contemporary philosophical currents. His writings are compared with some of the most important texts of French existentialism, that influenced him during his stay in Paris in the early fifties, in particular those of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, especially focusing on his idea of ‘the absurd’. In addition, a particular consideration is given to the affinities between the thought of Ricci and that of Enzo Paci, the Italian philosopher who, perhaps more than any other at that moment, dealt with the themes of architecture in his articles published on the magazine Casabella-Continuità: Paci’s ‘positive existentialism’ develops concepts such as ‘relationality of experience’, ‘permanence and emergence of forms’ and considers architecture as a ‘relational field’ continuously mutable in a temporal evolvement. Those ideas are particularly relevant if confronted with Ricci’s way of looking at the architectural form as a consequence of the ‘potential for vitality’ inherent within the object designed, that should respond to the basic needs, or acts, of the users, which must be re-examined case by case to understand the ‘existential’ reasons of the project.
The analysis of those theoretic themes, if considered in addition to the exceptional results of Ricci’s architectural practice, seem to give other compelling grounds for his reinstatement as a central figure in the architectural context after Second World War, and precisely in the present moment, when a re-foundation of the architectural discipline is needed as a consequence of environmental and social urgency.
Downloads
References
Abbagnano, Nicola. Esistenzialismo positivo. Turin: Taylor, 1948.
Abbagnano, Nicola. Introduzione all’esistenzialismo. Milan: Il Saggiatore, 1972.
Bartolozzi, Giovanni. Leonardo Ricci: nuovi modelli urbani. Macerata: Quodlibet, 2013.
Bartolozzi, Giovanni. Leonardo Ricci: lo spazio inseguito. Turin: Testo & immagine, 2004.
Bartolozzi, Giovanni. “‘Anonimo del XX secolo’: la forte spinta etica di Leonardo Ricci.” Parametro, no. 267 (2007): 84.
Camus, Albert. L'Homme révolté. Paris: Gallimard, 1951. English edition, The Rebel. New York: Knopf, 1954.
Camus, Albert. La peste. Paris: Gallimard, 1947. English edition, The plague. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1948.
Camus, Albert. Le Mythe de Sisyphe. Paris: Gallimard, 1942. English edition, The Myth of Sisyphus. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1955.
Conforti, Claudia. “Recensione a Leonardo Ricci 100. Scrittura, pittura e architettura. 100 note a margine dell’ Anonimo del XX secolo.” Bollettino d’arte, no. 39-40 (2018): 279-286.
Dorfles, Gillo. “A Monterinaldi presso Firenze,” Domus, no. 337 (December 1957).
Eco, Umberto. La struttura assente. Milan: Bompiani, 1968.
Ghia, Maria Clara. Architecture as a living act. San Francisco: Oro Editions, 2022.
Ghia, Maria Clara. La nostra città è tutta la terra. Leonardo Ricci architetto (1918-1994). Wuppertal: Steinhäuser Verlag, 2021.
Ghia, Maria Clara. Basta Esistere. Leonardo Ricci, il pensiero e i progetti per le comunità. Rome: Fondazione Bruno Zevi, 2012.
Ghia, Maria Clara. Prescrivere Liberare. Saggio su ethos e architettura. Rome: Officina, 2013.
Ghia, Maria Clara. “In occasione di un Centenario. Leonardo Ricci, dai primi progetti del dopoguerra all’exploit di casa Balmain.” Quaderni dell’Istituto di Storia dell’Architettura, no. 71 (2019): 49-68.
Ghia, Maria Clara, Ricci, Clementina, Dattilo, Ugo. Leonardo Ricci 100. Scrittura, pittura, architettura. 100 note a margine dell’Anonimo del XX Secolo. Florence: Dida Press, 2019. Catalogue for the exhibition at the refectory of Santa Maria Novella, April 12–May 26, 2019.
Greco, Antonella, Ghia, Maria Clara. Leonardo Ricci. Monterinaldi, Balmain, Mann Borgese. Rome: Palombi, 2012.
Husserl, Edmund. Deen zu einer reinen Phänomenologie und phänomenologischen Philosophie Halle: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1913. English edition, Ideas: General Introduction to Pure Phenomenology. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1982.
Koenig, Giovanni Klaus. Analisi del linguaggio architettonico. Florence: Libreria Editrice Fiorentina, 1964.
Paci, Enzo. “Entropia e informazione,” Aut aut, no. 79-80 (1964).
Paci, Enzo. “L’architettura e il mondo della vita,” Casabella-Continuità, no. 217 (November-December 1957): 53-59.
Paci, Enzo. La struttura dell’esistenza. Turin: Paravia, 1939.
Paci, Enzo. Esistenzialismo positivo. Turin: Taylor, 1948.
Paci, Enzo. Introduzione all’esistenzialismo. Milan: Il Saggiatore, 1972.
Paci, Enzo. “Problematica dell’architettura contemporanea,” Casabella-Continuità, no. 209 (January-February 1956): 41-46.
Paci, Enzo. “Il significato dell’irreversibile,” Aut aut, no. 1 (1951): 11-17.
Paci, Enzo. “Umanesimo e tecnica,” Aut aut, no. 2 (1951): 149-150.
Piccardo, Emanuele. Leonardo Ricci. Fare Comunità. Busalla: Plug-in, 2019.
Ponti, Gio. “Nascita di un villaggio per una nuova comunità in Sicilia.” Domus, no. 409 (1963): 5-13.
Ricci, Leonardo. Anonymous (20th Century). New York: Braziller, 1962. Italian edition, Anonimo del XX Secolo. Milan: Il Saggiatore, 1965.
Ricci, Leonardo. “Ricerche per una città non alienata.” Linea-Struttura, Rassegna Trimestrale Di Architettura Arti Visive Design, no. 1-2 (1967): 39-51.
Ricci, Leonardo. “Architetto: per quale società?” Casabella, no. 384 (1973): 2-3.
Ricci, Leonardo. “Prefazione.” In Lefebvre, Henri. La produzione dello spazio. Milan: Moizzi editore, 1976.
Ricci, Leonardo. “Confessione,” Architetti, no. 3 (1950): 29-32.
Ricci, Leonardo. “Space in architecture.” Journal of the University of Manchester Architectural and Planning Society, no. 224 (1956): 7-10.
Ricci, Leonardo. “Progetto per il villaggio Monte degli Ulivi a Riesi in Sicilia,” Edilizia Moderna, no. 82-83 (1963): 116-118.
Ricci, Leonardo. “Michelucci attraverso un suo lavoro,” Architetti, no. 18-19 (1953): 13-18.
Rogers, Ernesto Nathan. Esperienza dell’Architettura. Turin: Einaudi, 1958.
Rovatti, Pier Aldo (edited by), “Enzo Paci, architettura e filosofia,” Aut aut, no. 333 (January-March 2007).
Sartre, Jean-Paul. L'existentialisme est un humanisme. Paris: Les Editions Nagel, 1946. English edition, Existentialism is a humanism. London: Melthuen & co. 1948.
Sartre, Jean-Paul. L’être et le néant. Essai d'ontologie phénoménologique. Paris: Gallimard, 1943. English edition, Being and Nothingness. An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology. New York: Philosophical Library, 1956.
Sartre, Jean-Paul. La nauseé. Paris: Gallimard, 1938. English edition, Nausea. New York: New Direction Publishing Corporation, 1964.
Vasić Vatovec, Corinna. Leonardo Ricci: architetto “esistenzialista.”. Florence: Edifir, 2005.
Vinca Masini, Lara. Leonardo Ricci. Progetti di un’architettura per l’uomo del futuro. Pistoia: Gli Ori, 2019.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Maria Clara Ghia
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
