The 1960s and the 1970s marked a generational shift in architectural discourse at a time when the revolts inside universities condemned the academic institution as a major force behind the perpetuation of a controlling society. Focusing on the crisis and reform of higher education in Italy, The University as a Settlement Principle investigates how university design became a lens for architects to interpret a complex historical moment that was marked by the construction of an unprecedented number of new campuses worldwide.

Implicitly drawing parallels with the contemporary condition of the university under a regime of knowledge commodification, it reviews the vision proposed by architects such as Vittorio Gregotti, Giuseppe Samona, Archizoom, Giancarlo De Carlo, and Guido Canella, among others, to challenge the university as a bureaucratic and self-contained entity, and defend, instead, the role of higher education as an agent for restructuring vast territories. Through their projects, the book discusses a most fertile and heroic moment of Italian architectural discourse and argues for a reconsideration of architecture's obligation to question the status quo.

This work will be of interest to postgraduate researchers and academics in architectural theory and history, campus design, planning theory, and history.

About the Author

Francesco Zuddas is Senior Lecturer in Architecture at Anglia Ruskin University, UK.

Reviews

"Weaving together, architecture, urbanism, and the design of higher education in Italy during the 1960s and 1970s, Francesco Zuddas's The University as a Settlement Principle rejects the binary of "city and campus" arguing instead for an understanding of knowledge production as a territorial imperative. His tale of late-modern attempts at the reform of higher education and urban design are instructive for today's attempts to imbricate spaces of learning within the design of the contemporary city." - Sharon Haar, University of Michigan, USA

"Zuddas' book is an excellent examination of a little-known moment in campus design history... [It] does a commendable job of tying together developments in pedagogy broadly with the specifics of campus design as they manifested in his chosen cases." Excerpt from https://www.societyandspace.org/articles/the-university-as-a-settlement-principle-review - Bader AlBader, University of Michigan, USA

Book Information
ISBN 9781032089522
Author Francesco Zuddas
Format Paperback
Page Count 240
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 371g