Armando Brasini

Armando Brasini (Rome, 21 September 1879 - Rome, 18 February 1965) was a prominent Italian architect and urban designer of the early twentieth century and exemplar of Fascist architecture. His work is notable for its eclectic and visionary style inspired by Ancient Roman architecture, Italian Baroque architecture and Giovanni Battista Piranesi.

Biography

Armando Stefano Ludovico Brasini was born in the Roman district of Tor di Nona from a family of modest background, the son of Augusto Brasini and Rosa Piersigilli. After having successfully attended the Institute of Fine Arts, he started specializing in renovation of old buildings and interior decoration. In 1897-1898 he worked with on the renovation of the Castello Orsini-Odescalchi in Bracciano for its owner, Prince . In the early 1900s he worked on the decoration of the Roman churches of Santa Teresa and San Camillo de Lellis, both with , and on stucco work in . In 1912, he teamed with Marcello Piacentini for the winning entry in a competition for the remodeling of Piazza Navona, which was, however, not implemented. In those years he operated from a spacious office in in the center of Rome. In 1917 he created stucco decoration in the Palazzo Chigi following its purchase by the Italian state. Immediately after World War I he proposed a colossal memorial to the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, featured a cascade flanked by giant statues, that would have been carved on the nearby Pizzocco mountain. In the early 1920s he worked with Giuseppe Volpi, then Governor of Tripolitania, on the remodeling of Tripoli. There he designed the Savings Bank Building (, now the country's central bank), the waterfront boulevard (, now Ad-dahra Al-kebira), the renovation of the Red Castle, and the memorial to the Italian conquest . In 1925-1926, he also produced the first master plan for the expansion of Tirana, where Italian influence was significant at the time. That plan was partly implemented, and elements of Brasini's design still exist in the layout of Skanderbeg Square and in the city's major north–south axis, now Dëshmorët e Kombit Boulevard. In 1929 he was appointed a member of the newly created Royal Academy of Italy.

Brasini also designed sets and costumes for silent movies, including Theodora (1921) and Quo Vadis (1924).

Brasini had a lifelong interest in urban design. In 1925–27, he conceived a project for a remodeling of Rome's center dubbed the "Mussolini Forum" which would have entailed the demolition of much of the Campo Marzio, leaving the ancient monuments (Pantheon, Column of Marcus Aurelius, Obelisk of Montecitorio) standing alone in large urban spaces. Brasini's emphasis on facilitating car traffic at the cost of the old city fabric has elicited comparisons with Le Corbusier's 1925 Plan Voisin for Paris, despite the obvious stylistic difference. In 1927, he was commissioned by the Ministry of Public Education to design a master plan for the Flaminio neighborhood, on which he had already worked in 1915. In 1931, he participated in the committee for a new city plan of Rome , and in 1934 he was a member of the jury for the project that would have faced the Basilica of Maxentius across the (now Via dei Fori Imperiali).

Works

Villa Toeplitz in Varese (1901) Monumental entrance to the Zoological Garden in Rome (1909-1911) Villino Tabacchi, Rome (1912), demolished Villa Flaminia (Via Flaminia 495), part of the Villa Brasini complex (1920-1925) Headquarters of the Savings Bank of Tripolitania, Tripoli (1921-1935), now Central Bank of Libya , now near Naples (1925-1930), partly destroyed during World War II Villa Manzoni on via Cassia in Rome (1928) INAIL building, Via IV Novembre in Rome (with Guido Zevi, 1928–1932) in Foggia, now City Hall (1928-1933) , now seat of the Province of Taranto (1929-1934) in Rome (1929-1934) Italian Pavilion at the Paris Colonial Exposition (1931), a smaller-scale reinterpretation of the Severan Basilica in Leptis Magna, demolished after the event's end Villa Augusta (Via Flaminia 489), also known as the ("ugly castle") for its eclectic style, part of the Villa Brasini complex (1932-35) in Naples (1933-38) Ponte Flaminio in Rome (1939-51)

Gallery

Honors Member of the Royal Academy of Italy, 1929 Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy Knight of Magistral Grace of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta