Aldo Rossi's Internationalization: Fax, Disney, and the State

Sebastiano Fabbrini's book 'The State of Architecture: Aldo Rossi and the Tools of Internationalization' examines the architect's late-career shift from state patronage to global markets. Fabbrini, a postdoctoral fellow at IUAV Venice, focuses on Rossi's use of tools like the fax machine after opening a New York satellite office in 1986. The book argues that Rossi's work for Disney, following his 1990 Pritzker Prize, replaced his Communist Party card with an American Institute of Architects membership. Rossi's iconic Teatro del Mondo, first built for the 1980 Venice Biennale, was repeatedly reproduced, from tabletop games to a 2004 reconstruction in Genoa. The cover features a color-altered copy of the Modena cemetery plan, made for an international audience. Fabbrini's research was conducted in the US and Italy, drawing on Rossi's notebooks, now at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles.