André Corboz retrospective at Teatro dell’Architettura in Mendrisio

The Teatro dell’Architettura in Mendrisio, located on the USI university campus, presents 'Il territorio come palinsesto', a retrospective dedicated to André Corboz (Geneva, 1928 – Collonge-Bellerive, 2012). The exhibition explores the multifaceted legacy of the Swiss-born scholar, who trained as a jurist before working as a translator, journalist, poet, and eventually an architectural historian. Corboz taught at the Université du Québec in the 1970s and at ETH Zurich in the 1980s, and earned a PhD on Canaletto’s Enlightenment-era views of Venice. The show, curated by a team from the Accademia di Architettura, is structured as an 'intellectual laboratory' across two floors of Mario Botta’s building. Thematic tables display urban planning projects, studies of the US topographic grid, analyses of Switzerland’s dispersed city, and landscape readings. The ground floor features a photographic panorama of Corboz’s travels. Archival materials highlight his connections to Bruno Zevi, Canaletto, Venice, and Andrea Palladio. A companion website (andrecorboz.usi.ch) chronologically presents his photographs, bibliography, and research themes. The exhibition aims to present Corboz as an interdisciplinary nomad whose concept of territory as palimpsest remains relevant for contemporary challenges.