Franco Purini: From Rigid Postmodernist to Accommodating Critic

Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi offers a personal and critical retrospective on architect Franco Purini, tracing his evolution from an intransigent defender of postmodern architecture to a more inclusive figure. Puglisi recounts a 30-year-old dispute where Purini dismissed Renzo Piano and Herman Hertzberger as non-architects, and later clashes over Corviale and the Guggenheim Bilbao. Purini's early works—the Casa del Farmacista (1980-1989) and the Piazza system (1982-1990) in Gibellina—are described as rigid and intellectualistic, with the latter criticized for its lifeless, oversized spaces. Over time, Purini softened his stance, praising even former adversaries like Piano and Mario Bellini, and taking on less ideologically charged projects like the Eurosky tower in Rome, which Puglisi calls the tallest and most ungainly residential building in Rome. Despite Purini's skill as a draftsman and his role as a generous professor, Puglisi argues his architecture lacks lightness and remains burdened by a heavy formalism. The article also notes Purini's shift toward inclusivity, contrasting the Casa del Farmacista with the earlier Centre Pompidou, and his attempt to emulate Marcello Piacentini's political maneuvering. Puglisi identifies three salvageable aspects: early engagement with territorial scale, the link between theory and design, and dedicated teaching. The piece concludes with a speculative hypothesis of a more avant-garde Purini suppressed by his partner Laura Thermes.