Isidoro Pennisi on the Epistemological Crisis of Architecture

Isidoro Pennisi argues that architecture faces a deep epistemological crisis, where the very concept of 'project' has lost its meaning. He critiques the debate over Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara and the Genoa bridge controversy as symptoms of a broader misunderstanding of what it means to build. Pennisi contends that architecture has been voluntarily enlisted into the realm of art and representation, abandoning its role in shaping reality and culture. He calls for a 'retroguardia' (rearguard) rather than an avant-garde, to defend architecture's cultural and professional repositioning. The essay references Vittorio Sgarbi, Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi, and Gianluca Peluffo, and touches on the tension between conservation and transformation. Pennisi, born in Catania in 1962, has lived in Puglia and Calabria.