“Architecture and Identity”, jointly organised by the Italian Consulate General and the PI-Philly (Italian Professionals in Philadelphia) association, with the participation of American and Italian “archi-stars” Peter Bohlin – designer of, among other things, the New York Apple Store’s glass cube, and Paolo Desideri, noted for Rome’s new Tiburtina railway station, took place over recent days in Philadelphia within the context of the events of the “Year of Italy in the USA”.
US and Italian architecture face off
A packed press conference (over 200 persons) was moderated by noted architecture critic Inga Saffron of the Philadelphia Inquirer. A brief welcome by the Italian Professionals, who acknowledged the Consulate General’s role in organizing the event and, more in general, in promoting Italian culture, was followed by an introduction by Director of the “Center for Italian Studies” of the University of Pennsylvania Fabio Finotti. The director underscored the distinctions between US and Italian architecture, and the way in which some features of each are a reflection of the history and identity of both cultures.
