Jeff Cody: New Building in Old Cities: Lessons for Sustainable New Design from an Early 20th Century Italian Master

Abstract

This lecture will center on the largely forgotten architectural work of Gustavo Giovannoni (1873–1947), who promoted a scientific approach to architectural restoration and rehabilitation based on the simultaneous consideration of the historical, technical, environmental, social, and aesthetic dimensions of "monuments" and ordinary buildings. From his base in Rome, Giovannoni urged the education of the "complete architect" — or the "architetto integrale" — who would be multidisciplinary, practical designers capable of advancing an integrated vision of the city in all its spatial and temporal dimensions. I have recently coedited and published the first English-language translations of several of Giovannoni's most significant writings, which provide many crucial lessons about how to conserve and how to build anew to advance ideals of beauty, sustainability, and social justice. The lecture will be organized around key concepts in Giovannoni's conservation theory: the need for understanding all kinds of urban buildings, a respect for the physical and social context of architecture, a thinning out of the urban fabric (what he called "diradamento"); the grafting of the new upon the old (what he called "innesto"); and other conservation/rehabilitation treatments. Giovannoni's lessons pertain to many contemporary architectural and planning challenges here in Ithaca as well as in wider global contexts.

Biography

Jeff Cody was a Senior Project Specialist in the Buildings & Sites Department at the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles from 2004 until his retirement in early 2022. Trained as a historic preservation planner and an architectural historian (Cornell Ph.D., 1989), Jeff taught in the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation at Cornell University from 1989 to 1994 and in the Architecture Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1995 to 2004. In addition to New Building in Old Cities: Writings by Gustavo Giovannoni on Architectural and Urban Conservation (coedited with Steven W. Semes and Francesco Siravo, 2024) and several peer-reviewed journal articles, his publications include Building in China: Henry K. Murphy's 'Adaptive Architecture' (2001); Exporting American Architecture, 1870-2000 (2003); Chinese Architecture and the Beaux-Arts (coedited with Nancy Steinhardt and Tony Atkin, 2011); Brush & Shutter: Early Photography in China (coedited with Frances Terpak, 2011); and Historic Cities: Issues in Urban Conservation (coedited with Francesco Siravo, 2019).