BERLIN.- The exhibition Aldo Rossi. Insulae at the Museum of Architectural Drawing, shown in collaboration with the Fondazione Aldo Rossi in Milan, presents over 110 graphic works and drawings by the renowned Italian architect Aldo Rossi (1931–1997), the majority of which are being shown publicly for the first time.

The title is taken from a series of Rossi's drawings shown in the exhibition from a Latin word insula referring to a separately standing house, a method of construction that Rossi often incorporated in his architecture. The exhibition consists of three parts: “Corpus Mediolanensis”, “Insula” and “Works for Berlin”. These three “insulae” seek to show Rossi’s unmistakable signature, including his sense of forms and geometry, his historical references, the influence of antiquity on his work and his frequent poetic references to both architecture and art.

An introduction to the architect's graphic work is provided by the exhibits in the “Corpus Mediolanensis”; consisting of coloured and re-drawn single-prints that Rossi made between 1986 and 1987. With other historical works, they present a survey of 30 years of his architecture and design, with references to more personal aspects of his poetics.

A special role in Rossi's oeuvre is played by “Insula”, a series of drawings inspired by models from antiquity and their reinterpretation by Baroque artists such as Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Claude Lorrain. In complete contrast to the zeitgeist of the 1970s, which animated architects and artists to create a better architecture or even a better society by breaking with the past, Rossi found his models in the buildings of earlier centuries. On this basis, he developed his own architectural language

marked by the characteristic geometrical forms which have been found in architecture since ancient times, such as triangles and cylinders, and which Rossi re-interpreted in his work.

In addition to his native Italy, Berlin played an important part in his career: Rossi designed unique projects for the German capital. Some of these, like the Schützenstraße Quarter, were realised, while others, such as the project for the German Historical Museum, remained on paper.

A catalogue of the exhibition will be published.