With the passing of architect Paolo Portoghesi yesterday at his home in Calcata, in the province of Viterbo, Italian architecture is losing one of its main representatives. Portoghesi was 92 years old. A university lecturer and internationally renowned designer, Portoghesi was the leading exponent of Postmodernism in Italy. His work ran parallel on the sides of historical research and architectural design, aiming to reintegrate collective memory into the tradition of modern architecture. His best-known works include the Mosque and Islamic Cultural Center in Rome (1984-95) and the Renaissance Quarter in Talenti Park in Rome (2001). Portoghesi taught History of Criticism from 1962 to 1966 at the University of Rome "La Sapienza", from 1967 to 1977 he was Professor of History of Architecture at the Milan Polytechnic, of which he was Dean from 1968 to 1976. Since 1995, he has taught Design at the Faculty of Architecture of "La Sapienza" University of Rome, where he was Professor Emeritus. He directed the Architecture section of the Venice Biennale (1979-82), of which he was also President (1983-93). In the last three decades Portoghesi has also been one of the leading theorists of "geoarchitecture", a discipline, in his words, "seeking to correct the architecture-nature relationship on the basis of a new alliance".
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