True, false or ordered? Some architectures to think about reconstruction

Abstract

This paper enters into the debate between historicists and modernists of the third millennium, hopefully with logical and reasonable considerations. The starting point is the observation that the deterioration of the historic heritage, due to exceptional events or natural decay, leads to the common desire to reconstruct “à l’identique”, that is rebuilding as it was before. However, this desire faces the fear to reproduce unacceptable fake buildings. Our goal is to reflect about the process of reconstruction and emphasize the importance of the final aesthetical values (venustas), pointing out their common supremacy on historical truth. Considering the present western culture, defined as liquid, or even vaporized, our motivated opinion is that in architecture it is still possible to search for order. The paper stresses the significance of placing new constructions into their context, observing that there is no order without context, and no context without historic fake. Three case studies in the area of Bologna are reported: the reconstruction “a l’identique” of a medieval portico over the centuries, the recent reconstruction of some urban blocks and a new proposal for the reconstruction of a church that was recently destroyed by an earthquake.