The reception of Walter Benjamin's ideas in the works of Manfredo Tafuri and their influence on Italian architectural design (1968-1976)

Between the late 1960s and the mid-1970s, the architect, historian, and architectural theorist Manfredo Tafuri (1935-1994) developed a controversial interpretation of modern architecture that had a decisive influence on the field of Italian architectural design. Proof of this is the fact that the proposals of some of the most influential architects of that time, such as Aldo Rossi or the Archizoom group, can only be fully understood if they are considered in relation to the theoretical dilemmas posed by Tafuri. To support his interpretation of modern architecture, Tafuri based himself on some of the ideas of the German critic and thinker Walter Benjamin (1892-1940), such as the “decay of the aura” or the “experience of shock”. The hypothesis put forward in this research is that Benjamin’s ideas, intermingled with those of Tafuri, had a decisive effect on the course taken by architectural discourse at that important historical moment. For this reason, the aim of this research is to analyze the role played by Benjamin’s ideas in Tafuri’s interpretation of modern architecture, as well as the influence that this interpretation exerted on the field of Italian architectural design. To achieve this objective, the “radical critique” stage is analysed, that period of Tafuri’s career between 1968 and 1976. On the one hand, because it was the period in which Tafuri produced the works that had the greatest influence on the field of architectural design. On the other, because it was the period in which the influence of Benjamin’s ideas was most decisive for Tafuri. To carry out this analysis, first, the reception of Benjamin’s ideas in Tafuri’s works is studied, identifying which were the most important, how Tafuri interpreted those ideas and how he applied them in the architectural field. The focus is on analyzing the works in which Tafuri laid the foundations of his interpretation of modern architecture: Teorie e storia dell’architettura (1968) and Progetto e utopia (1969-1973). Secondly, the influence that Tafuri’s “radical critique” exerted on some of the most representative architects of the Italian architectural scene in the early seventies is analysed; both on the groups of the Architettura radicale (Archizoom, Superstudio) and on the architects of La Tendenza (Rossi, Scolari). The results of the analysis are contrasted with current knowledge of Benjamin’s work. In this way it is possible to assess Tafuri’s “radical critique” in terms of its theoretical foundations, its influence in the field of Italian architectural design, as well as the response given by architects to this critique. By situating the “decay of the aura” as the central problem of modern architecture, Tafuri was able to distinguish two main attitudes towards this problem. On the one hand, those who were in favor of the “destruction” of the architectural object as an auratic object. In the avant-gardes this “liquidationist” attitude would be represented by architects such as Hilberseimer, May or Meyer (Neue Sachlichkeit), and in the neo-avant-gardes by groups such as Archizoom (Architettura radicale). On the other hand, there was the attitude of those who favored the “restoration” of the architectural object as an auratic object. In the avant-gardes this “conservative” attitude would be represented by architects such as Scharoun, Häring or Poelzig (Expressionismus), and in the neo-avant-gardes by architects such as Stirling, Rossi, or Eisenman (Tendenza, Autonomy). According to the approach adopted, it could be said that —in the field of Italian architectural design in the early seventies—, Archizoom’s No-Stop City (1969-1971) would be the most refined expression of the “liquidationist moment” of avant-garde architecture, while Rossi’s La città análoga (1969-1976) would be the expression closest to its “conservative moment”. But it is important to point out that, in both proposals, the constitutive “ambivalence” that characterizes the most paradigmatic works of avant-garde architecture is dissociated. That “polarity” —caused by the simultaneous coexistence of two forces of opposite sign— which Benjamin managed to capture in such a sophisticated way in his notion of the “decay of the aura”.