The Formal Basis of Melbourne Brutalist Architecture

In 1963 Peter Eisenman submitted his PhD thesis consisting of 600 analytical drawings primarily focusing on studies of GiuseppeTerragni’s 1932 Casa del Fascio in Como, Italy. The thesis has generated various responses over time, but significant criticism from Diane Ghirardo, a renowned scholar in Fascist Architecture, suggesting that Eisenman analyses the form of the building unrealistically detached from its political context of Fascism. In 1994 and 1995 in Progressive Architecture magazine, a discourse unfolded regarding this issue involving the opinions of around 20 prominent architects and scholars including Elizabeth Diller, Rem Koolhaas and Bernard Tschumi in defence of the validity and inclusiveness inherent in the analysis of form.

This Studies Unit will investigate Terragni’s Casa del Fascio learning from Eisenman’s thesis and the ensuing discourse surrounding it. Students will each individually select a local Melbourne example of Civic Brutalist architecture, undertaking a critical analysis through drawn modelling initiated from studies of form to fundamentally understand the core contextual architectural characteristics and qualities. This Studies Unit is available only to masters students and is paired with the Design Studio titled “Brutal: Brutalism, Italian Fascism, and civic architecture in Melbourne.”