Analogous City

This augmented reality application enhances the experience of Aldo Rossi's "The Analogous City," a 1976 Venice Biennale artwork by Rossi, Consolascio, Reichlin, and Reinhart. The app, used in conjunction with a reproduction of the artwork (available at http://archizoom.epfl.ch), overlays digital layers onto the physical piece, revealing the complete source material of the collage.

This interactive element is integral to the "Aldo Rossi - The window of the poet, Prints 1973-1997" exhibition at the Bonnefanten Museum (Maastricht), Archizoom EPFL (Lausanne), and GAMeC (Bergamo).

Purchasing the Archizoom-published map reproduction of "The Analogous City" allows users to replicate the exhibition's interactive experience anywhere. This map includes texts by Rossi, Reinhart, and Rodighiero.

"The Analogous City" (La Città Analoga) itself is conceived as a true urban design. Its components draw inspiration from diverse sources including Giovanni Battista Caporali's 1536 drawing of Vitruvius' city, Galileo Galilei's 1610 Pleiades Constellation drawing, Tanzio da Varallo's circa 1625 painting "David and Goliath," Francesco Borromini's 1638-1641 plan of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, the 1864 Dufour topographic map, Le Corbusier's 1954 plan for the Notre Dame du Haut chapel, and various architectural designs by Rossi and his collaborators.

As Aldo Rossi stated in Lotus International #13 (1976): "Between past and present, reality and imagination, the analogous city is perhaps simply the city to be designed day by day, tackling problems and overcoming them, with a reasonable certainty that things will ultimately be better."