CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The art of architecture takes center stage next month in two new exhibitions at I space, the Chicago gallery of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
On view Dec. 2 through Jan. 20: “Vivere l’Architettura/Living Architecture: The Architecture of Durisch + Nolli” features new works by the husband-and-wife architectural team Pia Durisch and Aldo Nolli. They are from Switzerland’s Ticino region, which produced a number of innovative modernist architects who captured the imagination of international critics during the second half of the 20th century.
The I space exhibition, curated by UIUC architecture professor Rebecca Williamson, was designed to explore continuities and discontinuities in recent Ticino architecture. It includes a new installation of eight “luminous bodies” — floating walls of translucent materials lit from within; models; large-format images; and the architects’ sketchbooks.
“In furniture, urban design, historic preservation and new residential and institutional buildings, their [Durisch and Nolli’s] work embodies the rigorous craftsmanship and sensitivity to environmental context of the Ticinese tradition,” Williamson said. “It is at the same time informed by outside influences, most notably the expressive ambition of Santiago Calatrava, with whom both worked during the 1980s.”
A catalog, with essays by Williamson, Durisch and Nolli, and architectural historian Mercedes Daguerre, accompanies the exhibition.
For information about its availability, contact Williamson at rwillmsn@illinois.edu, or the UIUC Building Research Council, (217) 333-1801.
An opening reception for is scheduled for 3 to 5 p.m. Dec. 2 at the gallery, 230 W. Superior St., Chicago.
In conjunction with the I space exhibition, Durisch and Nolli will visit the Urbana campus Dec. 4 to present the annual Max Abramovitz Distinguished Lecture at 7 p.m. in the Plym Auditorium of Temple Hoyne Buell Hall, 611 E. Lorado Taft Drive, Champaign.
Also opening Dec. 2 at I space is “Tall Buildings Case Studies: UIUC School of Architecture,” on view through Dec. 30. The show will feature a selection drawings and models by students in architecture professor Paul Armstrong’s Architecture 171 design studio.
I space gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
