ALDO ROSSI AND THE TRAGIC VIEW OF ARCHITECTURE

摘要

Aldo Rossi is in the midst of a throng of over-excited design journalists. He is the star attraction of Alessi's newly opened Milan shop, a striking confection of acid colours and patterned laminates from Sottsass Associati. He is here to launch his new wrist-watch, a departure for Alessi, which has hitherto confined itself to tableware and kettles by the architectural glitterati. The watch itself has the dignified simplicity that one would expect from Rossi - antique-looking arabic numerals, an enamelled face, polished-steel case - qualities which, paradoxically, are guaranteed to turn it into a sought-after status symbol, indicating heavy design credibility: a badge of recognition between aficionados, and, to judge by all those unlikely looking kettles that Alessi makes too, eventually perhaps a design cliche through over-intensive use.