Pietro Porcinai: A Modernist Landscape Architect

The first comprehensive monograph, created in collaboration with the Porcinai archive, on one of the most influential landscape architects of the twentieth century

An unsung Modernist hero, throughout his career, Pietro Porcinai designed a diverse array of projects, from private gardens and public parks to hotels, cemeteries, and museums. Often working with notable architects, such as Carlo Scarpa, Oscar Niemeyer, and Piano + Rogers, he designed the gardens for notable buildings such as the Brion Cemetery, the headquarters of Mondadori in Milan, Cà Gianin, Al Roc for the Zegna family, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, as well as the swimming pool and garden of the Hotel des Bains in Venice and the joyful Pinocchio Park in Collodi, Italy.

Despite this success and his high standing within the architectural community, very little has been written about Porcinai outside of his native Italy. This much needed monograph provides the definitive account of Porcinai’s prolific career, in which architect and author Pierluigi Serraino explores the garden designer’s early life, his relationship with architectural masters, as well as his writings and influence on post-war landscape design.

Produced in close collaboration with the Porcinai archive, this fascinating book is illustrated with more than 100 of his original drawings and sketches, each photographed exclusively for this book and many of which have never been published before. Archival and contemporary photography and ephemera give context to key projects, providing unprecedented insight into the life and career of Pietro Porcinai, a hero of Modernist landscape design, whose ideas were often ahead of their time and many of which have since become central to contemporary ecological and sustainable design.

An essential resource for contemporary garden designers and landscape architects, this timely book will also appeal to all those interested in Italian design, architecture, and the natural environment.

• Format: Hardback
• Dimensions: 290mm x 250mm
• Pages: 248
• Brand: Phaidon
• ISBN: 9781837293735