The story of Open Project is, in my opinion, particularly interesting because it debunks two myths that Italian humanistic culture jealously guards.
The first is that a specific vocation is needed to create a good architectural collective; Open Project, on the other hand, was founded on the initiative of two engineers, one mechanical and one civil.
The two certainly share a love of good construction, but their main intention is to do business and, in fact, their first projects were in the restaurant and shopping centre sectors.
The second myth is that architecture must be authorial, possibly linked to the vision of a single person, as is the case with Zaha Hadid, Renzo Piano, Frank O. Gehry, or in any case a small group that shares the same poetic vision, such as Herzog & de Meuron or MVRDV.
Open Project, on the other hand, is an engineering company and is not characterised by a pre-established formal choice, but focuses on a variety of contributions that negotiate the best solution on a case-by-case basis.
Perhaps no better title could have been chosen for the monograph celebrating 40 years of activity: Imagine, Design, Build, where imagining and designing are aimed at realisation. Yet Open Project, since its establishment in 1984, has been an important point of reference, especially in the Bologna area where it is based.
It is characterised by its focus on technology and, I would say, its faith in modernity, as expressed by the words “open” and “project”, connoting an attitude of openness and continuity.
Hence its rejection of arbitrariness in favour of technology that is never exaggerated or muscular but nevertheless goes against the grain of the historicism of the culture of conservation that has its capital in Bologna. Faith in modernity, in the sense of attention to functionality, economy and, today, to ecological and energy aspects, avoiding the vernacular or romantic solutions and aiming for buildings that refer, in fact, to the tradition of the modern, such as the fruit and vegetable market in Genoa, the Unipol tower in Bologna, the student residence in Via Gramsci in Bologna or the recent restorations, including the remarkable one between Porta Lame and Porta San Felice, also in Bologna, for the new headquarters of Open Project.
Edited by Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi