As often happens, it is the comments, for better or for worse, that define an important part of the nature of this newspaper. They create debate and discussion, certainly sometimes starting from assumptions that are not completely correct, nor are they totally uninformed or in bad faith. But the greatness (despite the objective, sometimes moral limits) of the Internet lies precisely in this: “You say, I’ll answer you”. And people who would never have met (even luckily) come into contact. This is how it happens today too. The starting point? This beautiful interview by Paolo Annoni to the starchitect Joseph DiPasqualeComo celebrated throughout the world:
The article was followed by comments of various kinds, as mentioned, often out of focus with respect to the very meaning of the interview. This is the case of an intervention in particular, a serial commentator on ComoZero who often seems to enjoy sterile provocation more, the usual keyboard puss, than in the analysis of what he has read (assuming he has actually read) and/or objectively understood of the text. So he offered this to the audiences expertise (?!) on the architect’s work: “I’m very happy that that star architect remains in China causing damage rather than ruining the beautiful country that is Italy with that Simpsons donut.” So today Di Pasquale responded, again at the bottom of the article from some time ago, and he did it very well. Above all with grace and kindness, virtues that are now all too underestimated. And he did it too with great precision and intelligence:
I am truly honored by the comments that have been made about my building in China, and I decided to chime in to explain why. I would like to start by saying that each work must be seen in its context and therefore obviously I would never have designed a building like the Chinese one in a context other than the Chinese one, for example in Italy. my Italian projects demonstrate this. For the same reason it is wrong to apply Western cultural categories to a project that instead interprets local culture and traditions, in this case Chinese. The reality is that after ten years this building is loved and taken as an urban icon by a city of over twenty million people and is known throughout China (1.3 billion people).
However, I would like to report here some comments made on another work that has faced strong criticism but which over time has also become an icon of a great city:
1887 – The weekly magazine L’illustration, when the tower began to acquire its own physiognomy, thundered about the project, considering it «a lighthouse, a nail, a candelabra […] whose construction should never have been allowed, but which for the politicians who conceived the idea represents “the symbol of industrial civilization””.
On 14 February 1887, an angry letter was signed, published in the newspaper Les Temps and addressed to the Paris municipality official Adolphe Alphand, in which it was requested to immediately block the construction of that «ridiculous and dizzying tower which overlooks Paris like the gigantic chimney of any factory, crushing everything with its barbaric and sinister mass”
There was also a petition from men of culture: “We writers, painters, sculptors and architects, in the name of good taste and this threat to French history, come to express our profound indignation that this superfluous and monstrous Tower, which the ironic spirit of the popular soul, inspired by healthy common sense and a principle of justice, has already christened the Tower of Babel”
And again: “When foreigners visit our Exhibition they will protest vigorously: “Is this then the horror that the French have created to give us an idea of their much magnified taste?”
We are obviously talking about the Eiffel Tower. After twenty years a commission made up of experts voted to decide whether to demolish the tower or not. The yes votes won by a single vote and the tower was saved…. luckily for us!!! Today it is the symbol not only of Paris but of the whole of France and is visited and photographed by millions of tourists every year.
That’s why I’m proud of the negative comments about my Chinese building that I read on this page!
It took Guanzgou Circle less than twenty years to become the symbol of a city. This building interprets the thousand-year-old tradition of jade discs which for the Chinese represents the very identity and essence of their culture: the sky and eternity. So in this building the Chinese see their cultural identity. There are millions of photos and videos online of people taking pictures of themselves and celebrating the Guangzhou Circle. None of those who have left a negative comment on this site demonstrate either knowledge of Chinese culture or the curiosity to learn about it. Of course, if the cultural tools available to us are “the Simpsons” (everyone uses what they have at their disposal), any replication would be useless.
In any case, thank you very much everyone!
Joseph di Pasquale
