Italy needs more Architecture !

World needs more Architecture !

Giovannangelo De Angelis (Pres. PIDA Association)

The PIDA was created to reveal, through critical observation, the role and responsibility assumed by architecture and architects when transforming the landscape and defining policies for development. A process from which society should gain important environmental, social and economic benefits, but which, during recent decades, has instead produced, in Italy as elsewhere, environmental damages and cultural impoverishment. The ferocious abuses perpetrated in Italy to the detriment of the natural environment require the world of architecture to invert its current trends; what is needed is a “cultural revolution” that begins with the balance between the natural and built environment, and leads to a transformation of the territory based on principles that include “The Beauty of Nature”, the “Beauty of Art” and the “Beauty of Technique”.

Today as in the past, architecture is obliged to define the identity of the places and spaces of a society in continuous evolution, though it must also face up to a radically changed scenario; it must favour the cultural and civil growth of citizens, and it must also be capable of generating emotions.

The quality of architecture must be guaranteed by the efficient and transparent use of competitions. A democratic and participative project represents an investment and a right that modern civil society must not renounce. Examples of this approach are to be found in the cities and villages of France, Austria, the Netherlands and Denmark; the results are evident and represent a point of reference for us.

As Italy is a country whose existence depends on tourism, a vast quantity of the works of architecture constructed here are dedicated to this sector, and thus, by intervening in this field, we can significantly affect the quality of life for society in general.

In recent decades the tourist industry has also been responsible for the devastation of natural environments of inestimable beauty, throughout the world. Construction became the hand of this devastation. Tourism has also permitted, on the other hand, an enormous democratisation of travel, consenting ever-vaster portions of the world’s population to admire sites once reserved to a restricted elite. Uniting the needs of the market and the environment is the role of the architect. This Prize is intended as a proposal and a critical tool for all those operating in this sector.