Atelier Walter Angonese. The construction of the idea
Academy of Architecture
This book documents the lengthy educational activity of Walter Angonese’s Atelier at the Accademia di architettura in Mendrisio (USI) from 2007 to 2025, in which collective experiences and practices play a crucial role. The book focuses on a main nucleus constituted by a reflection on the method used by Angonese, accompanied by photographs taken by the author that outline his own imaginary. The introductory essays by Hermann Czech, Tommaso Fantini, and Manuel Orazi deal with the theme of teaching and design. The contributions made by Angonese’s assistants over the years in the Atelier underscore the importance of tools like redrawing, the model, or the journey, and the centrality of collegial exercises. Group work emerges as being decisive in order to understand that a design idea requires the same process of construction as a physical building, with effects on the historical judgement of architecture. In the words of Hermann Czech, “Technical knowledge is only truly acquired in the design, and only those who have themselves designed can comprehend the designs of another time”.