Università della Svizzera Italiana / Accademia di Architettura

Member:

Website

https://www.arc.usi.ch/it

Institutional Member
Europe, Switzerland

Institutional Member

Università della Svizzera Italiana / Accademia di Architettura

Archivio del Moderno, established in 2004 by the Università della Svizzera italiana, functions as both an archive and a research institute. Founded alongside the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture, it operates in close synergy with the Academy to advance research and critical discourse on historical, modern, and contemporary architecture, with a particular focus on Italian, Swiss, and international contexts.

The Archivio’s work spans from the neoclassical period to post-war and contemporary architecture, using archival materials to investigate the genesis of architectural projects, transformations in professional practice, technological and artistic exchanges, and evolving modes of architectural education. Through this research, Archivio del Moderno contributes to new critical interpretations and debates within architectural history and theory.

Collection

The Archivio del Moderno maintains a collection with both local (Cantone Ticino) and international scope, preserving over fifty archives of architects, engineers, urban planners, designers, and visual practitioners who played a key role in the emergence of modernity. The holdings include individual works as well as complete professional archives, comprising drawings, written documents, architectural models, photographs, slides, microfilms, ephemera, prints, and original drawing instruments and furniture. The collections support research into the genesis of architectural projects and the evolving nature of professional practice. They enable critical studies of technological developments, interdisciplinary exchanges with the arts and applied design, cultural transfers across periods, changing modes of architectural education, and the relationship between architecture, territory, and identity, particularly in relation to contributions from Ticino within broader international contexts.