RCA School of Architecture ResearchRCA SoA Research

‘In Praise of the Un-Original’ is a critical study that was published in Curatorial Design (2024) and shared as public lecture at ETH (Zurich) and EPFL (Lausanne) in the same year. The study questions the way labour organisation shapes the making and reuse of buildings through an analysis of the Colosseum and its various reconstructions from antiquity to today.

As heritage conservation has become a fundamental component of contemporary architecture, it is crucial to problematise the link between historical artifacts and the systems of exploitation that created and maintained them. ‘In Praise of the Un-Original’ critically questions the practice of conservation by exploring the gaps between the re-construction of an ‘original’ built form and the re-enactment of the ‘original’ processes through which that form came into being. It draws on archaeological evidence as well as on an analysis of the written and built work of Domenico Fontana and 1800-century architects Valadier and Stern, discussing the ideological agenda of various attempts at adaptive reuse.

Already in Imperial times projects for the restoration of the Colosseum deeply transformed its appearance and use, and in the past five centuries its ruin has been recast as quarry, factory, workers’ accommodation, and finally touristic attraction. Although archaeological and art-historical literature on the subject abounds, there is no publication that traces a clear genealogy of the many attempts to give the ancient monument a radical new use. Indeed, these projects are often seen as outlandish, while the present research investigates their profound political rationale. Ultimately, the study of the vicissitudes of the Colosseum casts a light on the evolution of building practices, but it also suggests that future conservation practices cannot divorce the fraught history of a building from its material survival.