Valeria Casali

“Huxtable was here.”: Transatlantic Crossings, 1950-1970

Tutor: Gaia Caramellino
Co-tutor: Paolo Scrivano (Politecnico di Milano)

The research looks at the transatlantic exchange of disciplinary knowledge in the second half of the twentieth century through the examination of some occasions that involved the architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable as a mediator in the transfer processes. The study investigates the tools, expedients, and networks through which Huxtable codified and disseminated a series of narratives and accounts, questioning how these operations eventually contributed to cementing or disputing a set of consolidated readings and popular imaginaries associated with the architectural debates of a plurality of overseas realities.


Ada Louise Huxtable Papers, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles

Bio

Valeria Casali is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program “Architecture. History and Project” at Politecnico di Torino. Her research interest in the processes of cultural and disciplinary transfers of knowledge is reflected by an educational path at the crossroads between Politecnico di Milano, RWTH Aachen, and McGill University. She is involved in the PRIN project “TT – Transatlantic Transfers: The Italian Presence in Post-War America,” an interdisciplinary research hub involving Politecnico di Milano, Università del Piemonte Orientale, and Università Degli Studi Roma Tre.

CV

2016-2019 / M.Sc. Architecture, Politecnico di Milano
2018 / International Exchange, History and Theory of Architecture Program, McGill University
2012-2016 / B.Sc. Architecture Sciences, Politecnico di Milano

2020 – / Teaching Assistant in courses of Architecture History and Theory, Politecnico di Milano
2019-2020 / Collaborator for the platform for continuing education Isplora – Narrative Learning for Architects, Milano
2016 / Intern at Migliore + Servetto Architects, Milano

Links

Transatlantic Transfers: The italian presence in post war America 1949-1972Instagram

Selected publications

Una favola americana: il carteggio transatlantico tra Josef Singer e Gio Ponti, 1950-1979”. La Rivista di Engramma, n. 175, Settembre 2020.