Gae Aulenti
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Gaetana "Gae" Emilia Aulenti (; 4 December 1927 – 31 October 2012) was an Italian architect and designer. Aulenti began her career in the early 1950s, establishing herself as one of the few prominent female architects in post-war Italy. Although
modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
was the predominant international architectural style throughout much of the 20th century, Aulenti stepped away from its tenets to embrace neo-liberty, an architectural and design theory which upheld the relevance of tradition and artistic freedom within the modern aesthetic. Throughout her career, Aulenti applied her architecture and design expertise to a diverse range of fields, from furniture design to large-scale architectural projects. Aulenti is widely acknowledged for transforming the Gare d'Orsay to the
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...
. She was awarded the ''Chevalier de la Legion d' Honneur'' and the ''Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana''.


Personal life and education

Aulenti was born in
Palazzolo dello Stella Palazzolo dello Stella () is a (municipality) in the Regional decentralization entity of Udine in the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. ...
in the
Friuli Friuli (; ; or ; ; ) is a historical region of northeast Italy. The region is marked by its separate regional and ethnic identity predominantly tied to the Friulians, who speak the Friulian language. It comprises the major part of the autono ...
region of northeast Italy to Aldo Aulenti, an accountant and his wife, Virginia Gioia, a school teacher. The Aulenti family, with ancestral origins in
Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...
,
Apulia Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...
and
Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...
, included her paternal grandfather, who served as a magistrate, and her maternal grandfather, who was a physician. When Aulenti was a child, her family moved to
Biella Biella (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the northern Italy, Italian region of Piedmont, the capital of the Province of Biella, province of the same name, with a population of 44,324 as of 31 December 2017. It is located about northeast of ...
, in the
Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...
region in northern Italy. Aulenti attended a visual arts high-school in
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
; however, during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, she was compelled to return to Biella where she continued her studies privately. Reflecting on her life, Aulenti remarked that she was acquainted with several partisans in Piedmont, who placed their trust in her. She would carry out small missions for the
Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...
while pretending to be on a leisurely outing to the countryside. Although Aulenti initially studied
visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...
, she saw an opportunity to contribute to the rebuilding of Italy and in 1948 she enrolled in the architectural program at the
Polytechnic University of Milan The Polytechnic University of Milan (, abbreviated as PoliMi) is a university in Milan, Italy. It is the largest technical university in the country, with about 40,000 enrolled students. The university offers undergraduate, graduate, and higher ...
. Other alumni from Aulenti's generation at the Polytechnic included Anna Castelli Ferrieri, Franca Stagi and
Cini Boeri Maria Cristina Mariani Dameno (19 June 1924 – 9 September 2020), known as Cini Boeri, was an Italian architect and designer. She was considered "one of the great pioneering women in Italian design and architecture", who was described as a "form ...
. Milan was attractive to students, like Aulenti, because it had been an
open city In war, an open city is a settlement which has announced it has abandoned all defensive efforts, generally in the event of the imminent capture of the city to avoid destruction. Once a city has declared itself open, the opposing military will ...
during World War II and was rich with culture and intellectual life. Among Milanese cultural figures of that time, Aulenti recalled the film-maker,
Luchino Visconti Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, theatre and opera director, and screenwriter. He was one of the fathers of Italian neorealism, cinematic neorealism, but later ...
and the author, Elio Vittorini (whom she met) but also international figures such as
Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (; 18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-born American architect and founder of the Bauhaus, Bauhaus School, who is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modernist architecture. He was a founder of ...
,
Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , ; ), was a Swiss-French architectural designer, painter, urban planner and writer, who was one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture ...
and
Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...
. Aulenti married fellow Polytechnic alumnus Francesco Buzzi in 1959. They had a daughter, Giovanna Buzzi but divorced three years later. Giovanna was close to her mother and saw her as a mentor. Aulenti's granddaughter also became an architect.


Architectural and design philosophy

Approximately one third of Milan's built structures were destroyed in the hostilities of World War II. The post-war reconstruction of Milan (part of the
Italian economic miracle The Italian economic miracle or Italian economic boom ( or ''il boom economico italiano'') is the term used by historians, economists, and the mass media to designate the prolonged period of strong economic growth in Italy after World War II to th ...
) involved large architectural and urban design projects. Architects faced the problem of reconstructing a city of renowned historical and cultural city edifices in a way that acknowledged modern architectural materials, techniques and style. It was in this setting that Aulenti began her career. Aulenti said,
I am convinced that architecture is tied to the polis, it is an art of the city, of the foundation, and as such it is necessarily related and conditioned by the context in which it is born. Place, time, and culture create that architecture, instead of another.
From 1955 to 1965, Aulenti was a
graphic designer A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming ...
at Casabella-continuità, a Milanese magazine focussed on
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
architecture and design. Working under
editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...
Ernesto Nathan Rogers Ernesto Nathan Rogers (March 16, 1909 – November 7, 1969) was an Italian architect, writer and educator. Career Rogers was born in Trieste, then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as a British citizen to an Ida Manni and Romeo Rogers, the latter ...
, Aulenti examined neo-liberty, a novel Italian architectural theory. Neo-liberty posited that there is a continuity between historical and modern architectural styles rather than an end of one and the beginning of another and that elements from the past can be used to enhance contemporary design. This is counter to modernism which eschews ornamentation and places function before form. Aulenti explained,
The architecture in which I would like to recognize myself derives from three fundamental capacities of an aesthetic and not a moral order. The first is the analytical one, in the sense that we must be able to recognize the continuity of both conceptual and physical urban and geographical traces, as specific essences of architecture. The second is the synthetic one, that is to know how to operate the necessary synthesis in order to render priority and evident the principles of the architecture. The third is the prophetic one, typical of artists, poets and inventors.
Aulenti's interpretation of neo-liberty is exemplified in her first furniture piece, the Sgarsul chair (1962), crafted from bent beech wood with a slung leather seat containing soft polyurethane padding. The design of the Sgarsul chair draws inspiration from Michael Thonet's Rocking Chair No. 1 (1862). In her later life, Aulenti said of her work,
I have always tried to make my work unclassifiable, not to accept abstract rules, not to confine myself to specializations, but instead to deal with different disciplines. The theatre, for example, to be able to analyze literary and musical texts. The design of objects as a complementary world to architectural spaces. Architecture as a basic passion where theory and practice must intertwine. I believe architecture is an interdisciplinary intellectual work, a work in which building science and art are extremely integrated.


Career


Industrial design

Aulenti had a prolific career in
industrial design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in adva ...
. Her Locus Solus furniture collection, introduced in 1964, was inspired by the country estate featured in Raymond Roussel's 1912 novel of the same name. The collection comprised chairs, a table, an adjustable lamp, a sofa, a sun lounger, and a bench, all manufactured from tubular cold-formed steel by the Poltronova furniture company. The Locus Solus collection was used as set decoration in the film, La Piscine (1969). In 2023, a replica collection in off-white and yellow was produced for commercial sale. Lamps designed by Aulenti were notable for their style, innovation and function. For example, the Giova lamp (1964) designed for Fontana Arte, a lighting and furniture manufacturer, was a centripetal object that functioned as a lamp, a planter, an aroma diffuser and an objet d'art. The Pipistrello lamp (1965) was another of Aulenti's early yet enduring designs. The lamp featured a neck that could extend by 20 cm, allowing it to be positioned on either a table or the floor. It was manufactured by Elio Martinelli, the founder of the Martinelli Luce lighting company, using poly(methyl acrylate) molding. The Ruspa table lamp (1967) was a modular group of four lights. Direct light and indirect light from imbedded reflectors was controlled by angling of lamp's head. The Ruspa was unconventional as it was crafted in lacquered
aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...
instead of
plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic polymers, synthetic or Semisynthesis, semisynthetic materials composed primarily of Polymer, polymers. Their defining characteristic, Plasticity (physics), plasticity, allows them to be Injection moulding ...
.
Olivetti Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines. Headquartered in Ivrea, in the Metropolitan City of Turin, the company has been owned b ...
, the maker of precision office machines, engaged Aulenti to design their showrooms in Paris (1967) and
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
(1968). Office machines, such as
typewriters A typewriter is a Machine, mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of Button (control), keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an i ...
, were displayed on structures of white laminate steps accented by radiating spokes of dark polished wood. This design drew inspiration from the steps of a piazza and the repeating triangular patterns found in traditional African arts and crafts. In the centre of the display, a tall red structure, resembling a
space capsule A space capsule is a spacecraft designed to transport cargo, scientific experiments, and/or astronauts to and from space. Capsules are distinguished from other spacecraft by the ability to survive reentry and return a payload to the Earth's surfa ...
, represented the future. Lighting was provided by Aulenti's Girasole floor lamp in which nine semicircles of clear plastic were set around a central spine and a concealed
light bulb Electric light is an artificial light source powered by electricity. Electric Light may also refer to: * Light fixture, a decorative enclosure for an electric light source * ''Electric Light'' (album), a 2018 album by James Bay * Electric Light ( ...
. Aulenti describes her work for Olivetti as the pivotal starting point of her international career. In 1968, Aulenti designed showrooms in Turin, Zurich and Brussels for the car manufacturer,
Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...
. The cars were showcased single file, each on an inclined metal platform set against mirrored walls. The customer explored a central viewing point, while the cars were arranged, as though driving on a
race track A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...
, around them. Furniture for the show room was produced from Aulenti's designs by the Kartell furniture company. At the time, Kartell was experimenting with
injection moulding Injection moulding (U.S. spelling: injection molding) is a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting molten material into a mould, or mold. Injection moulding can be performed with a host of materials mainly including metals (for ...
. Aulenti collaborated with the French fashion house
Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier SAS, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton (designer), Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its products, ...
to design a watch accompanied by a matching pen and silk scarf. The design, known as the "Monterey" (1988) was released in two versions. The Monterey I featured elements reminiscent of an elaborately decorated
pocket watch A pocket watch is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatches became popula ...
while the Monterey II stood out with its sleek black polished ceramic case. Aulenti also designed a line of
porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...
sanitary ware, which she called, the "Orsay" collection (1996).


Architectural design


Musée d'Orsay

The '' Gare d'Orsay'' (Orsay railway station) was built on left bank of the
Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...
in 1900 to a plan by Victor Laloux. The Beaux-Arts style terminus station and the connected hotel served passengers travelling from southwest France to the capital. In 1975, the French president,
François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...
, asked the French architectural firm, ACT to commence an
adaptive reuse Adaptive reuse is the reuse of an existing building for a purpose other than that for which it was originally built or designed. It is also known as recycling and conversion. The adaptive reuse of buildings can be a viable alternative to new con ...
project to convert the Gare d'Orsay into a new museum, the
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...
. Initially, Aulenti was assigned solely to the interior design of the new museum. However, due to disagreements between ACT and the curators, her role expanded to encompass the overall architectural planning of the project. Aulenti successfully advocated for changes to the ACT design, which the curators believed was overly tied to neo-classical aesthetics and excessively ornate. In the final plan, however, some features of the Gare d'Orsay were preserved, including the
mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called French roof or curb roof) is a multi-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper, and often punctured by dormer wi ...
, an ornate
art nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...
clock, large busts of Mercury and the rose patterned tiles covering the ceiling. Aulenti divided the station into three levels. On the ground floor, the main corridor was re-aligned to the long axis of the building and set on a gentle slope to form a
sculpture garden A sculpture garden or sculpture park is an outdoor garden or park which includes the presentation of sculpture, usually several permanently sited works in durable materials in landscaped surroundings. A sculpture garden may be private, owned by ...
.
Limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
tiles, in various shades of white, were attached to the surfaces of the ramp, platforms on the ramp and, at one end of the corridor, two new towers. The old art nouveau clock is balanced by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux's sculpture, ''The Four Parts of the World Supporting the Celestial Sphere.'' Balconies overlooking the main corridor (usually called the "
nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
") were added to the
mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...
and upper level (
attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...
). Natural light enters the building from the original large, glass,
barrel-vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...
ceiling, windows facing the Rue de Lille and from new oculi. By adding artificial lighting, Aulenti was able to achieve a uniform quality of illumination throughout the museum. Mitterrand inaugurated the Musée d'Orsay on 1 December 1986. The museum's interior design has since been updated to feature halogen lighting, dark wood floors, and grey walls. Charles Jencks, cultural theorist and architectural historian, described the Musée d'Orsay as an example of a "
postmodern Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting the wo ...
museum", where there is tension due to the past needing to exist in the present and the artistic in the academic. Jencks said, "The train shed, a symbol of nineteenth-century power and materialism, meets a thirteenth-century cathedral layout in a twentieth-century temple to the contradictions of nineteenth-century art." He wrote of the museum,
The linear, suiting trains, also suits historical sequence with startling results. They give a clear beginning, middle and end to the gentle stroll through history. Overhead, the wide barrel vault of the old station spreads a generous light that pulls one gently up the progression of French art. The floor and the visitor mount slowly, too ... Gae Aulenti has articulated the walls to either side of this nave space in heavy Egyptian tones, but also with horizontal streamlines that push forward ... thus, the railway station becomes a cathedral with the left aisle housing the
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
and the right aisle holding the
academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
. Up the middle, the nave mixes the two competitors but not indiscriminately.
The new museum opened to the public on 9 December 1986 to mixed review. Paul Goldberger, architectural critic, wrote in
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
,
Unfortunately, the results of this ambitious project are, architecturally speaking, not natural at all. They are contrived, awkward and uncomfortable. The newly created Musée d'Orsay may be the most ambitious conversion of an old building into a museum in the modern history of Paris, but it is also a work of architecture that is deeply insensitive both to the original Gare d'Orsay and to the works of art it is supposed to be protecting and displaying. It will do little to advance the art of museum design, and it may well set the business of architectural ''recycling'' back a generation.
Aulenti received the Chevalier de Légion d'honneur in 1987.


Centre Georges Pompidou

The
Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...
, the home of the ''
Musée National d'Art Moderne The Musée National d'Art Moderne (; "National Museum of Modern Art") is the national museum for modern art of France. It is located in the 4th arrondissement of Paris and is housed in the Centre Pompidou. In 2021 it ranked 10th in the list of ...
'', was built between 1972 and 1977 to a plan by
Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable works include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), Kansai International Airport in Osaka (1994), the Whitney ...
and
Richard Rogers Richard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside (23 July 1933 – 18 December 2021) was a British-Italian architect noted for his modernist and constructivist designs in high-tech architecture. He was the founder at Rogers Stirk Harbour + ...
. The ten-level building, constructed in glass and metal, was designed with expansive indoor spaces to provide flexibility in its use. Aulenti was engaged to redesign the portion of the Musée occupying the fourth floor of the center, to create modular spaces better suited for smaller exhibitions, and to reduce the amount of natural light impacting the artworks. Aulenti created galleries of varying sizes along a building-length, unobstructed corridor-gallery set beside the west windows. She installed shelves, alcoves and pedestals within the galleries and created small corridors linking the galleries for fragile items that required low light. The Musée itself owns a number of pieces from Aulenti's design career, from her 1964 ''April'' stainless steel and brown leather folding chair to its 2008 redesign in bright yellow ''toile vela'' (outdoor fabric).


Palazzo Grassi

The
Palazzo Grassi Palazzo Grassi (also known as the Palazzo Grassi-Stucky) is a building in the Venetian Classical style located on the Grand Canal of Venice (Italy), between the Palazzo Moro Lin and the campo San Samuele. History First owners During the 16th ...
is an 18th-century mansion on the Grand Canal in
Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
, Italy. In 1983, when the Palazzo was owned by the Fiat group, Aulenti was commissioned to refurbish the building as an art exhibition space. The Palazzo was gutted and refurbished over a thirteen-month period, reopening on 15 April 1985. The existing three-level building was dark and labyrinthine, making its original features difficult to distinguish. Aulenti examined contemporary Venetian buildings for elements associated with the Palazzo's original architect,
Giorgio Massari Giorgio Massari (13 October 1687 – 20 December 1766) was an Italian late-Baroque architect from Venice. He designed the Villa Lattes near Treviso in 1715, the church of Santo Spritito in Udine, the church of Santa Maria della Pace, Brescia, Sa ...
. Having repaired the original masonry with salvaged 19th century bricks, Aulenti fixed new utilities in a way that would leave the restored masonry undisturbed, even in future renovations. Paint was applied in a palette of aquamarine on pink marble-patterned
stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...
(''
marmorino Marmorino Veneziano is a type of plaster or stucco. It is based on calcium oxide and used for interior and exterior wall decorations. Marmorino plaster can be finished via multiple techniques for a variety of matte, satin, and glossy final effects ...
''). Aulenti and Piero Castiglioni, an Italian lighting designer, created the Castello Lighting System for the Palazzo. The Castello system, designed for flexibility, was manufactured in aluminium with
low voltage In electrical engineering, low voltage is a relative term, the definition varying by context. Different definitions are used in electric power transmission and distribution, compared with electronics design. Electrical safety codes define "low vo ...
halogen bulbs. It won a
Compasso d'Oro The Compasso d'Oro (; ) is an industrial design award originated in Italy in 1954. Initially sponsored by the La Rinascente, a Milanese department store, the award has been organised and managed by the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI ...
design award in 1995. In the following years, Aulenti returned a number of times to the Palazzo Grassi to design popular exhibitions. ''I Fenici'' (1988)'','' ''I Celti'' (1991) and ''I Greci in Occidente'' (1996) were all months long archeological expositions designed for the non-scholar. In creating ''I Fenici'' (The Phoenicians) with Sabatino Moscati, archeologist and curator of the exhibition, Aulenti created a path for visitors with two distinct educational threads; first, a traditional display of archaeological objects categorized by
typology A typology is a system of classification used to organize things according to similar or dissimilar characteristics. Groups of things within a typology are known as "types". Typologies are distinct from taxonomies in that they primarily address t ...
and
geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
and second, an exploration of Phoenician culture. The exhibit embodied Aulenti's aptitude for stage design, featuring a salmon-pink
sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...
as a set for eight
sarcophagi A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek σάρξ ' meaning "flesh", and φ ...
and a large pool for model ships. Additionally, Aulenti presented information in
graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...
and
murals A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanish ...
.


Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

The ''
Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya The (; ), abbreviated as MNAC (), is a museum of Catalonia, Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill at the end of Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, near Plaça d'Espanya, Barcelona, Pl Espanya, th ...
'' at the
Palau Nacional The (Catalan language, Catalan for 'National Palace') is a building on the hill of Montjuïc (Barcelona), Montjuïc in Barcelona. It was the main site of the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, 1929 International Exhibition. It was designed ...
,
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
, home of the Catalan
visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...
collection, was constructed on
Montjuïc Montjuïc () is a hill in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Montjuïc or Montjuich, meaning "Jewish Mountain" in medieval Latin and Catalan, is a broad, shallow hill in Barcelona with a rich history. It was the birthplace of the city, and its st ...
for the 1929 World's Fai r. As part of a design team including Enric Steegman and Josep Benedito, between 1985 and 1992, Aulenti refurbished the Saló Oval (the main hall) and consolidated two temporary exhibition rooms for the
1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...
. Glass was added to the outer walls of the Saló Oval for better illumination and once again, Castiglioni created the artificial lighting plan.


Japan

Aulenti designed the chancellery of the Italian Embassy (2004) and the Italian Cultural Institute (2005) in
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
. At the Italian Cultural Institute, Aulenti used an RAL 3011 coloured cladding, a red-brown hue which was controversial due to the perceived intensity of the colour. On the ten year anniversary of Aulenti's death, the Italian Cultural Institute in Tokyo presented an exhibition of her drawings, photographs, models and materials called ''Uno sguardo sul Giappone e sul mondo (A look at Japan and the world).''


Other selected architectural design projects

Aulenti's other projects included the conversion of Scuderie del Quirinale,
Quirinal Palace The Quirinal Palace ( ) is a historic building in Rome, Italy, the main official residence of the President of Italy, President of the Italian Republic, together with Villa Rosebery in Naples and the Tenuta di Castelporziano, an estate on the outs ...
,
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
to an exhibition space for the 2000
Great Jubilee The Great Jubilee in 2000 was a major event in the Catholic Church, held from Christmas Eve (24 December) 1999 to Epiphany (holiday), Epiphany (6 January) 2001. Like previous Jubilee in the Catholic Church, Jubilee years, it was a celebration of ...
, the redesigning of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (2003), the restoration of the ''Palazzo Branciforte'' in
Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...
,
Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
(2007) and the expansion of the ''Perugia San Francesco d'Assisi'' (Umbria International Airport) for the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy (2011). In 1991, Aulenti converted a 17th-century granary at the Torrecchia Vecchia estate in
Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...
to a villa for Carlo Caracciolo. Aulenti designed the Italian
Pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...
at the
Seville Expo '92 The Universal Exhibition of Seville 1992 – Expo '92 (officially: ) was a universal exhibition held from Monday 20 April to Monday 12 October 1992, at the , in Seville, Spain. The theme for the expo was "The Age of Discoveries", celebrating the ...
and the redevelopment of the
Piazzale Cadorna Piazzale Cadorna (''Cadorna Square'') is sited in the centre of Milan, near Milan Cadorna railway station, Cadorna Railway Station. The square are dedicated to Italian Field Marshal Luigi Cadorna, famous for being chief of staff of the Italian ...
(2000) in Milan. The Città degli Studi College (1994), at Briella was one of Aulenti's few stand-alone architectural projects.


Stage design

Aulenti and Luca Ronconi, theatre director and producer, founded ''Laboratorio di Progettazione Teatrale'' (the
Prato Prato ( ; ) is a city and municipality (''comune'') in Tuscany, Italy, and is the capital of the province of Prato. The city lies in the northeast of Tuscany, at an elevation of , at the foot of Monte Retaia (the last peak in the Calvana ch ...
Theatre design workshop) in the late 1970s. Together, they staged 16 productions including, Pier Paolo Pasolini's ''Calderón'', Euripide's ''Le Baccanti,'' and Hugo von Hofmannsthall's ''La Torre''. In her stage design, Aulenti looked to Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's work, ''A Manifesto of Variety Theatre'' (1913)''.'' Marinetti rejected imitation of the historic and the obsessive reproduction of daily life. Rather, he chose freedom in design, the use of a cinematic background, and imaginative, satiric and futuristic concepts. Aulenti did not rely on scenery canvas and flats to provide perspective. Instead, she divided the stage with structures, such as platforms and steps, in order to give context to the action.Marinetti F.T. A Manifesto of Variety Theatre (1913) chapter 13. Variety Theatre pages 126–127. https://writingstudio2010.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/variety-stage.pdf Accessed 8 September 2024. At
La Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...
in 1977, Aulenti created the stage design for '' Wozzeck'', the
atonal Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on ...
opera by
Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( ; ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...
.
Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the Berlin Philharm ...
was the conductor with Gloria Lane and Guglielmo Sarabia the principals. Aulenti's daughter, Giovanna Buzzi, designed the costumes. The French music critic, Jacques Lonchampt reviewed the production in
Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...
. He described the stage as being enclosed by a large "crushing" wall and prison gate, and the stage itself, a "conveyor belt", starting and stopping but inexorably carrying the characters towards the prison. Lonchampt wrote,
This device has the major drawback of raising the stage quite considerably and of distancing the singers from the room. The sound is lost in the
flies Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwin ...
and in the first rows, at least, the voices seem thin, without force or resonance ... unreal ... which is serious in a work with such brief tableaux, where the listener must feel the physical presence of the characters from the outset.
The Italian musicologist, Massimo Mila, reviewed this production in
La Stampa (English: "The Press") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin with an average circulation of 87,143 copies in May 2023. Distributed in Italy and other European nations, it is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. Until the late 1970 ...
. He described a construction of moving boards which changed colour with different lights. The moving mechanism brought props such as a chair and table or roughly arranged blankets and mattresses to the scene. Mila thought the stage design was effective until the noise of some unintended movements of the device interrupted the performance. Nicholas Vitaliano, Ronconi's biographer, wrote that Aulenti and Ronconi wanted to designed a "stage machine", a moving surface traversing the entire stage, which was otherwise left in almost entire darkness. Aulenti's stage design for Ronconi's production of Rossini's opera, ''
Il viaggio a Reims ''Il viaggio a Reims, ossia L'albergo del giglio d'oro'' (''The Journey to Reims, or The Hotel of the Golden Fleur-de-lis'') is an operatic dramma giocoso, originally performed in three acts,Janet Johnson: ''A Lost Masterpiece Recovered'', pp. 37 ...
'' (''Journey to Reims)'' at the
Rossini Opera Festival The Rossini Opera Festival (ROF) is an international music festival held in August of each year in Pesaro, Italy, the birthplace of the opera composer Gioachino Rossini. Its aim, in addition to studying the musical heritage of the composer, is to re ...
in
Pesaro Pesaro (; ) is a (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, capital of the province of Pesaro and Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the ...
(1984) involved on-stage television monitors. From their position on the stage,
video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...
operators filmed the performance and in real time, broadcast the recordings, such as close-ups of the singers, onto the monitors. In addition, actors (playing the king and his retinue) were filmed processing on the streets outside the theatre. Television monitors around the city broadcast the action inside the theatre while the monitors in the theatre played the action on the streets. Italian critics praised this staging but critics from the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
did not. The premier of '' Samstag aus Licht'' by
Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...
was produced by Ronconi for La Scala (1984). La Scala was too small for the expected audience and so the production was moved to the Palazzo dello sport (the Milan sports centre). In the stadium space, Aulenti and Ronconi created a
spectacle In general, spectacle refers to an event that is memorable for the appearance it creates. Derived in Middle English from c. 1340 as "specially prepared or arranged display" it was borrowed from Old French ''spectacle'', itself a reflection of the ...
. In the act, "Lucifer's dance", the "spirit of negation" appeared on stilts in front of a very large human face. The character on stilts controlled the face through the music of a wind band that was seated on a vertical frame on the stage. Aulenti also created the stage designs for Elektra by
Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...
in Milan (1984) and ''
The Wild Duck ''The Wild Duck'' (original Norwegian title: ''Vildanden'') is an 1884 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It explores the complexities of truth and illusion through the story of a family torn apart by secrets and the intrusion of a ...
'' by
Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...
in
Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
.


Exhibition design

Aulenti designed exhibition spaces both in Italy and abroad. At the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Street (Manhattan), 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent coll ...
, in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, Aulenti designed the exhibition space for ''The Italian Metamorphosis 1943–1968'' (1994), an exhibition of post-war art and design curated by
Germano Celant Germano Celant (11 September 1940 – 29 April 2020) was an Italian art historian, critic, and curator who coined the term "Arte Povera" (poor art) in the 1967 ''Flash Art'' piece "Appunti Per Una Guerriglia" ("Notes on a guerrilla war"), which w ...
. Aulenti created a large sculpture of wire triangles which projected into the museum's atrium. The visitors' perspective on the sculpture gradually changed as they moved up the ramp. Benjamin Buchloh commented that designers, such as Aulenti, are able to highlight their own "trademark" architectural aesthetic by incorporating it into their exhibition design. He was critical, suggesting that this is to the detriment of the artistic work or object being displayed. Buchloch described Aulenti's "zig-zag" design, when placed in the curved space of the Guggenheim, as a " vagina dentata".


Milan Triennial

Aulenti had an association with the
Milan Triennial The ''Milan Triennial'' (Triennale di Milano) is an art and design exhibition that takes place every three years at the Triennale di Milano Museum in Milan, Italy. History The exhibition was originally established in 1923 as a biennial architect ...
over many years. She presented her own work, "Ideal apartment for an urban location" at the ''La casa e la scuola'' exhibition at the 12th Triennial in 1960. Then, in 1964, she won the Grand International Prize for ''Arrivo al Mare'' (Arrival at the seaside). In this work, Aulenti installed a large mirrored room with multiple, life-sized, colour-sketched cut-outs of women in simple robes, standing under a ceiling of slung fabric strips. It was inspired by
Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...
. Aulenti was a member of the executive of the Triennial from 1977 to 1980. She designed spaces for installations at exhibitions such as the ''1951–2001 Made in Italy?'' (2001).


Professional affiliations

From 1955 to 1965, Aulenti was a member of the editorial staff of the design magazine, '' Casabella Continuità''. Aulenti wrote two articles for Casabella: ''Soviet architecture'' (1962) and ''Marin County'' (1964). From 1954 to 1962, Aulenti was a member of the editorial staff of ''Lotus international'', the quarterly Milanese architecture magazine. As an educator, Aulenti was an assistant professor of architectural composition (1960–1962) at
Ca' Foscari University of Venice Ca' Foscari University of Venice (), or simply Ca' Foscari, is a public research university and business school in Venice, Italy. Since its foundation in 1868, it has been housed in the Venetian Gothic palace of Ca' Foscari, from which it takes ...
, adjunct assistant professor of elements of architectural composition (1964) at Milan Polytechnic, and visiting lecturer at the College of Architecture, Barcelona and the
Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
Cultural Centre (1969–1975). She also taught at the Milan School of Architecture (1964–1967). Aulenti was a member of Movimento Studi per I'Architettura, Milan (1955 - 961) and the Association for Industrial Design, Milan (1960 and vice-president in 1966).


Death and legacy

On 31 October 2012, Aulenti died at her home in the Brera district of Milan as a result of chronic illness. This was fifteen days, after her last public appearance when she received the gold medal for Lifetime Achievement at the Milan Triennial. At noon on 4 November 2012, a remembrance service was held at the Ridotto dei Palchi hall at La Scala. Ten days after her death, Aulenti's major work to expand the
Perugia San Francesco d'Assisi – Umbria International Airport Perugia San Francesco d'Assisi – Umbria International Airport () , formerly Perugia Sant'Egidio Airport, is an airport serving Perugia, from DAFIF (effective October 2006) the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy. Facilities ...
was inaugurated. It was designed for the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. In December 2012, the Piazza Gae Aulenti was dedicated to Aulenti's memory. It is a contemporary public space surrounded by private enterprises in the Isola neighbourhood near the Porta Garibaldi railway station. The piazza is 100 meters in diameter and is constructed 6 meters above ground level. There are three large fountains with a boardwalk extending to the centre of the piazza. After Aulenti's death, the Milan Triennial and Archivio Gae Aulenti created an exhibition remembering her life and work. It is a sequence of rooms recreating, true to size, several of her interior design projects, including the ''Arrivo al Mar''e room. At the centre of the exhibition is a display of Aulenti's industrial design works and around the perimeter, a display of Aulenti's papers. From 2020 to 2021, the
Vitra Design Museum The Vitra Design Museum is a privately owned museum for design in Weil am Rhein, Germany. The architect of this building was Frank O. Gehry. His architecture was based on the art movement of the early 20th century, deconstructivism. Making the bu ...
, a private museum in Germany, presented the exhibition, ''Gae Aulenti: A Creative Universe''. For the tenth anniversary of Aulenti's death, Open House – Milan and the Aulenti estate created an exhibition highlighting Aulenti's contribution to architecture, choosing one project from each of the Open House Italia network cities: Milan (Piazza Cadorna), Naples (Piazza Dante), Rome (Scuderie del Quirinale) and Turin (Palavela). A selection of Aulenti's papers, drawings, and designs, including the design drawings for the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, California are curated at the International Archive of Women in Architecture in the Newman Library, at
Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...
. Drawings, photographic material and design models under
plexiglass Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a synthetic polymer derived from methyl methacrylate. It is a transparent thermoplastic, used as an engineering plastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and bran ...
by Aulenti are held by Sistema Informativo Unificato per le Soprintendenze Archivistiche (SIUSA). Aulenti's granddaughter, Nina Artioli is the curator of Aulenti's archive in Milan. Architects, Marco Bifoni, Francesca Fenaroli and Vittoria Massa continue under Aulenti's name as G.A. Architetti Associati.


Awards

* Ubi Prize for Stage Design, Milan, 1980. * Architecture Medal, Academie d' Architecture, Paris, 1983. * Josef Hoffmann Prize, Hochschule fur Angewandte Kunst, Vienna, 1984. * Commandeur, Order des Artes et Letters, France,1987. * Honorary Dean of Architecture, Merchandise Mart of Chicago, 1988. * Accademico Nazionale, Accademia di San Luca, Rome, 1988. * ''Premio speciale della cultura'', Repubblica Italiana X Legislatura, 1989. *
Praemium Imperiale Prince Takamatsu The Praemium Imperiale () is an international art prize inaugurated in 1988 and awarded since 1989 by the Imperial family of Japan on behalf of the Japan Art Association in the fields of painting, sculpture, architecture, mu ...
, Japan, 1991.


See also

* *


References


Further reading

* Petranzan M. (2003) Gae Aulenti. Skira Editore. ISBN 9788884915917 * Briganti A. (2022) ''Gae Aulenti – Riflessioni e Pensieri sull'Architetto Geniale''. Cairo. (Italian) ISBN 9788830902756 * Hartman J. (Ed.) (2022) ''The Women Who Changed Architecture.'' Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 9781648960864 * Moorehead C. (2020) ''A House in the Mountains – The Women who Liberated Italy from Fascism.'' Harper Collins – eBook. ISBN 9780062686381 * Sabini M. (2021) ''Ernesto Nathan Rogers – The Modern Architect as Public Intellectual.'' Bloomsbury, Great Britain. ISBN 9781350117419 * Ciccarelli L. and Melhuish C. (Eds.) (2021) ''Post-war Architecture between Italy and the UK – Exchanges and post-cultural influences''. University College London, London. ISBN 9781800080850 * Escudero D. (2023) ''Neorealist Architecture – Aesthetics of dwelling in post-war Italy.'' Routledge, New York. ISBN 9781032223507. * Electa catalogue (1990) ''Neoliberty e dintorni''. Mondadori Group. (Italian) ISBN 9788843529810 * Rattenbury K. (Ed.) (2002) ''This is not Architecture''. Taylor and Francis. England. ISBN 9781134567669 * Vitaliano N. (2021) ''Il lavoro teatrale di Luica Ronconi – gli anni del Piccolo''. Mimesis. (Italian). ISBN 9788857572819 *


External links

*
Aulenti's Legacy – Triennale di Milano
' – a documentary podcast hosted by
Alice Rawsthorn Alice Rawsthorn OBE (born 1958 in Manchester) is a British design critic and author. Her books include ''Design as an Attitude'' (2018) and ''Hello World: Where Design Meets Life'' (2013). She is chair of the board of trustees at the Chisenhale ...
(5 episodes). *
Aulenti: A Creative Universe
' – a video about the Vitra Design Museum exhibition tour.
Gae Aulenti Archive
– based in Aulenti's former home at Via Fiori Oscuri, 3, 20121 Milano MI. Visiting is by appointment only.
Il Viaggio a Reims
– a full length video of the opera recorded in Pesaro in 1984. Aulenti stage design and video from outside the theatre can be seen.
Piero Castiglioni web page
– Piero Castiglioni is a Milan Polytechnic alumnus and lighting designer who worked with Aulenti.

Weil am Rhein Weil am Rhein (, ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Wiil am Rhii'') is a German town and commune. It is on the east bank of the River Rhine, and extends to the tripoint of Switzerland, France, and Germany. It is the most southwesterly tow ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Aulenti, Gae 1927 births 2012 deaths People from Palazzolo dello Stella People of Apulian descent People of Calabrian descent People of Campanian descent 20th-century Italian women Polytechnic University of Milan alumni Academic staff of the Polytechnic University of Milan 20th-century Italian architects Italian women architects Italian interior designers Italian furniture designers Italian industrial designers Product designers Lighting designers Olivetti people Recipients of the Praemium Imperiale Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Museum designers