AWC 15 – NEON PALLADIO

The fifteenth incarnation of Architecture Without Content is a report on our Roman Architecture studio trip to the Veneto region. The title originates from a passing anecdote that during a similar trip by a group of Palladian scholars, one American academic erupted 'neon Palladio!' upon seeing the neon light, added by the current American owners, under the front portico of the villa Cornaro. This supposedly invisible neon strip was there to illuminate the building, without fundamentally changing the appearance of their summer residence. This is but an anecdote, but perhaps also a reminder that many significant insights come to us through rather indirect ways.