AWC 26 – THE FRUGAL PALAZZO

The 26th incarnation of Architecture Without Content brought us to Seattle via Florence and New York. Arguably the second most important housing typology innovation on American soil (the first being the suburban house) was the up-scaled palace. The child of a slightly forced desire to build a city in a place of awkward proportions and unresolvable issues, the upscale palace promised, for a short while, instant urbanity in one gesture. The up-scaled palace offered an image of urbanity, with proportions that seemed reasonable in the given context, despite its gigantic size. It also provided an envelope to build a lot at once, whilst still somehow contributing to the city.