Tra intentio auctoris e intentio operis: percorsi critici di eredità dell’architettura autoriale del secondo Novecento / Between intentio auctoris and intentio operis: critical perspectives on the legacy of authorial architecture in the late 20th century

Abstract

This paper reflects on the category of authorial heritage in twentieth-century architecture, addressing the epistemological and political dimensions implicit in the relationship between author and work. It considers the metamorphosis of the author from the second half of the century onwards – progressively emptied of the work itself and transformed into an image, a media construct within the architectural star system – and the consequences of this shift for conservation. Three critical pathways are examined: the re-involvement of the original author, the hereditary succession of relatives, pupils, or collaborators, and the poetics of the unfinished, which questions the legitimacy of possible completions. Through paradigmatic case studies, the analysis highlights heterogeneous outcomes – ranging from interpretation to rewriting and alteration – showing intervention as a critical space of negotiation between the primacy of the intentio auctoris and the autonomy of the intentio operis.