Dr. Arch. Giacomo Calandra di Roccolino

I am an architect and architectural scientist born in Trieste (Italy).

I studied architecture at the IUAV University in Venice. In 2010 I graduated with Professor Arch. Luciano Semerani (supervisor) with a dissertation on the urban and architectural remodelling of Alexanderplatz in Berlin.

From 2011 to 2013 I was a postdoc and scientific coordinator of the DFG Research Training Group "Art and Technology" at the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg and since 2013 I have been teaching urban design at HafenCity University Hamburg.

Since 2010, in collaboration with Em. Prof. Hartmut Frank, I have been continuously researching the work of Peter Behrens, especially his relations with the United States and the circle of his collaborators, students and followers.

In 2013, I began research on the work of the architect Bernhard Hermkes, the first results of which, with the support of the Hamburg Chamber of Architects, were presented in a solo exhibition curated by me at the Free Academy of Arts in Hamburg in early 2014.

I have participated as a speaker at numerous national and international conferences and lectures, and have published several scientific works on the relationship between architecture and the city and the architecture of the XX century in Italy and Germany.

My project as a post-doc dual

Josef Paul Kleihues, "bridge builder" at home and abroad

The research aims to investigate the role of Josef Paul Kleihues in the international debate on architecture and the city between the 1970s and 1990s. Josef Paul Kleihues (1933-2004) was one of the most influential German architects in the German and European architectural and urban planning debate from the 1970s until his early death.

He is best known for his central role in the International Building Exhibition Berlin, which took place in West Berlin between 1984 and 1987, where he was planning director and head of the "New Construction" section. He fulfilled this role particularly well thanks to his extensive network of relationships, not only in Germany but throughout Europe.

His ability to weave relationships, to "build bridges" between architects with different backgrounds and sometimes tangential research interests, helped Kleihues to achieve international renown.

Kleihues in turn invited leading foreign architects and theorists (e.g. Aldo Rossi, Giorgio Grassi and Paolo Portoghesi, but also Peter Eisenmann, John Hejduk, Daniel Libeskind, Kenneth Frampton etc.) to design and discuss in Germany, especially within the IBA.

Although many of his projects are well known, the compositional processes that led to their definition and the events that led to the creation of his knowledge network are still little researched today.

The research aims to investigate the role of Josef Paul Kleihues in the international debate on architecture and the city between the 1970s and 1990s. The co-operation with the Baukunstarchiv NRW in Dortmund and thus the possibility of access to the documents and drawings from the architect's estate are an essential prerequisite for the success of a research project that aims to shed light on aspects of his biography and work that have been little known to date.

Essential reference bibliography

Apfelbaum A. / Haps S. / Sonne W. (eds.), JPK NRW. The architect Josef Paul Kleihues in North Rhine-Westphalia. Dortmund: Kettler, 2019.

Grupo 2C (ed.), "J. P. Kleihues: en la encrucijada de la arquitectura alemana". Monographic issue of the journal 2C Construcción de la Ciudad, no. 9 (July/ August 1977)

Kahlfeld P. / Lepik A. / Schätzke A., (eds.), Josef Paul Kleihues. City. Building. Art. Berlin: Nicolai, 2003.

Mesecke A. / Scheer T., (eds.) Josef Paul Kleihues Themes and Projects. Basel: Birkäuser, 1996.

Scheer T. (ed.), Josef Paul Kleihues. Works 1966-80. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2008.

Scheer T. / A. Mesecke (ed.), Josef Paul Kleihues, Works 1981-1995. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2013.

Schlusche G., The International Building Exhibition Berlin. A balance sheet. Arbeitshefte des Instituts für Stadt- und Regionalplanung (H. 59), Technische Universität Berlin (ed.). Berlin: Institute for Urban and Regional Planning (ISR), 1997.

Zohlen G., (ed.) Josef Paul Kleihues. Selected texts. Series of the International Building Academy Berlin. Volume 3. Berlin: Internationale Bauakademie Berlin, 2004.

• Calandra di Roccolino, G. “Peter Behrens‘ Mitarbeiter, Schüler und Adepten“. In Malcovati S., Bess B., Frank H., Peter Behrens in Berlin und Brandenburg: Retrospektive und Perspektive. Potsdam: FH-P University Press, 2024, pp. 34-45.
• Calandra di Roccolino G., “Heinrich Tessenow Stadtbaukünstler. Stadtbauprojekten 1936-1947“. In Boesch M., Heinrich Tessenow: Annährungen und ikonischen Projekten, Zürich: Hochparterre, 2023.
• “Aby Warburg als Architekt. Anmerkung über die Projekte für die Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg in Hamburg“. In: Jahrbuch der Architektur in Hamburg 2019, Junius Verlag: Hamburg, 2019.
• Peter Behrens. Educatore e Gestalter del XX Secolo (Peter Behrens. Erzieher und Gestalter des XX. Jahrhunderts) (Hrsg.), Monografische Veröffentlichung der Zeitschrift La Rivista di Engramma, Venezia 2019.
• „La spirale nel Paesaggio. Dieter Oesterlen e il Soldatenfriedhof Futa-Pass (1959-1969)“ (Die Spirale in der Landschaft. Dieter Oesterlen und der Soldatenfriedhof Futa-Pass (1959-1969)) In: Teatro di Marte, Bologna 2019
• Bernhard Hermkes. Die Konstruktion der Form. Dölling und Galitz Verlag, München/Hamburg 2018 (Voraussichtliche Veröffentlichung: April 2018)
• „Peter Behrens e l´America“ (Peter Behrens und Amerika) in La rivista di Engramma, Nr. 150, Oktober 2017
• „Le medaglie malatestiane. Confronto iconografico con i modelli numismatici romani“ (Die Malatestianischen Medaillen. Ikonographischer Vergleich mit römischen numismatischen Modellen). In: Gli Antichi alla corte die Malatesta Echi, modelli e fortuna della tradizione classica nella Romagna del Quattrocento (l’età di Sigismondo), Jouvence Verlag, Milano 2017.
• Die Großmarkthalle Hamburg, Historische Wahrzeichen der Ingenieurbaukunst in Deutschland, Band 20, Bundesingenieurkammer (BIngK), Berlin 2017
• “Heinkel, Messerschmitt, M.A.N.; die Rüstungsindustrie als Auftraggeber” in Cäsar Pinnau 1906-1988, Dölling und Galitz Verlag, München/Hamburg 2016
• „In eine sehr reizvolle Landschaft eingebettet. Das Wohnhaus von Bernhard Hermkes in Klein-Flottbek“ in Der Architekt als Bauherr. Hamburger Baumeister und ihr Wohnhaus, Dölling und Galitz Verlag, München /Hamburg 2016 
• “Form und Konstruktion. Einführung in das Werk des Architekten Bernhard Hermkes” in: Monumente in der Stadt. Kulturbauten und ihre architektonische Wirkung für permanente urbane Strukturen, Hamburg 2015
• “Energiebunker. Recupero e conversione di un rifugio contraereo ad Amburgo” (Energiebunker. Verwertung und Umwandlung eines Flakbunker in Hamburg) in La rivista di Engramma, Nr. 113, Januar-Februar 2014