Mediterranean Skyscraper: migration of a modern type

Having inherited from the previous century the social and urban changes due to the Industrial Revolution, European architects were influenced by the American skyscraper, that was perceived as the basic tool for the creation of a new world. In Europe the skyscraper, idealized through utopian values -that were not contemplated in the original American shape- has stimulated many among the most famous architects in the after- math of the WW I and WW II to theorize ideal models of cities combined with revolutionary architecture. The skyscraper typology “in the Mediterranean way” has shown different features compared to the original American type, reflecting the urban role of the tall building. The typological migration of the skyscraper in the Mediterranean area has given the opportu- nity to experience a new model for the city, in which the vertical element has been considered both as the symbol of a new modernity and the catalyst of the entire urban grid (like in the so-called Project C of Le Corbusier in Algiers). Particularly in the Italian area the type has been exalted by a different aesthetic tradition; for example, the Piacentini tower in Genoa built in the late 30s manifests how the type has been “hybridized” with an architectural language closer to the built tradition. Few years later the studies and the development of this topic will be clarified in the Pirelli skyscraper, one of the tallest buildings ever made of reinforced concrete, in which the original type has been enriched with plasticity; this feature, created in a different cultural area, has been considered as an important character of the skyscraper by overseas designer of SOM, as Myron Goldsmith e Fazlur Khan. For its feature of combining different architectural identities, Pirelli skyscraper has become the manifesto of a new relationship between migration, culture, architecture and design.