A journey through the works—and even more so through the architectural thought—of Joseph Di Pasquale, told through an in-depth dialogue with his colleague, architect Maurizio De Caro, with whom he shares reflections and visions. The book reconstructs the results of an approach capable of embracing the client’s desires, the memories of the place, and the symbols of a culture: from the ideal city to contemporary urban landscapes, from interventions in the established urban fabric to experiments on the future of living. The references he draws upon come from literature, psychology, and cinema—Stirling, Kubrick, Bach, Calvino, Lacan are among his masters—and his poetics are characterized by recurring themes such as the centrality of “emptiness” as primordial matter, the seat of the soul, and the semantic core of every project: the Guangzhou Circle building is its emblem. The “Di Pasquale method” described here thus sketches the portrait of a humanist architect who works with a spiritual and formal ethic and poses an intellectual challenge to every project.

Maurizio De Caro architect, he studied in Milan (Politecnico, School of Architecture) and London (Architectural Association). Musicologist, journalist, collector of contemporary art, and architectural theorist, he formerly taught Aesthetics at the School of Architecture of the Politecnico di Milano.

Joseph Di Pasquale graduated with honors in Architectural Design from the School of Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano. Since 2009, he has been an adjunct professor at the Politecnico di Milano’s School of Architecture. In 2005, he rebranded his firm as “JDP – Joseph Di Pasquale Architects” and began his professional and public outreach activities on an international scale.