Collapsing buildings and ambitious ideas. The Colosseum as a martyr church

Dr. Ing. Erik Wegerhoff, Zürich 
Collapsing buildings and ambitious ideas. The Colosseum as a martyr church

About the lecture:
Repurposing old buildings demands a fresh perspective. In around 1700, when the papal architect Carlo Fontana suggested transforming the Roman Colosseum into a church in honor of martyrs, his design not only built upon antique stones, but also on around a century of history. As part of the counter-reformation and since the end of the 16th century, the amphitheater has become one of an increasing number of buildings to be dedicated to martyrs. The building was firstly reimagined in text and images and then in terms of its construction. This lecture illuminates the transformation process and even attempts to shed light on a number of ideas about the relevance of textual and architectural processes, right up to the present day.

About the lecturer:
Senior research associate at the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture at ETH Zürich. Degree in architecture from TU Berlin and the AA in London, followed by a position as a research fellow at the Habitat Unit at TU Berlin. 
2010 Doctoral thesis on the Post Classic-Period transformation of the Colosseum at the ETH Zürich.
2010-2017 Research fellow at the Department of the Theory and History of Architecture, Art and Design at the TU Munich. 

Books about the colosseum, streets in literature and music, and disappointing Italian journeys by the publisher Klaus Wagenbach, Berlin. Architectural critic of architects and topos, essays in critical reports, Future Anterior and numerous other collections. Currently working on a post-doctoral project about the automobile in 20^th-century architectural discourse. Blickwendung will be published in spring this year. “Architektenreisen nach Italien in Moderne und Gegenwart”, published together with Kai Kappel, as part of the Roman studies of the Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome.

Event language: German