Ludovico Centis Presents "Reyner Banham: A Set of Actual Tracks"

Presentation of "Reyner Banham: A Set of Actual Tracks", edited by Ludovico Centis. The book brings a contemporary critical lens to the work of Reyner Banham, one of the most prescient architectural and design critics of the 20th century. Banham taught at UB from 1976-80 and spent his time in Buffalo engaged in a scholarly project on the imagery of American industrial architecture at work in early modernism, resulting in his landmark work, A Concrete Atlantis.

In "Reyner Banham: A Set of Actual Tracks", 16 of the acerbic historian’s essays and book chapters have been selected by contributors, ranging from classics such as The Great Gizmo to lesser-known texts such as The Wall, an intimate confession he penned in hospital shortly before his death. Each is accompanied by a contemporary response that contextualizes Banham’s writing, drawing out reflections on what the critic’s work means today.

Contributors on "Reyner Banham: A Set of Actual Tracks" include Oliver Arditi, Mario Carpo, Maristella Casciato, Ludovico Centis, Adrian Forty, Curt Gambetta, Kersten Geers, Albert Narath, Barbara Penner, Penny Sparke, Tim Street-Porter, Alice Twemlow, Paolo Viganò, Richard J Williams & Mimi Zeiger.

Centis has been a partner at the architectural office Salottobuono from 2007 to 2012. He has lectured widely in international universities and venues, such as the Hong Kong & Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism, the Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Technischen Universität Wien (Vienna), the Architectural Association (London), Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), Princeton University (Princeton, NJ), Bauhaus-Universitaet (Weimar), the University of Chicago, the Kyoto Institute of Technology. Centis has been the 2013-14 Peter Reyner Banham Fellow at the SUNY–University at Buffalo. During the spring of 2015 he has been at the CLUI as a participant in the Wendover Residence Program. Centis was awarded a 2018 Getty Library Research Grant at the Getty Center in Los Angeles and a 2020 Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art Research Support Grant.

Centis has taught at Università IUAV di Venezia, Politecnico di Milano and at the SUNY–University at Buffalo. Most recently, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at Università IUAV di Venezia and a Visiting School Head at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London between 2020 and 2022. Centis has published essays and papers in refereed journals such as Domus, Town Planning Review, Landscape Journal, Log, OASE, Topos, Arch+, AA Files, Harvard Design Magazine. Recent books include The Lake of Venice. A scenario for Venice and its lagoon (2022, coauthored with Lorenzo Fabian), They must have enjoyed building here: Reyner Banham and Buffalo (2021) and A parallel of ruins and landscapes (2019).