Gabriele Neri

Gabriele Neri is an architectural historian, critic and architect. He is currently Mâitre d’enseignement et de recherche at the Accademia di architettura of the Università della Svizzera italiana in Mendrisio, CH. Since 2011 he has been adjunct professor of History of Design and Architecture at the Polytechnic of Milan. He holds a Ph.D. in History of Architecture and Urban Planning (Polytechnic of Turin, 2011). 

In 2018 he was appointed member of the Board of Directors of the Fondazione Museo del Design (Triennale Design Museum, Milan, Italy). 

In 2017 he obtained the National Scientific Qualification to function as Associate Professor in Italy.

In 2020 he was awarded the Weinberg Fellowship in Architectural History and Preservation of the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia University, New York.

Since 2016 he has been associate researcher of the Archivio del Moderno (Università della Svizzera italiana) for the research project “La colonia Olivetti a Brusson di Leonardo Fiori”.

In 2015 he was awarded the Second Research Grant from The Design History Foundation (Barcelona, Spain) and the Alfaro-Hofmann Collection (Valencia, Spain).

He is columnist of the Sunday supplement of the Italian newspaper “Il Sole 24 Ore”; he is also on the editorial staff of the Swiss magazine “Archi” (Lugano) and the Italian magazine “Histories of Postwar Architecture” (Bologna).

His essays on the history of architecture, design and engineering have been published in volumes, exhibition catalogues and international reviews (“Casabella”, “Lotus International”, “TEC 21”, “Journal of the IASS”, “Il Disegno di Architettura”, “Bauwelt”, “Archi”, etc..). 

In 2014 he published the volume “Capolavori in miniatura. Pier Luigi Nervi e la modellazione strutturale”(“Miniature Masterpieces. Pier Luigi Nervi and Structural Modeling”). In 2014 he also curated an Anthology with Nervi’s writings and the reissue of Nervi’s famous book “Scienza o arte del costruire?”.

In 2015 he published the book “Caricature architettoniche. Satira e critica del progetto moderno” (“Architectural caricatures. Satire and critics of modern design”, Quodlibet, 2015; second edition 2016), focused on the relation between satire and architecture from 1850 onwards. The book won the Award of the Museum of Satire and Caricature of Forte dei Marmi, Italy, for the best scientific study on satire.

In 2017 he published “Umberto Riva. Interni e allestimenti” (LetteraVentidue, 2017; second edition 2018), focused on the work of the famous Milanese architect.

In 2017-2020 he carried out a research project on the unknown work of the Studio Nervi in Africa, which is going to be published in 2021 as “Nervi in Africa. Progetti e architetture 1964-1980” (Quodlibet, 2021, forthcoming).

He was the curator of numerous exhibitions: “Vico Magistretti. Architetto e designer Milanese” (Triennale Milano, 2020 postponed 2021); “Louis Kahn and Venezia” (Teatro dell’architettura, Mendrisio, 2018-2019); “Forme: Umberto Riva architetto designer” (Galleria Sozzani, Milano, 2019); section “Pier Luigi Nervi e il Politecnico di Milano” of “Pier Luigi Nervi. Il modello come strumento di progetto e costruzione” (Politecnico di Milano, 2017); “Pier Luigi Nervi. Art and Science of Building” (Muzeum Architektury di Wroclaw, Poland, 2013); section “Drawings” of “Facecity” (Venice Architecture Biennale 2012); “Milano Mai Vista” (Triennale Milano, 2015); section “Emergencies” of “Casa per Tutti” (Triennale Milano, 2008); section “Reduced scale models” of “Pier Luigi Nervi” (Palazzo di Torino Esposizioni, 2011); etc.