Faxing Architecture

Abstract

In 1986, Aldo Rossi opened a satellite office in New York City. This moment marked a transition from traveling to establishing a permanent presence in the United States. And, more importantly, it turned Rossi’s practice into a multinational organization. It is fair to say that most of his subsequent projects were developed on the Milan - New York axis. The trait d’union was the fax machine, which allowed materials and ideas to be exchanged with an unprecedented level of immediacy. This research paper explores how faxing impacted the production of architecture within this decentralized system, intersecting multiple key topoi of the architectural discourse of the time.