ABSTRACT
Architecture, by virtue of what it is, involves moments of utopia; the architect has an idea, which she must work upon if she wants to express it in material form. In order to ensure the continuous flow of commodities the city of Capital must be a free and formless space, which means that Modern architecture. Under Capitalism the engine that drives productive processes is desire for surplus-profit, without surplus-profit all production is meaningless. Alongside the narrative from within the History of Architecture, the text simultaneously develops the theme of the Air Grid. The text then leaps to the late twentieth century to focus upon a specific constellation of projects from the Italian discourse of the 1950s and 60s. The conclusion of the text draws the two strands of inquiry together in an Air Grid proposition for the void space that lies at the heart of the Corviale development.
