Maria Giuseppina Grasso Cannizzo exhibited at the Venice Biennial in 2004 and 2008, and was honored by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 2012. That same year she won a gold medal for her life’s work at the Milan Triennial, and has been nominated twice for the Mies van der Rohe Prize. Nevertheless, she’s still considered an insider’s tip. She lives in Vittoria, a small city in southern Sicily, where she realizes the majority of her architecture, including many transformations of historical buildings, single and multiple-family housing, or projects such as the control tower in Marina di Ragusa. Grasso Cannizzo’s special design methods are based on her analyses of the urban context and the landscape, as well as her examination of the specific “story” behind each project. She translates the knowledge gained into minimal, self-aware, and sometimes radical concepts, which are ultimately always open to any changes that life and the passage of time may bring. At the same time, this first comprehensive monograph is also a conceptual manifesto by Grasso Cannizzo. Collected in a black box, loose prints provide insight into her most important buildings and make it possible to see the architect’s general design methods.
