By Ambra Fabi and Giovanni Piovene

The book is organized as a reader: a collection of contributions, ranging from Vitruvius to the current day dealing, in different ways with the debate around ornament. Exploring patterns, intended as regularly repetitive arrangements reflecting the time and the society in which they are conceived; looking at information superstructures like texts, frescoes and screens, when they become the main instrument to compose a building; enlarging ornament to the whole urban environment, embracing the complexity of shared space and imagining it as a scene for the development of public life.

This is a book series for the fifth edition of Lisbon Architecture Triennale, published by Poligrafia.