Hints for a Neo-Baroque Aesthetic in Contemporary Architecture

Abstract

The 17th century has always been called 'the century of flowers'. Apart from the invasion of exotic plants from the New World, the birth of the Flower Garden as a new type of exposition and the evolution of the art of gardening, the flower is a symbol of an era. Baroque architecture is defined precisely by the 'witty shapes' of the curved lines and the impressive 'decorative efflorescence'. This paper intends to highlight the neo-Baroque character intrinsically present in some of the greatest contemporary architects such as Paolo Portoghesi, Frank Gehry and Jean Nouvel who, in parallel with the rediscovery of the value of the Baroque period in the 20th century, have re-proposed neo-Baroque aesthetics and forms in their architecture, making their architecture "bloom" by proposing that dynamic of folds well described by Deleuze's philosophy. It is possible to reflect on a widespread contemporary aesthetic among the most important contemporary architects in which neo-Baroque flowers express the same qualities as the flowers found in 17th-century architecture: ephemerality and precariousness.