Forme cospicue lungo le autostrade

In the art of marine navigation, landmarks are defined as natural or artificial features standing out against the coastal background. Unambiguously recognizable, they are used as reference points for piloting. Such conspicuous objects as towers, antennas, smokestacks simultaneously exist in two different worlds: in the former, each form is actually utilitarian; in the latter, the very same forms are mere features of the landscape, which give measure to the land and weave intangible spatial networks. Thus, what matters is actually their shape: they are form for form’s sake. A comparison between the everyday world, where forms are utilitarian, and the world of seamanship, where steering is based on triangulations, emphasizes the difference between those who use form and space taking them for granted, and those who watch and master them wittingly. Thus, there are two ways of seeing, the everyday absent-minded glance, and the acute searching gaze, capable of catching space-time relationships, aware of its position and course. Apart from the realm of navigation, which emphasizes the gap between the two ways of seeing, there are other parallel worlds in which we are led to watch for and reference conspicuous forms. One of them is undoubtedly the highway network. Landmarks that stand out along the highway are quite similar to those of the coastal landscape. The rich array of highway landmarks is divided here into five main sets. Some of them can be described as pure and incisive forms, rigorous works of architecture, true lessons in design.