Roberto Gargiani (born September 1956) is an Italian architectural historian and a full professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).
[2] His early research, carried out during the 1980s and 1990s, focused on 20th French century architecture and interiors, on Auguste Perret and his school, and on Le Corbusier.
History of construction, from antiquity to the contemporary era, is the subject of books and essays on a wide range of topics, spanning from the construction of the Louvre colonnade in reinforced stone, to the libraries of Henri Labrouste, to the question of polychromy and its implications on the concept of truth of materials, to Gottfried Semper’s principle of cladding and its influences on techniques in modern architecture.
The outcome of the research on the history of construction led to the publication of edited collections of essays dedicated to the essential elements of architecture - column, floor, platform, etc.
In the early 2000s his research on contemporary architecture, in particular on Rem Koolhaas, Archizoom Associati and Superstudio, resulted in several monographic essays and an exposition.