In Latin, “Dogma” is defined as “creed of philosophy” or “principle”. For the Dogma Studio team, the truth is hidden under the clamor of progress, innovation, technology and creation, while the responsibility of the building is to reveal the truth. This quality can be clearly demonstrated by the way Dogma designs, researches, exhibitions, and drawings, and makes them one of the most important architectural teams combining design and theory for nearly two decades.
How is such a unique team formed? In the 1990s, Dogma's two co-hosts, Pier Vittorio Aureli, 1973, and Martino Tattara, 1976, studied at the University of Venice's School of Architecture (IUAV). At that time, the IUAV inherited from the Italian architectural critic Manfredo Tafuri, 1935-1994 and the architect Aldo Rossi, 1931-1997, the exploration of the complex relationship between architecture, the city, and capitalism. Influenced by this, they gradually developed an original interpretation of key information about the Italian vanguard architecture of the 1960s.
After studying at The Berlage Institute in the Netherlands and becoming a student of Elia Zenghelis, Pier-Vittorio Orly could not imagine that his relationship with architecture and the city would have developed further.
In addition to large-scale urban designs featuring Utopian colors by previous generations of Italian architects Archizoom, Superstudio, and others, Dogma's architectural drawings have also become one of the important references for “Post-Digital” painting today. An article included in the book, co-authored by O'Reilly and Tatara: “Painting an Idiotic Painting: The Relationship between Image and Projection in Our Works” (Paint a Vulgar Picture on the Relationship between Images and Projection in Our Work) In it, it talks about the process of trying to create architectural images with personal characteristics — from the computer-drawing atmosphere of the 1990s, but instead using representational methods such as hand drawings, collages, and large models; to reference Thomas Ruff, 1958~ and Andreas. The simple compositional approach of German Dusseldorf photographers such as Andreas Gursky (1955~); or Henri Rousseau, 1844 1910) Painters such as David Hockney (1937) whose styles were both realistic and abstract. In the course of the study, gradually flattening the perspective and eliminating the main points of view, achieving the ideal space that architects call “de-individuation” and “anyone can use”.
Dogma has been involved in architectural designs and commissions around the world, and in 2011 (as the name of the American rock band the Ramones), participated in the Taichung Central Park International Competition and received an Honorable Mention. In addition to numerous architectural designs, research projects, and publications, O'Reilly and Tatara have taught at a number of architectural institutions, including the British Architectural Alliance (AA), Yale University, and KU Leuven, Belgium.
