“One can say that the city itself is the collective memory of its people,” said the Italian architect Aldo Rossi, “and like memory it is associated with objects and places. The city is the locus of the collective memory.” A neo-rationalist at heart, Rossi believed that architects should respect the context of a city, and that a disruption of its fabric can mean the loss of its heart. He designed large commissions in Fukuoka, Japan, and the Netherlands; and in 1979 he created Venice’s Teatro del Mondo, the city’s first floating theater. In this retrospective, Rossi’s theoretical and practical contributions to architecture are examined, while drawings, projects, writings, and models promise a grand display. —E.C.