Mario Botta

Mario Botta

Banca del Gottardo in Lugano, 1982–1988

MART Rovereto , 1988-2002

Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista in Mogno, 1986–1996

Administration building of the Harting company in Minden , 1999–2001

Dortmund, City and State Library, 1995–1999

Former seat of UBS and current second seat of the BIS , Basel , 1986–1995

La Fortezza, Maastricht , 1990-2000

Museum of Modern Art , San Francisco , 1989–1995

Santa Maria degli Angeli Church (Ticino)

Fiore di Petra on Monte Generoso in Ticino , 2017

Mario Botta (born April 1, 1943 in Mendrisio , Canton Ticino ) is a Swiss architect and co-founder, architecture professor and director of the ( Accademia di Architettura ) of the Università della Svizzera italiana in Mendrisio.

Life

At the age of 15, Botta began an apprenticeship as a structural draftsman with Tita Carloni in Lugano (1958–1961). He then attended the Liceo Artistico in Milan . From 1964 to 1969 he studied architecture at the IUAV Istituto Universitario d'Architettura di Venezia, where he graduated in 1969 with Carlo Scarpa and Giuseppe Mazzariol . In the same year he opened his own architecture office in Lugano. In his further training he had contact with the legendary architects Carlo Scarpa, Le Corbusier , Louis I. Kahn and Luigi Snozzi , whose influence can be seen in many of his buildings. Botta is also considered to be the most important representative of the "Ticino School" that became famous in the 1970s and an admirer of Romanesque architecture .

Mario Botta often works with solid building materials such as natural stone, brick or concrete. Botta's rationalist style is composed of a strictly geometric, simple design language and components such as light and shadow. This combination makes the often very massive structures appear light and elegant. When designing his unmistakable works, Botta always uses the same architectural elements from an inexhaustible spectrum of shapes.

Many of his works can be found in his homeland, Ticino. Mario Botta is active worldwide and has many admirers far beyond the borders of Switzerland.

Mario Botta was appointed adjunct professor at the Swiss Federal University in Lausanne (EPFL) and an honorary member of the Association of German Architects BDA in 1983. Botta played a key role in founding the architecture department (Accademia di Architettura) at the Università della Svizzera italiana in Mendrisio, where he has taught with Aurelio Galfetti , Kenneth Frampton and Peter Zumthor since 1996 . In 2011 he was appointed director of the Accademia di Architettura; he succeeded the Bündner architect Valentin Bearth .

Private

Botta is married and has three children who have been working with him since 1998. He has lived and worked in Mendrisio since 2011.

honors and awards

• 1983 Honorary Member of the AIA American Institute of Architects
• 2006 honorary doctorate from the University of Freiburg
• 2013 Appointment to the Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts and Literature by Pope Benedict XVI.
• 2018 Joseph Ratzinger Prize

Quotes

• A master of precision, no joint is in the wrong place. ( Siegbert Keller on Mario Botta, civitas 7/8 2002)
• The ideas of life are stronger than those of architecture (Mario Botta)
• In their compact form, my buildings probably meet people's need for security, a feeling that is once again one of the most important requirements for architecture in today's world, in which everyday life is becoming increasingly harder. ( NZZ Folio , Zurich: 09/1991)

buildings

• 1971–1973: Bianchi House in Riva San Vitale , Switzerland
• 1972–1977: Middle school in Morbio Inferiore , Switzerland
• 1976–1979: Library of the Capuchin monastery in Lugano , Switzerland
• 1978–1981: Headquarters of the Freiburger Kantonalbank in Freiburg im Üechtland , Switzerland
• 1980–1981: Casa Rotonda, Medici house in Stabio , Switzerland
• 1982–1988: Banca BSI (ex Banca del Gottardo) , Lugano, Switzerland
• 1984–1988: Single-family home in Breganzona , Switzerland
• 1986–1990: residential and office building, Via Ciani un Lugano, Switzerland
• 1986–1995: UBS / BIZ bank building on Aeschenplatz in Basel , Switzerland
• 1986–1996: Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista in Mogno , Switzerland
• 1987–1989: Single-family home in Losone, Switzerland
• 1987–1992: Chiesa Parrocchiale Beato Odorico in Pordenone (Italy)
• 1987–1996: Banque Bruxelles Lambert office building in Geneva, Switzerland
• 1987: House Lützowplatz 1 (Block 234) in Berlin (as part of the 1987 International Building Exhibition )
• 1988–1995: Cathedral of Evry , France
• 1988–2002: Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto (MART) in Rovereto , Italy
• 1989–1993: Luzernerstrasse residential and commercial building in Zofingen
• 1989–1995: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art , San Francisco, USA
• 1990–1996: Santa Maria degli Angeli chapel in Monte Tamaro , Switzerland
• 1990–2000: La Fortezza residential and commercial building in Maastricht , the Netherlands
• 1990–2004: Urban planning ideas competition 1993 for Alexanderplatz in Berlin (participation in the competition)
• 1990–2006: Casinò in Campione d'Italia , Italy
• 1992–2000: Conversion of the Center Dürrenmatt in Neuchâtel , Switzerland
• 1992–2004: Library for Werner Oechslin in Einsiedeln , Switzerland
• 1993–1996: Museum Tinguely in Basel , Switzerland
• 1995–1999: Dortmund City and State Library , Germany
• 1997–1998: Office and production building for the Benkert company in Altershausen , Germany
• 1998–2001: New building of the National Bank of Greece in Athens , Greece
• 1998–2003: Extension for the Martin Bodmer Foundation , (library and museum) in Cologny (GE), Switzerland
• 1998: Cymbalista Synagogue in Tel Aviv , Israel
• 1999–2001: Harting sales building in Minden , Germany
• 1999–2001: burial chapel, Azzano di Seravezza , Italy
• 1999: Temporary church model San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane on Lake Lugano, Lugano (for the 400th birthday of Francesco Borromini , removed again in 2003)
• 2000–2001: Protective roof of the central bus stop in Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland
• 2000–2009: Bechtler Museum of Modern Art in Charlotte , North Carolina , USA
• 2000: Thermoselect plant in Ansbach (not completed)
• 2001–2004: Modernization and expansion of the “ Teatro alla Scala ”, Milan, Italy
• 2001–2006: Chiesa del Santo Volto in Turin , Italy
• 2003–2006: Extension of the Grand Hotel Tschuggen in Arosa , Switzerland
• 2005–2009: Château Faugères winery , Saint-Étienne-de-Lisse, Saint-Emilion in the Gironde department , France
• 2005, 2010–2017: Teatro dell'architettura , Architecture Academy in Mendrisio, Switzerland
• 2011-2013: Garnet chapel on the Granatalm, Penkenjoch (west of Mayrhofen), Zillertal
• 2013–2017: Panorama-Restaurant Fiore di pietra (stone flower) on Monte Generoso , Switzerland
• 2019–2021: New HC Ambrì-Piotta stadium , Switzerland

Exhibitions

• 1997/1998: Mario Botta: The Project Museum Jean Tinguely Basel , Museum Jean Tinguely Basel
• 2010/2011: Mario Botta. Architetture 1960-2010 , Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto (MART), Rovereto.
• 2011: Mario Botta - Architecture and Memory , Center Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel
• 2018: Spazio Sacro - Mario Botta , Pinacoteca Comunale Casa Rusca, Locarno

Fonts

• Buildings and projects. DVA, Stuttgart 1982. ISBN 3-421-02818-4 .
• Una casa. Electa, Milan 1989. ISBN 88-435-2983-8 .
• Building ethics. Birkhäuser, Basel 1997. ISBN 3-7643-5742-8 .
• with Markus Breitschmid (Ed.) and epilogue: Architecture and the Ambient. (= Texts on Architecture and Art , Volume 2), Virginia Tech Architecture Publications, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA 2013, ISBN 978-0-9893936-5-2 .

Literature about Botta

• Emilio Battisti (Ed.): Mario Botta: architetture e progetti negli anni 70. Electa, Milan 1981.
• Harriet S. Bee (Ed.): Mario Botta: exhibition. MOMA, New York 1987. ISBN 0-87070-258-0 .
• Helena Bernal: Mario Botta . In: Andreas Kotte (ed.): Theater Lexikon der Schweiz - Dizionario Teatrale Svizzero. Volume 1, Chronos, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0715-9 , p. 251 f. (Italian)
• Gabriele Cappellato (Ed.): Mario Botta. Light and gravity. Architecture 1993-2003. Prestel Verlag, Munich 2003. ISBN 3-7913-3186-8 .
• Philip Jodidio: Mario Botta. Taschen Verlag, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-8228-2344-9 (brief overview of life and work with excellent color images and illustrations)
• Emilio Pizzi (Ed.): Mario Botta. Zanichelli, Bologna 1991. ISBN 88-08-07228-2 .

Documents

• 1991: Faces of Switzerland by Matteo Bellinelli a . a. Documentary film for the 700th anniversary celebration of the Swiss Confederation . Episode: Mario Botta

Web links

Commons : Mario Botta  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Publications by and about Mario Botta in the Helveticat catalog of the Swiss National Library
• Literature by and about Mario Botta in the catalog of the German National Library
• Website by Mario Botta Architetto it./ en.
• Mario Botta. In: arch INFORM .
• Mario Botta at the USI it./ en.
• Cymbalista Synagogue by Mario Botta en.
• Mario Botta's Church in Mogno / Ticino
• A Family House at Riva San Vitale, by Mario Botta en.
• Map with buildings in Botta

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Biography (whoswho.de) accessed on January 20, 2013
2. ^ "New role for Ticino architect Mario Botta" , NZZ, September 1, 2011
3. ↑ http://www.botta.ch/it/STUDIO
4. ↑ Gerhard Lob: Mario Botta set an example at Mendrisio's architecture academy - theater of architecture. Tessinerzeitung, Locarno February 9, 2018, p. 3
5. ↑ List of honorary doctors of the Theological Faculty of the University of Friborg (Switzerland) ( Memento from August 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
6. ↑ Appointments in the Vatican , February 23, 2013
7. ↑ https://www.nextroom.at/building.php?id=2095
8. ↑ Sichterderstadt.wordpress.com: Thermoselect system
9. ↑ granatalm.at: Garnet Chapel
10. ↑ Lucerne newspaper of March 30, 2017
11. ↑ Program December 22nd, 2018. Accessed August 28, 2019 . 
12. ^ Exhibition Mario Botta December 9, 1997 - April 20, 1998 on the website tinguely.ch
13. ↑ FAZ of November 3, 2010, page 32: Dressur des Monumentalismus
14. ↑ Large special exhibition on architecture (1960-2010) by Mario Botta in the Center Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel April 2, 2011 - August 14, 2011
15. ↑ Casa Rusca  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
16. ↑ originally published in Italy as: Architettura e ambiente. Note per una conferencea di Mario Botta. In: Mario Botta 1978-1982. Il laboratorio di architettura. Electa Editrice, Milano 1983, pp. 115-116