Editing Mario Botta (section)

==Career==
Botta designed his first building, a two-family house at [[Morbio Superiore]] in [[Ticino]], at age 16. He graduated from the [[Università Iuav di Venezia]] (1969).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.botta.ch/en/studio|title=About Botta|website=www.botta.ch}}</ref> While the arrangement of spaces in this structure is inconsistent, its relationship to its site, separation of living from service spaces, and deep window recesses echo of what would become his stark, strong, towering style. His designs tend to include a strong sense of geometry, often being based on very simple shapes, yet creating unique volumes of space.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ronco |first=Francesca |last2=Bertola |first2=Giulia |last3=Pupi |first3=Enrico |date=2023-06-01 |title=Geometric Operations in Mario Botta’s Architectural Work |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00004-023-00670-y |journal=Nexus Network Journal |language=en |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=431–445 |doi=10.1007/s00004-023-00670-y |issn=1522-4600|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=mostlymuseums |date=2021-08-20 |title=Mario Botta. 5 must see buildings in Switzerland. - Mostly Museums |url=https://mostlymuseums.com/mario-botta/ |access-date=2025-04-02 |language=en-GB}}</ref> His buildings are often made of brick, yet his use of material is wide, varied, and often unique.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-04-01 |title=Spotlight: Mario Botta |url=https://www.archdaily.com/614986/spotlight-mario-botta |access-date=2025-04-02 |website=ArchDaily |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Mario Botta: “Building is in itself a sacred act” |url=https://www.domusweb.it/en/biographies/mario-botta.html |access-date=2025-04-02 |website=www.domusweb.it |language=en-gb}}</ref>

His trademark style can be seen widely in Switzerland, particularly the [[Ticino]] region and also in the Mediatheque in [[Villeurbanne]] (1988), [[Évry Cathedral|a cathedral]] in [[Évry, Essonne|Évry]] (1995), and the [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]] or SFMOMA (1994). He also designed the [[Europa-Park]] Dome, which houses many major events at the Europa-Park theme park resort in Germany. Religious works by Botta, including the [[Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Center]] were shown in London at the [[Royal Institute of British Architects]] in an exhibition entitled, ''Architetture del Sacro: Prayers in Stone.''<ref>Jonathan Glancey, [https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2005/dec/19/architecture ''Spirit in the skylight,''] The Guardian, 19 December 2005</ref> “A church is the place, par excellence, of architecture”, he said in an interview with architectural historian [[Judith Dupré]]. “When you enter a church, you already are part of what has transpired and will transpire there. The church is a house that puts a believer in a dimension where he or she is the protagonist.  The sacred directly lives in the collective. Man becomes a participant in a church, even if he never says anything.”<ref>Judith Dupré, “Interview with Mario Botta,” Churches (New York: HarperCollins, 2001): 16.</ref>

In 1998, he designed the new bus station for [[Vimercate]] (near Milan), a red brick building linked to many facilities, underlining the city's recent development.
He worked at [[La Scala]]'s theatre renovation, which proved controversial as preservationists feared that historic details would be lost.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Riding |first=Alan |date=2004-12-05 |title=La Scala Proudly Emerges From a Drama of Its Own |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/05/arts/music/la-scala-proudly-emerges-from-a-drama-of-its-own.html |access-date=2022-05-02 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2002-12-10 |title=Critics say restoration has ruined La Scala |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/dec/10/italy.arts |access-date=2022-05-02 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref> 

In 2004, he designed Museum One (M1) of the [[Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art]] in [[Seoul]], [[South Korea]].<ref>CNN Go [http://www.cnngo.com/seoul/play/seouls-best-museums-060516 Seoul's best museums] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120928105016/http://www.cnngo.com/seoul/play/seouls-best-museums-060516 |date=2012-09-28 }} 27 October 2011. Retrieved 2011-11-04</ref> On 1 January 2006 he received the Grand Officer award from [[List of Presidents of the Italian Republic|President of the Italian Republic]] [[Carlo Azeglio Ciampi]]. In 2006, he designed his first-ever spa, the Bergoase Spa in [[Arosa]], Switzerland. The spa opened in December 2006 and cost an estimated CHF 35 million. Mario Botta participated in the [[Stock Exchange of Visions]] project in 2007. He was a member of the Jury of the Global [[Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction|Holcim Awards]] in 2012. In 2014, he was awarded with the Prize Javier Carvajal by the Universidad de Navarra.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bonell |first=Esteve |date=2014-01-01 |title=Premio Javier Carvajal 2014: Mario Botta: tres momentos de una trayectoria profesional. |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=IFME&sw=w&issn=11385596&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA421079589&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs |journal=Ra. Revista de Arquitectura |language=Spanish |issue=16 |pages=87–91|doi=10.15581/014.16.905 |s2cid=127904319 |hdl=10171/38068 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

One of Botta's less-known works is the NBG Insurance Headquarters complex in [[Athens|Athens, Greece]], completed in 2006, which represents a collaboration with [[Rena Sakellaridou]] and Morfo Papanikolaou of SPARCH architecture. The office complex features two solid forms arranged around a public square, facilitating views of the nearby [[Acropolis of Athens|Acropolis]], and an atrium filled with glass skywalks. The project, which lies substantially underground so as to minimize the impact on the urban fabric, emphasizes movement and light by transforming masses into voids.<ref>{{Cite web |title=NBG Insurance Headquarters |url=http://www.sparch.gr/en/projects-7/nbg-insurance-headquarters-286 |access-date=August 3, 2023 |website=SPARCH}}</ref> Sakellaridou highlights that the project is typical of Botta's style in its symmetry, geometry, and solid form.<ref>{{Cite web |date=Jun 26, 2021 |title=OHA virtual tours: NBG Insurance Headquarters |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqFk8-JTJHk&t=216s |access-date=August 4, 2023 |website=Open House Athens}}</ref> The collaboration of Botta and Sakellaridou is notable in that the latter paid tribute to the former in her book ''Mario Botta: Architectural Poetics''; regarding his design oeuvre, she writes: "Botta continuously invents what is a strong possibility in the vast universe of unrealized architectural probability."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sakellaridou |first=Rena |title=Mario Botta: Architectural Poetics. |publisher=Universe Publishing |year=2000 |isbn=978-0789305466 |location=New York |pages=10}}</ref>