Editing Mario Botta

{{Short description|Swiss architect, born 1943}}
{{Infobox architect
|name                 = Mario Botta
|image                = Mario Botta - Festival Economia 2016.jpg
|image_size           = 
|caption              = Mario Botta (2016)
|nationality          = Swiss
|birth_date           = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1943|4|1|df=y}}
|birth_place          = [[Mendrisio]], Switzerland
|death_date           = 
|death_place          = 
|significant_buildings=[[National Bank of Greece]], [[Athens]]<br />[[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]]<br />[[Bechtler Museum of Modern Art]], [[Charlotte, NC]][[Kimbrell Fiber Innovation Center]]<br/>Santa Maria degli Angeli, [[Monte Tamaro]], [[Switzerland]]
}}

'''Mario Botta''' is a Swiss architect born in Mendrisio, Ticino on 1 April 1943. At age fifteen, Botta dropped out of secondary school and apprenticed with the architectural firm of Carloni and Camenisch in Lugano. After three years, he went to the Art College in [[Milan]] for his baccalaureate, and then to [[Università Iuav di Venezia]] for his professional degree in 1969. During his time in Venice, Botta got to meet and work with the architects: [[Carlo Scarpa]], [[Louis Kahn]] and [[Le Corbusier]]. Mario Botta started his own architectural practice in [[Lugano]] in 1970.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wrede |first=Stuart |title=Mario Botta |publisher=Museum of Modern Art |year=1986 |isbn=0870702580 |editor-last= |editor-first= |edition= |location=New York |pages=8 |editor-last2= |editor-first2= |editor-last3=}}</ref>

==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>

== Architectural style ==
Mario Botta has been heavily influenced by the [[Modern architecture]] movement, specifically the three Modernist architects Botta has worked under: [[Louis Kahn]], [[Carlo Scarpa]] and [[Le Corbusier]]. Botta does not place himself in the Modernist movement, but rather he is responding to it. His architecture is tied very closely with nature, and is very simple. Botta believes that architecture is a basic need for man, and therefore creates buildings that symbolize simplicity and the essentials. About his own work, he says "it is an architecture which is measured by the yardstick of a man's needs."<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dimitriu |first1=Livio |last2=Botta |first2=Mario |date=1983 |title=Architecture and Morality: An Interview with Mario Botta |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1567069 |journal=Perspecta |volume=20 |pages=119–138 |doi=10.2307/1567069|jstor=1567069 }}</ref>

Mario Botta's style is in part defined by his clients needs. Most of his early work was planned and constructed under a tight budget, so use of low cost materials, such as exposed concrete blocks, was necessary. To Botta, material cost does not influence or define his style, as good architecture is made regardless of the medium or material. Botta also believes that architecture is the formal expression of history; and his job as an architect, to some degree, is to give validity to low budget materials through thoughtful expression.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sherman |first=Williams |date=1987 |title=The Architecture of Mario Botta |url=https://offcite.rice.edu/2010/02/ArchitectureOfMarioBotta_Sherman_Cite17.pdf |journal=Rice University |pages=10,11 |via=Rice.edu}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
File:Casa_parrocchiale_Genestrerio.jpg|First construction of Mario Botta 1961–1963. Parish house in [[Genestrerio]]
File:Mogno.jpg|[[Church of San Giovanni Battista, Mogno|Church of St. John the Baptist]] in the Swiss town of [[Mogno]]
File:1 Evry Cathedral.jpg|[[Évry Cathedral]] in [[Évry, Essonne|Évry]], France 
File:2 Evry Cathedral.jpg|Facade of Évry Cathedral (photo by [[Pino Musi]])
File:3 Evry Cathedral.jpg|Évry Cathedral from the northwest  
File:4 Evry Cathedral.jpg|Interior of [[Évry Cathedral]]
File:Bellinzona Fernmeldedirektion detail.jpg|[[Swisscom]] telecommunication headquarters in [[Bellinzona]]
File:Harting Minden.jpg|[[:de:Harting Technologiegruppe|Harting Technologiegruppe]] headquarters in [[Minden]]
File:Maastricht2013, Avenue Céramique01.jpg|La Fortezza building, [[Maastricht]], the Netherlands
File:Watarium.jpg|[[Watari Museum of Contemporary Art]] in [[Shibuya-ku]], [[Tokyo]], [[Japan]]
File:San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2011.jpg|[[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]] in [[San Francisco]]
File: Casinò di Campione, day1.jpg|[[Casinò di Campione]] in [[Campione d'Italia]]
File:BechtlerMuseumCharlotte.jpg|[[Bechtler Museum of Modern Art]] in [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]], [[North Carolina]]
File:StLB Dortmund.jpg|[[:de:Stadt- und Landesbibliothek Dortmund|Stadt- und Landesbibliothek]] (Central library) in [[Dortmund]]
File:Chiesa di Santa Maria degli Angeli 01.jpg|Chiesa di Santa Maria degli Angeli on Monte Tamaro
File:Chiesa di Santa Maria degli Angeli 02.jpg|Chiesa di Santa Maria degli Angeli on Monte Tamaro
File:Cymbalista Synagogue 01.jpg|Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Center in [[Tel Aviv]], Israel
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* [[Markus Breitschmid]] (ed.), ''Architecture and the Ambient – Mario Botta''. Architectura et Ars Series, Volume 2, Virginia Tech Architecture Publications, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-9893936-5-2}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|title=Design of the 20th Century|first1=Charlotte|last1=Fiell|first2=Peter|last2=Fiell|publisher=Taschen|location=Köln|edition=25th anniversary|year=2005|pages=124–125|isbn=9783822840788|oclc=809539744}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Helveticat}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190116221918/http://www.botta.ch/ Official website]
*{{ArchINFORM|arch|375}}
* {{Theaterlexikon|Mario Botta|1|251|252|author=Helena Bernal|language=it}}
*[http://www.designbuild-network.com/features/feature1561/ 2007 Interview with Mario Botta in The Leaf Review]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110527024046/http://www.stockexchangeofvisions.org/speaker.php?id=18 Stock Exchange Of Visions: Visions of Mario Botta (Video Interviews)]
*[http://storiesofhouses.blogspot.com/2005/07/family-house-at-riva-san-vitale-by.html STORIES OF HOUSES: A Family House at Riva San Vitale, by Mario Botta]
*[http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/montetamaro/ Santa Maria degli Angeli Monte Tamaro]
*[http://www.arti-fact.com/architect/map/121/Mario-Botta Mario Botta Architecture on Google maps]
*[https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/mario-botta-architect Mario Botta. To be an architect, free online course on FutureLearn.com]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Botta, Mario}}
[[Category:20th-century Swiss architects]]
[[Category:21st-century Swiss architects]]
[[Category:Modernist architects]]
[[Category:Postmodern architects]]
[[Category:Mario Botta buildings| 01]]
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Architects from Ticino]]
[[Category:People from Mendrisio]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie d'architecture]]
[[Category:Ratzinger Prize laureates]]