Contents:

1: Introduction

2: Background/Ideology

3.Project Examples

4. Methodology

5: Case Study St. John The Baptist Church Mogno

6: Critique

7: Slide Presentation.
Introduction:

Mario Botta is an architect who is very difficult to define in his ideology and approach.

Originally lauded as a genius of Postmodernism in his early works, he has turned his back on

this style describing it as "global Disneyland-architecture".

He has been strongly linked with the Italian Neo Rationalist group the Tendenaz, who turned

to the complexity of the urban realm and sought to understand the way architectural forms

responded to changes in historical events in an attempt to reconcile traditional architectural

symbolism with the aesthetic rules of the Modern Movement.

To risk pigeonholing Botta would be to describe him as a neo-realist in his approach as a kind

of Postmodernist Classicist who invents his own orders.

Bottas spiritual and philosophical beliefs strongly influence his life not just his architecture.

He has always committed himself to architectural research and since 1996 he has been

involved as creator and founder of the new academy of architecture in Ticino Switzerland.

His work has achieved international renown and many important awards.

Awards Include:

• Merit Award for Excellence in Design by the AIA for the Museum of Modern Art in San

Francisco,

• The IAA Annual Prix 2005, International Academy of Architecture, Sofia Bulgaria for

the Kyobo Tower,

• The International Architecture Award, the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of

Architecture and Design and

• The “European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage Europa Nostra”, The Hague (The

Netherlands)for the restructuring of the Theatre alla Scala in Milan) and been

presented in many exhibitions

Some of his most famous works are

Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco , USA

1989-1995

2
The Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Center, Tel Aviv, Israel

1996-1998

Swisscom Building

Bellinzona, switzerland

1988-1999

3
 1. Background /Ideology

Born in Mendrisio, Ticino, on 1st April, 1943.

Mario Botta left school at the age of 15 to apprentice

with the architectural firm of Carloni and Camenisch in

Lugano, Switzerland.

In 1964 he passed his final exams at the School for the

Arts.
Figure 1
In the autumn of that year, he had begun attending

courses at the Architectural school of the university of Venice.

During his time in Venice a professor arranged for Botta to enter a studio that had been

created by Le Corbusier in Venice, on what was to be his final project, the Venice Hospital

1964-65.

Their encounter would have been brief as Le Corbusier drowned on August 27, 1965.

In 1969, Botta met several people who would have had a significant impact on his work,

these were Louis Kahn, Carlo Scarpa and Giuseppe Mazzariol.

After apprenticing with Louis I. Kahn he began to develop his own style impressing Kahn by

inventing his own orders, ditching the forms of old such as the Dorics, Corinthian and opting

for a layering of colours, textures, materials, and elements from contrasting historical styles.

4
Ideology

Bottas ideology could be briefly summarised under the following headings,

• The importance of the site

• Purity of Geometric Volumes

• Design to elevate and benefit society

• A need for a point of reference for a transitional space and the importance

of natural light and its relationship with the cycle of the seasons and time.

• Historical determinism in which architecture acts as a mirror of its times.

The importance of the site

"To build is a sacred act, an action that transforms a condition of nature into a condition of
culture (1)

Architecture to Botta is not only to lay stone on the ground, it is to take possession of

space and transform a site.

Bottas works characteristically shows respect for local conditions as a great deal of his

research spent on a project is in the study of the topography of a site.

He believes his works should not detract from or deny the importance of a place.

Design to elevate and benefit society

"I think architecture is a civil duty that relates to mankind, a social duty that concerns
society and an ethical duty, as architecture can represent values related to the way
we live".(2)
Botta states that architecture must always be moral in its approach, as creating

architecture means transforming a place and should be considered a privilege, and

with privilege must carry certain responsibilities to its surrounds and the population

that inhabits it. This belief could be linked to the ideas of the Tendenaz who also

believed that architecture must possess a democratic spirit, with emphasis on the

value of ordinary people and people must always be considered when building as

they don’t like having the familiar replaced.

5
 As well as the Tendenaz this idea could also be strongly associated with Le Corbusier

who believed that architecture was for the benefit of mankind as expressed in his

book of essays L'Esprit Nouveau or “Towards a new Architecture”, that advocated

the use of modern industrial techniques and strategies to transform society into a

more efficient environment with a higher standard of living on all socio economic

levels.

Purity of Geometric Volumes

In Bottas work, using primary geometric volumes usually, cylinders or cubes

characterize his forms. Botta uses form as a medium to give shape for the basis of

his architecture.

Bottas volumes aim to not always rely on external references for their meaning,

rather, in some instances his forms can be symbolic rather than entering into a direct

dialogue with its context.

This idea could be attributed to Le Corbusiers belief that primary geometrical forms

can best express an idea. Le Corbusiers ideology was heavily influenced by right

angles using the Cube as a preferred geometric solid, where as Botta works with the

geometric relationships between the cylinder and cube along axes of symmetry which

is evidenced in most of his works.

Need for a point of reference on the inside and a transitional space on the outside

“Man inhabits a space when he is able to orient himself within it. This leads to man's ability to

measure his space and experience its orientation and its direction as well as place it in

relation to the cycles of the sun and the seasons and acquire an awareness of that space and

his inhabiting that space”. “Martin Heidegger”(3)

Botta believes that man can understand and negotiate his space more comfortably

whether it be a building in a city or an interior space within a building, if there is a point

of reference that can be identified in relation to the area. This belief is heavily influenced

by the German Philosopher who Botta often quotes when speaking on this subject, this

6
 could also be attributed to Kahn who designed his buildings in order to avail of the

natural light which he has been renowned for his ability to create dramatic scenes within

a space, altering the experience of the building from day to night and in the changing of

the seasons from summer through winter.

One of Kahns most famous buildings to employ this is the Kimbell art museum in Fort

Worth, Texas.

Historical determinism in which architecture acts as a mirror of its times.

“Architecture is the shape of history, therefore it has to portray the expectations,

hopes and contradictions of its own time”. (4)

Rather than attempting to replicate the examples of history and its different styles.

Botta observes and pays tribute to the historical but steers clear of the post

modernist trend of adding such features such as faux Romanesque elements to his

buildings, he believes architecture should reflect the present and let history

determine its success. The influence for this idea could again be linked to the

Tendenaz and also Carlo Scarpa who was renowned for his opposition to

interventionist works he was commissioned to carry out during his career. Scarpa

believed that trying to introduce modern restorations over historical features was

“They order you to imitate the style of ancient windows, forgetting that those

windows were produced in different times by a different way of life with ‘windows’

made of other materials in other styles and with a different way of making windows.

Anyway stupid imitations of that sort always look mean. Buildings that imitate look

like humbugs”,(5)

7
Project examples

Figure 2

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art USA 1989-1995

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art ,SFMOMA, represents Bottas purity in geometric

volumes on a grand scale as the cylindrical form stands central, capturing the natural light

and conducting it down into a spacious cavity into the centre of the building, around which

are arranged the distribution routes giving access to the exhibition rooms.The brick

arrangement on the exterior of the building is placed in such a way as to create shadow

patterns on the walls changing the direction of the sun. The building represents a bold

statement of intent standing in a dense urban

environment holding its own among the surrounding

buildings that are many times its size.

Figure 3

8
Figure 4

House in Stabio ,Ticnio Switzerland, 1989-1991

The house in Stabio Ticino was the first of Bottas round buildings. The primary cylindrical

form is hollowed out to create individual spaces with their own individual negative forms that

imply an axis of symmetry .The vertical arrangement of the windows allow for a generous

amount of light to enter during the day and transforms the building at night by bringing the

interior of the building into the foreground of the composition on the outside.

The building does not enter into a dialogue with the other buildings within it’s surrounds.

into its own the building by with adds autonomy to the building on its site as it stands within

the landscape.

9
 Church of St. John the Baptist, Mogno, Maggia valley , Switzerland

"There's a strong, but very personal need for the

sacred, Iconography cannot contribute much to

this need, therefore sacred spaces must be

reduced to their essential function.”(6)

Based at the foot of a mountain the symmetrical

cylindrical form of the church allows light to flow

into the nave ,the way the light and sunshine enter

the building through the thick glass panes alters

the appearance of the interior that is situated

underground. The twelve large arches behind the

Figure 5 altar, alternating dark and pale are reminiscent of

the porch of a vast cathedral. The large buttresses show how Botta looks to the historical and

introduces these subtleties that are instantly recognisable a symbols of a church. While being

respectful to the traditions of the ecumenical the church does not overtly display references

or ornamentation normally associated with the appearance to the traditional church.

Figure 6
Figure 7 10
 Middle School in Morbio Inferiore, Switzerland.

Located within a rural landscape in Morbio, this school was Bottas first public building. It is a

linear form that aims to sit as a landmark in the landscape being indifferent to its

surroundings. The school’s design is basically organized around natural illumination for the

rooms which is provided from diverse sources with the use of negative space and voids

creating reference points for the readability of the structure to assure the transparency of the

empty space around which the building surrounds. Rather than being an object placed on a

site the building is intended to create the site.

Figure 8

Figure 9
11
 Library at Capuchin Monastery

The library at the Capuchin Convent resting serenely

in a vineyard displays Bottas recognition of, and

respect for the site as the building is sited

underground. In this instance it is an exercise in the

reversal of massing as form is expressed solely in the

negative. The triangular skylight and vertical slits are

the only indications of the building from above. The

relationship with the sky plays a particularly important

role in this underground building as orientating

oneself and noting the distinctions between public

and specific areas are particularly important when the

possibility of communicating with exterior references

Figure 10
are diminished.

Figure 12
Figure 11

12
Methodology

Figure 13

Bottas methodology begins in research approaching the problem in hand from both a

philosophical and spiritual perspective. He also spends a great deal of time researching the

topography of each site where he intends to build, spending much time “listening” to the

local area and its geography and societal context. "I need to go and explore and ask a place

— and intuit its aspirations, sense its history, I believe that a place contains the potential for

its own transformation. If one listens, it will tell you what to do."

Botta is a prolific and very talented sketcher and all of his designs begin and end there.

He uses his sketches as visual notes for the design throughout the whole process. The sketch

shown demonstrates how Botta thinks while sketching, working in plan and possibly testing

his ideas in perspective.

Botta works in this way all through to final detail plan constantly drawing and correcting over

different versions as his design develops.

Botta likens his sketches to fragments of a large mosaic of possible designs, from early

concepts to the final details. With the faint lines extend across the plan to indicate either

elements above or guidelines for the proportions.

13
This process seems to keep Botta in constant dialogue with his design thus enabling him to

refine and visualize the design with this method.

14
 Figure 14

Case Study

Church of St. John the Baptist, Mogno, Maggia valley, Switzerland

Project

1986/92

Construction

1992-1998

Location

Mogno-Fusio, Maggia Valley , TI, Switzerland

Commissioned by

Mogno Church Reconstruction Association

In April of 1986, an enormous landslide destroyed a dozen buildings in Mogno, including the

town’s church. Mario Botta was presented with the task of reconstructing the 17th century

church, which is dedicated to St. John the Baptist.

The concept for this project was for Botta, a meditation upon the relationship between the

building, as an expression of man's presence on the land, and the boundless power of nature.

The subtle play between the massiveness of the stone wall and the lightness of the glass roof

15
was to be a testimony to the survival of the building, which is designed as a symbol of

defiance of the mountain by the village. The thick lower mass of the stone wall reflects the

nature of the construction as a whole, and is lightened by the gradual tapering of the courses

towards the top.

Figure 15

The interior plan consists of a rectangle inscribed within an external ellipse that ultimately

changes into a circle at roof level. Botta orientates the church space by means of the axis of

the ellipse, which becomes a circle at the conveniently sloped roof. The powerful structure of

two buttresses, which tie the lower and upper walls together, emphasizes the strength of

resistance required in a building designed to cope with the brutal forces of nature.

Materials

The materials used in the construction were a double skinned stone block wall made of

alternating courses of Riveo granite and white Peccia marble. The glazed roof is supported by

a metallic structure, framed in black iron, designed to look like a leaf or the tree of life, allows

light to shine into the interior at all seasons and times of day, but constantly changing. It is a

16
checkerboard of dark and pale stone.. The floors are Riveo granite and Peccia marble slabs.

The construction method, marked by the striped, two-colour facades, stresses a classic

stratification of the stone building and underlines the attention to gravity involved in this

technique.

Diagram of the Designers Concept

17
Critique

Figure 16
“The determination to resist the mountain, to bear witness to something greater than ones

own life, the need to consolidate the patrimony of work, the need to overcome the sense of

loneliness, the necessity of affirming the hopes and expectations of our times, the need to

take action in the space between the absent immensity of the infinite, and the consciousness

of ones own limits”(7)

Successful

The geometry of the construction is beautiful in its design as it’s made up of simple additive

forms using the cylinder for the exterior acting as the statement of the designers intent,

elliptical in plan and extending to the top creating a solid presence of the massive volume of

the cylinder as it raises its height to that of the mountains. The truncation of the cylinder at

the roof creates a perfect circle of glass that invites natural light making dramatic

transformations at different times of the day and through the changing light from the

positioning of the sun through the seasons and giveing continual contact with nature. The

massive stone wall is not just a surface it’s mass on a great scale and clearly underpins

18
Bottas attempt to resist a great force of nature and the statement it makes to me is “I

respect the power of nature but I will overcome and intend to so for a long time to come”.

The use of the Buttresses and the arch to me are very clever features, although being very

modern in their appearance they leave the visitor in no doubt that they are in a church.

The contrast of the colouring of the stone used in the interior, works from the point of view

of creating an atmosphere that commands silence and invites contemplation.

Unsuccessful

Although the form represents a determination to resist, one wonders if Bottas use of form

could have been more sympathetic to the context of the area. For the size of the building I

question whether the cylinder is in correct proportion to the functional space. When I

consider this, I have a niggling that sometimes Bottas motives for this and other designs are

not only a statement of their own time but also a monument to their creator in their massive

volumes and materials used that will inevitability stand the test of time, but when the

symbolism that they were designed to represent fade or become outdated that one constant

will remain, that of their Architect.

Stephen Dignam Dec 2009.

19
Bibliography:

Quotes:

(1) How Botta Builds, Debra Moffit - http://www.architectureweek.com/2006/0830/culture_1-

2.html

(2) http://www.designbuild-network.com/features/feature1561/

(3)

(4) http://www.designbuild-network.com/features/feature1561/

,(5) Essay on Carlo Scarpa http://www.scribd.com/doc/18092387/Carlo-Scarpa

(6) http://www.designbuild-network.com/features/feature1561/

(7) Sakelaridu Irenea, 2006, Mario Botta Architectural poetics, Hudson & Thames p.100

Books:

Smith Sekandra, 2006, Architects drawings world famous Architects Elsevier Limited, ISBN 0

7506 57197

Samuel Flora ,2007, Le Corbusier in detail, Elsevier Limited ,ISBN 978-0-75-066354-0

Sakelaridu Irenea, 2006, Mario Botta Architectural poetics, Hudson & Thames

Articles:

Psarra Sophia 1997,Geometry and space in the Architecture of Le Corbusier and Mario Botta

Space Syntax First International Symposium London

Online References:

http://designmuseum.org/design/louis-kahn

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carlo_Scarpa&printable=yes
1 of 2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Heidegger

http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/destinations/culture/culture-in-switz...

http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/sfmoma/index.html
1 of

20
http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/School_in_Morbio_Inferior.html
1 of

http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/glk?http://www.philadelphiabui...

http://mail.architexturez.net/+/Deleuze-Guattari-L/archive/msg13144.shtml

http://www.designbuild-network.com/features/feature1561/

http://www.architectureweek.com/2006/0830/culture_1-1.html

Images:

Figure 1: www.botta.ch/index.html

Figure 2 Sakelaridu Irenea, 2006, Mario Botta Architectural poetics, Hudson & Thames

Figure 3 www.botta.ch/index.html

Figure 4 www.botta.ch/index.html

Figure 5 Sakelaridu Irenea, 2006, Mario Botta Architectural poetics, Hudson & Thames

Figure 6 Sakelaridu Irenea, 2006, Mario Botta Architectural poetics, Hudson & Thames

Figure 7 Sakelaridu Irenea, 2006, Mario Botta Architectural poetics, Hudson & Thames

Figure 8 Sakelaridu Irenea, 2006, Mario Botta Architectural poetics, Hudson & Thames

Figure 9 Sakelaridu Irenea, 2006, Mario Botta Architectural poetics, Hudson & Thames

Figure 10 www.botta.ch/index.html

Figure 11 www.botta.ch/index.html

21
Figure 12 www.botta.ch/index.html

Figure 13 Smith Sekandra, 2006, Architects drawings world famous Architects Elsevier

Limited, ISBN 0 7506 57197

Figure 14 www.botta.ch/index.html

Figure 15 www.botta.ch/index.html

Figure 16 Sakelaridu Irenea, 2006, Mario Botta Architectural poetics, Hudson & Thames

22
Mario Botta Ideology

Stephen Dignam

2631634

December 2009

23
Filename: Mario Botta 1
Directory: C:\4th_YR_SD\DESIGN THEORY
Template: C:\Documents and Settings\Stevie\Application
Data\Microsoft\Templates\Normal.dot
Title: Contents:
Subject:
Author: Stevie
Keywords:
Comments:
Creation Date: 09/12/2009 09:01
Change Number: 83
Last Saved On: 18/12/2009 12:19
Last Saved By: Stevie
Total Editing Time: 1,611 Minutes
Last Printed On: 18/12/2009 12:19
As of Last Complete Printing
Number of Pages: 23
Number of Words: 3,003 (approx.)
Number of Characters: 17,121 (approx.)