This handsome and richly photographed book, another highly anticipated addition to IMAGES’ Leading Architects Series, emphatically showcases the well-structured, strong compositional order of Mario Botta’s work. Replete with beautifully defined photographs, detailed plans, hand-drawn sketches and insightful commentary, this volume organises everything into a whole, and reveals the underlying themes throughout Mario Botta’s designs. These illuminated themes act as ties to connect common threads that bind one building to the next: Botta’s mountain residences to museums and churches, banks and commercial buildings to buildings on the ground and buildings underground. Mario Botta Architetti harnesses an engaging contemporary architectural discourse to provide disciplinary meaning as it stakes out its share of cultural architectural design heritage.
Cover images: Papa Giovanni XXIII Church, Seriate, Italy; © Enrico Cano (front); Garnet chapel, Zillertal, Austria © Franz Dengg (back)
MARIO BOTTA ARCHITETTI
Mario Botta’s buildings are recognized for their strong presence as autonomous objects. His architecture is not ephemeral: It shapes the mass firmly and precisely and touches the ground with self-reliance, all the while standing in dialogue with the surrounding landscape, the urban tissue.
LEADING ARCHITECTS
LEADING ARCHITECTS SERIES
MARIO BOTTA A R C H I T E T T I
MARIO BOTTA ARCHITETTI
PRIMA AND SECONDA CHAIRS The two chairs both originate from the same geometrical basis. A back-to-front reversal in the construction differentiates Prima from Seconda, which, with the extension of the two vertical elements and the addition of armrests, becomes a small armchair.
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Design 1982 Production Since 1982 Manufacturer Alias SpA Size 19 in x 23 in x 29 in (48 cm x 58 cm x 72 cm) Weight 11 pounds (5 kg) Structure Steel tubing, metallic gray or opaque black epoxy resin coating Seat Slotted steel plate, metallic gray or matt black Back Two rotating cylindrical sections in soft black polyurethane foam Photography Aldo Ballo
21
MARIO BOTTA ARCHITETTI HOUSE IN BREGANZONA
46
47
MARIO BOTTA ARCHITETTI WATARI-UM ART GALLERY
52
53
MARIO BOTTA ARCHITETTI LEEUM, SAMSUNG MUSEUM OF ART
122
123
MARIO BOTTA ARCHITETTI TSINGHUA ART MUSEUM
184
185
MARIO BOTTA ARCHITETTI TSINGHUA ART MUSEUM
188
189
MARIO BOTTA ARCHITETTI HOTEL TWELVE
210
211
This handsome and richly photographed book, another highly anticipated addition to IMAGES’ Leading Architects Series, emphatically showcases the well-structured, strong compositional order of Mario Botta’s work. Replete with beautifully defined photographs, detailed plans, hand-drawn sketches and insightful commentary, this volume organises everything into a whole, and reveals the underlying themes throughout Mario Botta’s designs. These illuminated themes act as ties to connect common threads that bind one building to the next: Botta’s mountain residences to museums and churches, banks and commercial buildings to buildings on the ground and buildings underground. Mario Botta Architetti harnesses an engaging contemporary architectural discourse to provide disciplinary meaning as it stakes out its share of cultural architectural design heritage.
Cover images: Papa Giovanni XXIII Church, Seriate, Italy; © Enrico Cano (front); Garnet chapel, Zillertal, Austria © Franz Dengg (back)
MARIO BOTTA ARCHITETTI
Mario Botta’s buildings are recognized for their strong presence as autonomous objects. His architecture is not ephemeral: It shapes the mass firmly and precisely and touches the ground with self-reliance, all the while standing in dialogue with the surrounding landscape, the urban tissue.
LEADING ARCHITECTS
LEADING ARCHITECTS SERIES
MARIO BOTTA A R C H I T E T T I