Mario Botta Architetti

There was a time, not that long ago, when the importance of place, context, and culture were not highly valued. There was an exhibition of the work of architects in the Ticino Canton of Switzerland in the 1970s that produced an A4-size, horizontal, blue-covered catalogue, which recorded built and proposed projects in the Ticino region. The influence of this catalogue should not be underestimated. Contained within were radical and contemporary architectural responses to place. This document with its powerful contents, combined with Kenneth Frampton’s writings on critical regionalism, were significant influences on us as young architects in Ireland.
In 1976, we travelled to Ticino to see and experience, in reality, this work. The abstract and physical presence of the Secondary School in Morbio Inferiore and the vertical tower house with the red metal bridge by Mario Botta were impressive. We invited Mario Botta to come to speak in Dublin. His seminal lecture at the National Gallery of Ireland, was delivered in Italian and translated by architect and artist, Patrick Hickey, to a full capacity audience of hundreds.
Now, for this Biennale Architettura, Botta presents a tactile, timber, circular enclosure, which responds to the structural mass of the Corderie, in which work of students of the Accademia di architettura enrich the interior with tabernacle-like architectural research.
YF+SMcN