How sad. Italian architect Vittorio Gregotti (1927-2020), the father of the Venice Architecture Biennale has passed today of coronavirus in San Giuseppe clinic, Milan, at 92. Urban planner, architect, educator, curator, industrial designer, and a key figure in the Italian Communist Party, Gregotti was the embodiment of the Italian Renaissance Man.
A pillar in the world of modern Italian design for the past seven decades, Gregotti began his career in 1952 at the Italian magazine Casabella, where he ended up as its seminal editor-in-chief until 1963. He formulated platforms for critic and debate which came to explore the role of architecture and design in social change. In the 1970s, he founded his own practice ‘Gregotti Associati International,’ and designed such notable buildings as the Belém Cultural Center in Lisbon (with Manuel Salgado); the Marassi Stadium in Genoa for the 1990 World Cup; the Grand Theater of Provence in France; the Arcimboldi Opera Theater in Milan; and the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa. He designed furniture, lighting, and tableware for a variety of brands throughout his career.
A pillar in the world of modern Italian design for the past seven decades, Gregotti began his career in 1952 at the Italian magazine Casabella, where he ended up as its seminal editor-in-chief until 1963. He formulated platforms for critic and debate which came to explore the role of architecture and design in social change. In the 1970s, he founded his own practice ‘Gregotti Associati International,’ and designed such notable buildings as the Belém Cultural Center in Lisbon (with Manuel Salgado); the Marassi Stadium in Genoa for the 1990 World Cup; the Grand Theater of Provence in France; the Arcimboldi Opera Theater in Milan; and the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa. He designed furniture, lighting, and tableware for a variety of brands throughout his career.
Gregotti can be credited for initiating the Venice Architecture Biennale, established by La Biennale di Venezia in 1980. When he was assigned to curate the Biennale in 1976, he included a section devoted to architecture. He believed that architecture should be expressed as a form of art in the international art event and the rest is history. In 1978, he was appointed the Director of the Biennale, when it was entitled Utopia and the Crisis of Anti-Nature: Architectural Intentions in Italy.
Lets pray for Gregotti’s wife, Mariana Mazza who has been hospitalized at the same Milan hospital. And for everyone else across the globe.
Vittorio Gregotti, Tea Service, for Cleto Munari, 1980s. Courtesy Wright Auction.
Belém Cultural Centre (1992), photograph by João Carvalho, 2011.
Table lamp, 1973, courtesy Phillips.