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Architect : Mario Botta

Casa Rotonda

Casa Rotonda is a single-family house designed by the Swiss architect Mario Botta in 1981. Located in Stabio (in southern Switzerland) in the canton of Ticino, the dramatic cylindrical shape of the free-standing building is reminiscent of traditional agrarian structures. Built of concrete block, wood, glass, and steel, it is an example of Botta’s interest in a synthesis of modernism and regional vernacular architecture. Kenneth Frampton, the architectural critic, offered it as example of the movement he labeled critical regionalism.

HISTORY

In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s the Ticino region changed from a primarily agricultural economy to an industrial one with a strong tourist sector. The major cause of this change was the construction of European highways that integrated this region to the rest of central Europe. Many architects of the region, including Botta, designed houses for the new wealthy bourgeoisie that developed thanks to these economic changes. When the clients Liliana and Ovidio Medici wanted to build a new house for their family, Botta felt the need to propose a solution that would satisfy the primary needs of daily life in a building which expressed a contemporary sensibility. Botta's design is a response to these architectural and contextual requirements. Through the study of the local historic architecture he found the forms and meanings for the new building. Casa Rotonda has a strong image. Its massive exterior and form create a landmark in an otherwise anonymous landscape.

ARCHITECT

Mario Botta (born April 1, 1943) is a Swiss architect, influenced by the local architecture, materials and culture of his native country. Botta also designs furniture, lamps, and house wares. Botta was born in Mendrisio studied at the primary school in Genestrerio (canton Ticino) where his family originally came from,and went to secondary school in Mendrisio. Mario apprenticed as a technical draftsman in the architecture studio of Carloni and Camenish at Lugano (1958-61); he left this firm in 1961 to attend the Art College in Milan and then study at the Istituto Universitario di Architettura in Venice from 1964 to 1969. In 1965 Botta worked for Le Corbusier’s studio in Venice (on new hospital project) with Jullian de La Fuente and Jose Oubrerie. This experience deeply influenced the young architect, as did his experience in 1969 working for Louis Kahn. He helped to install the exposition of the project for the new conference center in Venice. The same year he graduated from IUA in Venice. His thesis advisors were Carlo Scarpa and Giuseppe Mazzariol.

In 1970 Botta started his professional career by opening a studio in Lugano. The architect designed many private houses and company buildings in Switzerland. On an international scale he designed important buildings including the cathedral Evry (1988-1990), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Tinguely Museum in Basel (1995-1996). Botta has also designed furniture for Alias and house-wares for Alessi; he has published many books and monographs and in 1996 he founded the Swiss Academy of Architecture. Since the 1970”s Botta has been visiting professor at many schools: Ecole Polytechnique Federale in Lausanne, Yale School of Architecture (US), International Academy of Architecture in Sofia (Bulgaria). He won many architectural awards: Chicago

Architecture Award, ICAC award (Argentina), Merit Award for excellence in Design-AIA, California, Marble architectural award for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. In 1997 he was named an honorary fellow of the “Royal Institute of British Architects” London (England) and in 2000 became an Academic fellow of the “International Academy of Architecture” Sofia (Bulgaria). BUILDING:

Site and Context

Project: 1980

Building: 1981-1982

Clients: Liliana and Ovidio Medici

Land surface: 700 m Square (7534 sq.ft.)

Volume: 1400 m Cubic (49,439 cu.ft.)

Casa Rotonda is a single-family house just outside the village of Stabio, Switzerland. Stabio is a small agricultural village in the hills of Southern Switzerland. It is in the process of becoming a “bedroom” suburb for the surrounding towns of Como, Varese and Lugano. The site is about a quarter of a mile from the Italian border. The building sits in a level plain part of which is still planted with vineyards and small crops (corn, kale). To the west, along the Italian border there is a terraced ridge planted with vineyards and patches of remaining forest. The hills to the west and south of the site form a “V” shaped valley. The lot on which it sits was laid out by the town’s zoning plan. At the center of the village is the old nucleus, with more recent development toward the periphery. The old paths, with time, became paved roads and the agricultural fields and vineyards around the village were cut up into smaller lots for new housing construction. According to Botta this type of situation is the worst example of contemporary urbanism, because this type of development plan cannot control and organize the birth of “spontaneous“ buildings. This situation produces a periphery and suburbs that have no unity and no core. The periphery becomes a cluster of buildings scattered through the territory not taking into consideration the character of the site, its traditions, and local craftsmanship. The surrounding buildings are mostly built within the last 30 years. They are speculative and undistinguished architecturally. This is the result of a society enriched by industrialization, breaking from tradition and living through a crisis of values. In this landscape Botta was asked by the Medici family to build a one-family house on a small plot (7534 sq ft) in the extreme north corner of a new housing development. The small house became a landmark in the Ticino landscape. Form and Use

The architect gave the Casa Rotonda the bold shape of a cylinder. He argued the idea was not to offer a contrast with the surrounding buildings but to explore a spatial relationship with the landscape. Such a building creates a connection between the land (to which is attached along its perimeter) and sky (with a roof opened by the skylight). Botta designed a tower, circular in plan, cut along the north-south axis by an opening that let overhead light filter inside. The skylight produces a beam of light that floods the entire house from top to bottom.

The form and the organization of the interior spaces guided the project, producing an interior as startling as the exterior. Botta organized the volume of the cylinder into four levels (three floors above ground and one floor below

grade) as a tower. At one end of the vertical slot of space Botta placed the stairs and bridges to connect to the various parts of the house. The first floor is a transition between interior and exterior. The second floor is the public space, where the daily activities take place. The third floor is the private, night zone. The house has very few interior doors; walls do not reach the ceiling and there are virtually no corridors. The tower is carved, cut open, at the base and around the stairs enclosure to make an entry.

The appearance of a fortified structure, opened up by large cuts on its surface, creates a contrast between enclosure and openness. The interior is organized around the central axis of the stairs and the skylight. The rooms are irregular spaces making use of spatial fragments. In the final design the stairs are pushed to the perimeter and encased in masonry so that the enclosure appears to take the form of a large column from the outside.

Materials and Methods of Construction

Compact and economical to build, the Casa Rotonda is at the same time monumental. The house is built with concrete bricks, wood, glass, reinforced concrete and steel. The design, simple forms with an emphasis on mass and outlines, shows the materials and methods of its construction clearly. Ornaments are made by the structure and construction technology. A goal is to create a connection between the old and the new; traditional typology and vernacular traditions are merged with the new technology.

The house is built out of unplastered split-face concrete blocks (10”X4 1/4”X5”) forming cavity walls resting on a concrete slab. The blocks form architraves, cornices and projections that echo elements of classical architecture.

It is economical because all the exposed materials are integral part of the construction, there are no added decorations. For example, the capital of the outer column that encloses the stairs is a necessary part of the building.

SIGNIFICANCE

The Casa Rotonda is an example of Neo-Rationalist domestic architecture. It also represents the state of architecture just prior to the changes that would be made by the advent of the computer. Geometry, form, simple materials, proportion are of prime importance in the Casa Rotonda. This stands in contrast to present trends in architecture characterized by asymmetry, dynamism and experimentation. Nicolin in the note to the work of Mario Botta writes: “In his own highly personal interpretation, Alberto Sartoris recognizes in this work the confirmation of Botta’s status as an alchemist of geometry and describes the work itself as original invention in the universe of pure poetry.”1

When Casa Rotonda was built and published it created much discussion. It also caught the eye of popular French cartoonist Reiser : “His drawings offer an interpretation of th e Stabio house in terms of utopia and science fiction. As in science fiction stories, the consecutio temporum is overthrown, and the house falls out of the sky like a meteor or a spaceship…Once embedded in the ground it reveals its true nature: here we have an object with the allure of a medieval castle. But it has no problem in transforming itself once again into a solar house which will have had lots of little ones by the year 2000.”2

1 Pierluigi Nicolin, Mario Botta: Buildings and Projects 1961-1982 (New York, 1984), 26.

2 Botta, Mario, La Casa Rotonda/ Mario Botta. ( Milano, 1982), 10.

Selected Books about Botta’s Work

Battisti ,Emilio/ Frampton, Kenneth. Mario Botta. Architetture e Progetti Negli Anni 70. Milan: Electa Editrice, 1979.

Botta, Mario. MarioBotta: Light and Gravity: Architecture 1993-2003. Munich: London: Prestel, 2004.

Botta, Mario. Mario Botta : Public Buildings 1990-1998. Milan: Skira, 1998.

Botta, Mario. Mario Botta ; The Complete Works. Zurich : Artemis, 1993-1998.

Botta, Mario. Mario Botta, Architectures 1980-1990. Barcelona, Spain: G. Gili, 1991.

Botta, Mario. Mario Botta, Architecture, 1960-1985. Milan: Electa; New York: Rizzoli, 1987.

Botta, Mario. La Casa Rotonda/ Mario Botta. Milano : L’Erba Voglio, 1982.

Disch, Peter. La Ricerca negli Anni Ottanta. Lugano: Edizione ADV Advertising Company S.A.,1990.

Fagone, Vittorio. Mario Botta. Una Casa. Milan: Electa Editrice, 1989.

Felley, Jean-Paul. Mario Botta. Construire les Objets. Martigny: Editions Fondation Louis Moret, 1989.

Frampton, Kenneth. Modern Architecture: a critical history. London: New York, N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 2007.

Gilardoni, Virgilio. Gli Spazi dell’Uomo nell’architettura di Mario Botta. Bellinzona: Archivio Storico Ticinese, 1984.

Gravagnuolo, Benedetto. Mario Botta. Studi Preliminari per la Banca del Gottardo a Lugano. Bellinzona: Edizioni Salvioni & Co., 1988.

Glusberg, Jorge. Mario Botta. Buenos Aires;Centro de Arte y Comunicacion, 1980.

Jodidio, Philip. Mario Botta. Koln: New York: Tashen 1999.

Nicolin, Pierluigi. Mario Botta: Buildings and Projects 1961-1982. New York: Rizzoli, 1984.

Pfieffer, Peter. Mario Botta Designer. Milan: Corus Wohlen, 1987.

Pizzi, Emilio. Mario Botta. Obras y Proyectos/ Works and Projects. Barcelona: Editorial Gustavo Gili, S.A., 1991.

Richard, Claude, et al. Mario Botta. Une Architecture, Trois Habitats. Geneva: Ecole des Arts Decoratifs, 1987.

Sartoris, Alberto. On the Architecural Drawing by Mario Botta. Tokyo: GA Gallery, 1984.

Wrede, Stuart. Mario Botta. New York, NY: Museum of Modern Art, New York, c.1986.

Selected Articles

Dal Co, Francesco. “Mario Botta”. A+U, 1986

Dimitriu, Livio. “Casa Rotonda”. House and Garden. 155.9 (1983); 140-147.

Garcias, Jean-Claude. “Art Sacre.” Beaux-Arts. Special issue.

“Interview with Mario Botta”. GA Document. 6(1983): 6-9.

Murphy, Richard,and Irena Sakellaridou. “My Brilliant Career: Architectural Poetics, Mario Botta[Book Review].” RIBA JOURNAL. 108.3 (2001): 25.

Pelissier, Alain. Mario Botta. Techniques & Architecture. Editions Reginex (1988).

Sharp, Dennis. “Modernist Melange [Interview]: Ticino Architect Mario Botta Recently Talked to Dennis Sharp”. Building Design. 795 (1986): 18-21. Zardini, Mirko. “Mario Botta”. GA Global Architecture,1984.

“Swiss Design: Contemporary Design in Switzerland”. Space Design. 265 (1986): 5-60.

“1990: Reimagining the themes of the Century with an Eye Toward the Millenium”. Architectural Digest. 56.4(1999): 430-455.

EXTERNAL LINKS Official website: http://www.archimagazine.com/aborotonda.htm http://www.dugan.ca/modular http://www.archimagazine.com/aborotonda.htm [http://www.idesignproject.com/images/botta

PHOTO GALLERY

Fig. 1. South view, Casa rotunda, Stabio, 1980. Source: []

Fig. 2. North view, Casa Rotonda, Stabio, 1980. Source: []

Fig.3. Interior, Living room, Casa Rotonda, Stabio, 1980. Source: []

Fig. 4. Three Dimensional model and plans, Casa Rotonda, Stabio, 1980. Source: []

Fig. 5. Worm’s-eye view axonometric, Casa Rotonda, Stabio, 1980. Source: []

Fig. 6. Axonometric drawings, Casa Rotonda, Stabio, 1980. Source: []