User:Paulsloaniv/Mario Botta

Mario Botta is a Swiss architect born in Mendrisio, Ticino on April 1st, 1943. At fifteen, Botta dropped out of secondary school and apprenticed with the architectural firm of Carloni and Camenisch in Lugao. After three years, he went to the Art College in Milan for his baccalaureate, and then to Università Iuav di Venezia for his professional degree in 1969. During his time in Venice, Botta got to meet and work with Carlo Scarpa, Louis Kahn and Le Corbusier. Mario Botta started his own architectural practice in Lugano.

Architectural Style
Mario Botta has been heavily influenced by the Modern architecture movement, specifically the three Modernist architects Botta has worked under: Louis Kahn, Carlo Scarpa and Le Corbusier. Botta does not place himself in the Modernist movement, but rather he is responding to it. His architecture is tied very closely with nature, and is very simple. Botta believes that architecture is a basic need for man, and therefore creates buildings that symbolize simplicity and the essential needs of man. About his own work, he says "it is an architecture which is measured by the yardstick of a man's needs."

Mario Botta's style is in part defined by his clients needs. Most of his early work was planned and constructed under a tight budget, so use of low cost materials, such as exposed concrete blocks, was necessary. To Botta, material cost does not influence or define his style, as good architecture is made regardless of the medium or material. Botta also believes that architecture is the formal expression of history; and his job as an architect, to some degree, is to give validity to low budget materials through thoughtful expression.