The Architect who re-visualized the structural limitations and rational concepts of architecture, has left a remembrance of sensible architecture following his sad demise at Milan – The city that hosts Vittorio Gregotti exceptional work, the Arcimboldi Opera House.
The world has lost a highly influential architect to the global crisis of COVID-19 attack.
Critically acclaimed for the Barcelona Olympic stadium, the architect has had multifaceted projects to his credit, ranging from urban planning and design of Pujiang New Town, China, to the Belem Cultural centre, which altogether symbolize his style as the one belonging to contemporary classics that acquire global reception.
Amidst being based in the city of Milan that has a rich classical influence in its history, his work expresses an international style of architecture that is a skillful rethinking of “the old”.
Architect Stefano Boeri rightly called him “The master of international architecture who created the story of our culture”.
Vittorio Gregotti is known to be the person with a rational thought who took design “seriously”. His studio Gregotti Associati International in Milan is the reflection of his architectural conceptions and retrieval of its power with design responses specific to the societies, city and the context. Grand Théâtre de Provence in Aix-en-Provence designed by the architect found new dimensions of a habitable open space design with its circulation-friendly level-play that gradually opens to the theater spaces held in the interior. The exterior that mimics the circular profile of the theatre doesn’t attempt to recreate regular theater façade, but instead, makes it a space that can be “more than a theatre”.
The architect’s sensible designs went forward to the experiments with structural architecture that re-created one of the greatest Olympic stadiums of all times – The Barcelona Olympic stadium, Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. Designed with a capacity of over 67,000, the stadium is unlike any other, with its immense capacity and unique profile that combines the ideal visual angles and light exposure to facilitate the activities prevalent in the space.
His other stadium, Stadio Luigi Ferraris located in Genoa, Italy, is one of the oldest functioning football stadiums of Italy that was redesigned to host 1990 FIFA World Cup. The selective re-design of the stadium focused on improved lighting, ground site alterations and inclusion of structural supports that leave the cultural image undisturbed. It further attempts a socially responsive appeal by being a multi-use stadium, much celebrated by the neighbourhood which enlists in the major spectator group for the local games held there.
As a tribute to the architect’s work, “The Inventory of Territory” was held in 2016 at Centre Pompidou Paris that showcased 2D and 3D visualization of the architect’s rich architectural vision in physical drawings and hand sketches.
In addition to the built architectural conceptions, he has had his rich vision’s contribution across multidisciplinary amalgamations: that of architecture with other disciplines, which has redefined the subjective possibilities of the discipline. He endlessly experimented across product and furniture design that exemplified his rationality in perception.
Vittorio Gregotti’s unmissable eye for detail and effective transcription of that detail entwined in the architectural language, has had him become the Editor-In-Chief of Casabella magazine and an author of noteworthy books such as “Inside Architecture” that is in every future architect’s must read collection. The rich records of legacy promise the insights into the architect’s unique vision, as time passes from this day when he is no more.
