Mario Botta is a Swiss architect known for using traditional materials like brick and stone in a modern way. He was influenced by Carlo Scarpa, Louis Kahn, and Le Corbusier. Some of Botta's notable designs include the Évry Cathedral in France, which is shaped like a diagonally cut cylinder letting in natural light, the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art in the US, with a glass hall drawing in light, and his renovation of Teatro alla Scala in Milan, which improved structure and acoustics while maintaining historical details.

1. Arkitekt of the
Century
Mario Botta
Buildings
Designs
Bibliography
BibliographyBy Maya Brandel

2. Mario Botta
Mario Botta is known for his use of
traditional materials such as bricks
and stones. His designs are all very
unique, he expresses the use of
colours, shapes, textures and
materials and he adds a modern
look to all the buildings he has
designed. I have noticed that
Mario Botta uses black granite in a
few of his buildings, he also
designs the buildings so it is
possible for natural light to get in.
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Mario Botta is a Swiss architect, born in 1943
(age 70) in Mendrisio, Switzerland. His ideas
were influenced by Carlo Scarpa, Louis Kahn
and Le Corbusier.
Mario Botta first
attended the Art
College in Milan then
he studied at the
University Institute of
Architecture in
Venice, which was
directed by Carlo
Scarpa and
Giuseppe Mazzariol.
He earns his
professional degree
at the age of 26 in
1969. In Venice he
works for Le Corbusier
and Louis Kahn, he
was influenced by
their work. He begins
his professional work
in 1970 in Lugano.

3. Buildings
Mario Botta has
designed and
done major
renovations on
many buildings I
have chosen
three different
buildings he has
designed.
Évry Cathedral
Bechtler Museum
Teatro alla Scala
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4. Évry Cathedral
The Évry Cathedral was built
between 1992 and 1995 and
designed from 1988 to 1992 by
Mario Botta it’s located in
Boulevard des Coquibus, France.
The cathedral of the Resurrected
is a place used for Catholics pray
in a comfortable and silent place.
Mario Botta has expressed his use
of creative and unique shapes
through this Cathedral, it has the
shape of a cylinder that has been
diagonally cut at the top. The
measurements of the building are
38 m diameter and 34 m in height,
the diameter of this space is 29 m.
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Mario Botta used a traditional material for the walls, they are
made of 800,000 bricks. At the top of the main cylinder grow
24 lime trees, lime trees are the symbol of life. At the top there
is a bell tower that hangs on the side of the main building and
it holds five bells. Inside the Évry Cathedral is a beautiful space
with black granite floor and natural light coming through the
vertical glass planes as the roof. This gives the feeling of peace
and nature to those in the Cathedral.
This is the
bell tower
at the top
of the
Cathedral,
there are
five bells in
total.

5. Bechtler Museum
of Modern Art
The Bechtler Museum of modern art is located in Charlotte,
United States. It is an exotic modern building that Mario
Botta has designed. The Museum opened on January 2nd
2010, it displays art from the 20th century that was mostly
collected by Andreas Bechtler, the building is named after
him. The building is
4 stories high and
allows a lot of
natural light pass
through a glass
hall that goes
through the inside
of the museum,
giving the museum
a lively appearance. The glass pane allows visitors to see a
little bit from one level to the one above or below giving a
wide open space. Mario Botta creatively only used
rectangles for this design, he designed them over hanging
and made them different sizes which gave the museum a
modern look. Mario Botta used many different and unique
materials, he used steel, terra cotta, black granite, glass,
refined concrete and wood. He didn’t only design the
building he also designed many creative features inside,
such as the café bar, reception desk, hanging lights, and the
benches in the gallery.
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6. Teatro alla Scala
Teatro alla Scala is located in Milan in Italy, it’s a well-known
opera house. This building is used for holding events such as
singing or orchestral performances. Mario Botta designed
the renovation in 2002 – 2004, it was a major renovation to
the building and people thought its traditional and historical
details would be lost but the opera company where very
impressed with Mario’s design. Mario made great
improvements to the structure of the building and the sound
quality.
The hall where the performances take place is a huge oval
shaped room with a high wall giving a comfortable open
space. The main colours in the space are red and gold
giving it a royal look and feeling. Because of massive
improvements to technology, Mario Botta added monitors
into the seats so the audience could follow the
performance freely in the original language, English and
Italian.
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7. Designs
This is a
design of
Évry
Cathedral
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Mario Botta
also designed:
San Francisco
Museum of
Modern Art,
in California
and
Museum Tinguely, in
Switzerland

8. Bibliography
• http://www.botta.ch/Page/MB_01_Bi
ografia_en.php
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Bo
tta#Career
• http://bernard.lecomte.pagesperso-
orange.fr/cathedrale-
evry/textes/english.htm
• http://www.bechtler.org/About/The-
building
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