Mario Botta for Alias 'Robot' Tall Cabinet with Drawers in Pearwood and Steel

Mario Botta for Alias, 'Robot' chest of drawers, model '619', pearwood, lacquered steel, Italy, 1989

Just like his buildings, Swiss architect Mario Botta continually surprises with quirky and inventive designs, as exemplified by the piece shown here. A very rare object known as Robot, it was designed with a dual purpose: functioning both as storage and as a writing desk. As Botta himself describes it: “It serves as a chest of drawers as well. It is movable and stable, flexible and rigid, evident and mysterious, necessary and useless. It is Robot.”

The compact steel structure anchors a series of drawers paired with half-hoops that can be opened individually to create a layered composition. The upper lid flips open to reveal a writing surface and small storage compartments. Playful yet highly functional, Robot is a design one does not easily tire of and can be effortlessly integrated into an interior – whether placed in a small hallway or used as a side element in a working environment.


Mario Botta (1943) was born in the south of Switzerland. After attending the Art College in Milan, he then continued his studies at the University Institute of Architecture in Venice where he studied under Carlo Scarpa and Giuseppe Mazzariol until 1969. During his studies he also got to know Le Corbusier and Louis I. Kahn. Botta’s own studio focusses since 1970 onwards on public buildings as well as private projects and furniture design. In 1983, Botta got nominated as a professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne and since then enjoys teaching next to his practice as a designer and architect.