Ignazio Gardella
Ignazio Gardella (1905-1999) was a leading figure in twentieth-century Italian architecture and, alongside that work, a successful designer of furniture and lighting.
His most significant buildings include the Pavilion of Contemporary Art in Milan, the House in Zattere and the Olivetti Canteen and Auditorium, with later projects such as the Lambrate Railway Station and the Faculty of Architecture in Genoa. Widely published and internationally recognized, he received the Olivetti Award in 1955 and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 1996.
Biography
Ignazio Gardella was born on 30 March 1905 in Milan, into a Genoese lineage of engineers and architects; his father, Arnaldo Gardella, shaped his early exposure to the discipline. After Liceo Classico Berchet he read civil engineering at the Polytechnic University of Milan, and he was already working in his father's studio alongside Luigi Martini before taking his degree in 1928. His university years brought him into contact with some of Italy's most promising young architects, including Franco Albini, Giovanni Romano, Lodovico Belgiojoso, Gian Luigi Banfi, Enrico Peressutti and Ernesto Nathan Rogers, friendships that drew him into contemporary architectural debate. In 1930 he travelled through Germany, visiting DĆ¼sseldorf, Munich, Nuremberg and Frankfurt, and deepened his understanding of modernist design principles. By the mid-1930s he was an active participant in Milan's rationalist movement and in the discussions led by the magazine Casabella under Giuseppe Pagano and Edoardo Persico.
Gardella's involvement extended to major events and planning initiatives: the 6th Milan Triennale in 1936, Milano Verde in 1938 and the Piano A.R. of 1943 to 1945. His commitment to rationalist principles is exemplified in the Tuberculosis Dispensary and Prophylaxis Laboratory in Alessandria (1933-1939). During the postwar reconstruction he emerged as a leading intellectual and designer, co-founding the Movement for the Study of Architecture (MSA) in 1947; he taught at IUAV from 1949 to 1975, and his involvement with CIAM placed him at the centre of international architectural discourse. The 1950s and 1960s marked the peak of his production, with the Pavilion of Contemporary Art (PAC) in Milan (1947-1954), the House in Zattere in Venice (1953-1959) and the Olivetti Canteen and Auditorium in Ivrea (1953-1959), alongside urban planning in the Metanopoli district and, later, the Lambrate Railway Station in Milan (1983-2001) and the Faculty of Architecture in Genoa (1975-1989). He became one of the most widely published Italian architects of his time; a visiting professorship at Harvard University in 1986, with a monographic exhibition and the essay 'The Last Fifty Years of Italian Architecture. Reflected in the eye of an architect', secured his intellectual standing beyond Italy. In 1995 the House in Zattere became the first modern building in Italy to receive official artistic protection, and the first built less than fifty years earlier to be so recognized. Gardella remained active in architectural restoration in his later years and worked until his final days, dying on 15 March 1999 in his family home in Oleggio.
Models and collaborations
Gardella is counted among the third generation of the Italian Modern Movement and of Italian Rationalism. He was a successful designer of furniture and lighting, and co-founder of the design and furniture manufacturing company Azucena.
The R63 armchair was conceived for the dining room of the Cavalieri-Hilton hotel in Rome. Its character comes from the decisive shape of the backrest, with a winged headrest recalling a bergĆØre, and from the sartorial cut of the cover, which extends uniformly over the legs for a continuous, refined effect.