Italian architect, planner, editor, and theorist Vittorio Gregotti died on Sunday in Milan due to pneumonia related to contracting COVID-19. He was 92.
“With deep sadness I learn of the loss of professor Vittorio Gregotti,” wrote Italian culture minister Dario Franceschini in a notice to the public. “A great Italian architect and urban planner who has given prestige to our country in the world. I hold the family close on this sad day.”
Born in Novara, Italy, Gregotti graduated from the Politecnico di Milano in 1952. After working under Italian architect Ernesto Rogers, a partner at BBPR Architects, Gregotti founded his firm Gregotti Associati International in 1974. His studio is best known for its design of the Barcelona Olympic Stadium, the Arcimboldi Opera Theater in Milan, and the Belém Cultural Center in Lisbon, Portugal. Gregotti also conceived the Pujiang New Town in Shanghai, a town designed with Italian-themed architecture as part of China’s 2001 Nine Towns policy.
Gregotti was a contributor to architecture magazine Casabella and served as editor-in-chief from 1955 to 1963. A lecturer on architectural theory at various schools in Italy, Gregotti was invited to curate the Venice Biennale on multiple occasions in the 1970s. In 2017, Gregotti closed his firm saying, “nobody cares about architecture anymore.”
Se ne va,in queste ore cupe,un Maestro; un docente,editorialista,uomo delle istituzioni,che-restando sempre prima di tutto un architetto-ha fatto la storia della nostra cultura.Concependo l’architettura come una prospettiva sull’intero mondo e l’intera vita.Che grande tristezza. pic.twitter.com/Z6r4PgLjSu
— stefano boeri (@StefanoBoeri) March 15, 2020
“In these gloomy hours, a Master leaves,” wrote Italian architect Stefano Boeri in a tribute on Twitter. “A professor, editorialist, man of the institutions, who—always remaining above all an architect—made the history of our culture, conceiving architecture as a perspective on the whole world and the whole life. What a great sadness.”
Gregotti is survived by his wife who is also reportedly being treated for the virus. Outside of China, Italy has the greatest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and has reported some 2,000 deaths.
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