To date, Mario Botta has designed nearly 30 religious buildings, arguably throughout his design career. How did he understand the pioneering position of this type of architecture in contemporary architectural design? Let's go to his hometown of Mendrisio to listen to the master's insights.
Mario Botha: "I discovered the meaning of architecture itself after I was inspired by religious architecture," | Photo by Anoush Abrar
A pair of round-rimmed glasses, thick silver hair, and a hand that does not leave the pen, these three characteristics can summarize the basic appearance of Mario Botta. As he approaches, we can feel a golden halo behind him, like the 26 religious buildings he conceived and designed, the divine radiance of his dedication to the world's religions.
Today, the 77-year-old Ticino architect still works tirelessly. Creation became the driving force behind his life, and religious architecture was the source of his creation.
The model of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary in Namyang-eup, South Korea, under construction, can accommodate 2,600 faithful | at the same time Photo by Anoush Abrar
He is currently busy designing a Cathedral of La Basilique de Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire for South Korea, the largest church he has designed to date and can accommodate 2,600 worshippers at the same time. He is also designing a matching mosque for a commercial project in China.
In his view, brick architectural works should have a large area of curved appearance, rectangular perspective structure, and a combination of geometric shapes that can capture light. These are all elements of value that are indispensable to the composition of a classic building. His office in Mendrisio has the same style, with large facades and depths reminiscent of religious architectural spaces.
Mario Botta and his huge office in Mendrisio | Photo by Anoush Abrar
The following is a 28-question by the Swiss daily Le Temps about Mario Botta, accompanied by 4 amazing works selected by T Magazine from Bota's many works of religious architecture for the reader's enjoyment.
Q1: How did you spend the "lockdown"? How did you handle your construction projects in Asia?
A: Pretty bad. Overnight, I had to work remotely due to government orders. For me, this is actually not very realistic. This crisis has seriously disrupted the way my project works. For fifty years, I have worked without interacting with my collaborators, which is both a close personal relationship and a constant creative confrontation. You should know that I don't have a dedicated desk, I have a total of 20 work desks, and I have to constantly revise a lot of sketches every day according to the mature ideas, so I rotate the work at different tables.
I now feel like a hand-tied artist, constantly giving remote instructions to the painter, but not being able to touch the painting myself. How can I explain to them via video conference that there's a little more red here and a little more blue there? Although at the moment of the pandemic, we have to make adjustments in our work, which is in line with the spirit of globalization and the division of labor in the stage of advanced capitalism, it is contrary to my work. I think the process of realizing the design is to constantly write down and make precise fine-tuning so that the various elements can be integrated with each other. But in this isolated world, I felt like an outsider.
Q2: You hate vacation, so how do you spend this time when you have nothing to do?
A: I continue to work independently, and my two sons will come to see me from time to time. People can always find a way of life that transcends material creation, but it upsets my balance.
Q3: Many Swiss people take advantage of this time to make all kinds of bread at home, don't you make it?
A: No. I spend all my time thinking. Changes in life require people to deal with, and everyone realizes that there may be something wrong with the way people currently live, how they spend, and how they travel. Isn't there too much of a non-essential thing in life...
Q4: Does it have any economic impact on your design business?
A: Comparing the development plan I had envisioned before, it now seems to have a great impact on me. In Switzerland, I don't have a lot of work projects, so I try to find opportunities in China, South Korea and India through competitions. But most of the projects there were basically completed in 2019. I tried to call them, but no one answered. At present, some construction projects in Switzerland have not stopped.
Q5: You once likened a house to a small cave, and inside the cave is a family relationship, and outside the cave is a social relationship. Has your perspective changed after this outbreak of home isolation?
A: Wherever the world is, the importance of the house is becoming more and more important. The trend of the past tried to encourage everyone to escape from the house, to go for recreation, to go on vacation, or to go out and play anyway. But during home isolation, a house becomes a psychological harbor and a place to stay away from the virus, like hiding in a primitive cave or in the belly of a mother. Architects should learn more from it, deepen their understanding of the concept of "asylum", and not be influenced by various cultural trends or luxuries.
Q6: So how do you define a perfect shelter?
A: We definitely want to go home when we are tired, which is a common behavior of all mankind. People subconsciously believe that returning home is the ultimate act of seeking asylum. We can find our own identity and purpose for survival in it. The house has nothing to do with fashion. In a space with a sense of belonging, the connection between the house and the people is very strong, close and friendly. The house brings people together, and the house is closely related to the change of light and the change of seasons, all of which are integrated into a collective, so the house should universally embrace all kinds of good intentions in the world.
Q7: You said that you were in poor health when you were a kid, but you were the goalkeeper of a team...
A: That way I don't have to run around. I was born prematurely and was born at eight months. In the 1940s, not every child was lucky enough to grow up. I was thin and small, so it was natural for me to pick some quiet sports to avoid injury. Of course, I also picked up a pencil, learned to draw, learned to depict everything in the world in this way, and I found my own talent that I could enjoy for a lifetime.
Q8: Have you also talked about a lot of love from women growing up?
A: Yes. I am loved by a lot of great women. After the tragic and early death of my father, my mother, grandmother, and aunts and aunts formed a unique environment in which I grew up. I was also able to understand women's unique perspectives on life. They are different from men, and what I remember especially is their pragmatic values, always aiming at solving problems, even as small as knitting sweaters and sewing things. Family fun is also about working together to accomplish a certain task. I'm talking to you now, and it suddenly occurred to me that it was this environment that created my basic design philosophy, and the architectural works I designed were also based on pragmatism.
Q9: Do you often go to church?
A: Of course, they always take me to church. I still remember the angels on top of the church walls, the sky and the endless distance, as if in a dream. Even today, when I work in the church, I think back to the feeling of enlightenment I felt as a child, freeing me from the shackles of physical entities.
Q10: You prefer contemplation to talking...
A: Yes, that's right. I love the word "contemplation" because it inspires dreams. I've always had the habit of contemplation. I've been to China about thirty times and often think of my grandmother. She used to be a cook and cooked for everyone. She has several paintings in her house of colorful Chinese-style oil umbrellas, which she often says are used for sun protection. I feel very confused that there are places in the world where people find sunlight harmful! When I was younger, my mind was filled with all sorts of wild ideas, which were more useful than going to any school.
Q11: This is also a trait of your wife, Maria, who appreciates her ideas and is keen to comment positively on your designs.
A: We've been married for fifty years, but my wife is still a mystery to me. We support each other, and the degree of tacit understanding between the two sides makes me feel incredible. I was lucky enough to meet a woman who understood both my lifestyle and my passion for work. She's strong and even a little hard to get along with, but she can often see risks that I don't realize. I was naïve at times and she helped me a lot. Women are the best school, and I'd love to leave everything I have to women to take care of.
Q12: I heard that the secret to your good health is to work hard?
A: Yes, the work is a special medicine. If I have a cold, I start drawing a picture and the cold symptoms disappear. Many passionate artists, such as Picasso and Giacometti, worked until the last moments of their lives. Creative work is a source of energy. I'm also very obsessed with seeing the projects I designed complete, such as my spa project in Baden, Germany, which was conceived twelve years ago, but it's not over yet.
Q13: Do you think that the life cycle of some buildings can only last up to fifty years after your death?
A: Yes. The culture of modern society is one of rapid change. The concrete viaduct, which is now complete, should be demolished and rebuilt fifty years from now. The building materials we use now are not good, the construction process is also so-so, construction seams, adhesives, bonding mortar, putty, etc. have made it impossible for modern architecture to stand for centuries like medieval natural stone buildings. The sustainable value of buildings is being lost.
Q14: As an architectural designer, how do you see this phenomenon? In particular, religious buildings that you value so much should span centuries and can carry people's historical memories.
A: I've always been conflicted. I firmly believe that the living experience of an old house is definitely richer than that of modern architecture, because the passage of time is also a value to the building itself.
Q15: Is this why you call yourself a "post-archaic" designer?
A: Yes, it's actually a little joke that shows that I'm against designers who advertise themselves as "postmodern." I think that postmodern culture confuses architecture with a sense of history and memory, which is confused with the design style of architecture.
Q16: You are one of the designers in the world who has created the most religious buildings, with a total of 26 religious building projects completed or under construction worldwide.
A: For two thousand years, the theme of religious architecture was simply to bring together altars and believers. On the basis of the original value of these sacred buildings, I constructed the value of the building itself, showing the essence of the building, the original use, the seriousness, the limitations, the sense of space brought by light, etc... It can be said that after I was inspired by religious architecture, I discovered the meaning of the building itself, not the other way around.
Q17: So no matter which deity is worshipped, the construction project itself is the same?
A: Yes, spiritual needs are the key. Why do people need to find inner peace, need a space for one party to meditate? Religious architecture is concerned with the shaping of collective memory spaces, so that it is possible to create an emotional atmosphere of human interdependence. Religion is only a reason, but I believe that interdependence is a universal need for all human beings.
Q18: What other type of religious building have you not designed? Buddhist architecture?
A: Yes, but the type of building I most want to design now is the monastery. It can be said that the monastery should be an ideal city, although the architectural use seems simple, but it requires the designer to really come up with the real ability, in order to achieve the perfect realization of the overall function. A corridor is not just a corridor, but a slow path from the hall to the ashram.
Q19: If you were looking for a place to sit and meditate and practice yoga, would you choose a secular retreat or a place related to religion to stimulate your state of mind?
A: As I said earlier, the collective element of religion is a reason for the existence of architecture. If you're going to practice yoga, the only problem is that yoga itself is a sport, and the movement is competitive. Religion corresponds to something else that is diametrically opposed. When you go to church to pray, you may be sitting next to a big banker or a villain who has just been released from prison, but you can all share the peace and freedom of the moment, regardless of the class differences that prevail in society.
Q20: What should a proper place of prayer look like?
A: A woman who was very influential with me once told me that she was praying in the church I designed and felt good... Later, I often thought about why. The atmosphere in the church must be silent, with light pouring down from the sky. The building itself is unspoken, but perhaps it will prompt some elements to function.
Q21: In modern architecture, modern religious architecture was introduced as a representative of a pioneering type. So, when people went to pray, was the form of prayer in ancient temples the same as in modern churches?
A: Maybe places with a sense of history are better. Witnessing the feeling of a thick history can add more power to the act of prayer. Even in the chapelS I designed, it is difficult to find monuments that embody historical heritage. In the face of an absolute sense of history, anything modern dwarfs it.
Q22: When you saw the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral, how did you feel?
A: Ah, this disaster is a heavy blow to the so-called "modernization". How can protective precautions be so inadequate for such an important monument? This is a disservice to the whole world. We can send people to the moon, but the church around us is on fire...
Q23: Religious architecture is the starting point of your design career, and your first architectural work is the parish house in the Swiss town of Genestrerio, next to the church of L'église Saint-Antoine-Abate. 40 years later, you renovated the façade and gates of this church.
A: Not only that, but I also maintained my original faith, and I was more devout in architectural design than I was in God! Especially thinking about the days when my grandmother once took me to church, this renovation project makes me think a lot. The old frescoes on the front of the church have also been damaged. Instead of painting another trompe l'oeil mural, follow my advice and build a real stone gate directly. Today, I see the old face of the church in my memory erased and replaced by a new look that I designed and rebuilt after I became famous, and I feel exactly the same joy as when I was a child.
Q24: In which church would you like to hold a memorial mass in a hundred years?
A: Oh, I haven't thought about this yet, let someone else do it. I'm still concerned about what kind of buildings I can design for everyone.
Q25: You can design a private church with a local Austrian style, or you can design a cathedral in Korea that can accommodate 2,000 congregational gatherings. How do you deal with this difference in design scale?
A: The main line to grasp is the skylight coming in from the top of the church. Light is a true magician of indoor space and can bring a sense of power to deep spaces. Without light, there is no concept of space. It is an abstract element that, like geometric figures, can shape the different personalities of the space.
Q26: Paradoxically, the light in religious buildings is not used a lot...
A: Yes, in addition to light, people's memories awakened by architecture also play a certain role, including well-known legends and stories, national feelings, historical inheritance, various rituals, etc., which are integrated in the architecture, so that architecture and human nature have a partial resonance.
Q27: Your life is as strict as a monk's: you get up at six o'clock in the morning, leave work at six o'clock in the evening, and only Sunday is the time for your family. Do you have anything other than work to be happy about?
A: I love the food and the visits to museums. Oh, and speaking of museums, a Zurich collector wanted to commission me to design a museum for his collection of natural art... But he wanted to build a virtual building. I'm still thinking about it. I could feel what those sculptures were saying. I hope that he will change his mind and build this museum with stone.
Q28: Do you have any habits that you have for a long time?
A: Yes, I always like to hold the pen in my hand. This habit helps me think, helps me clear my mind, and the pen in my hand is an extension of my thinking. I prefer a red pen. But my pen is sometimes missing, so I saved a lot of the same pen. On my 50th birthday, I received 50 pens as gifts that I hope to use in my lifetime.
Featured Works Introduction: Above Heaven
The Swiss architect has designed a wide range of religious architectural works, from which T Magazine has selected four amazing works to entertain its readers.
Eglise Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Mogno, Switzerland, | 1996
In 1986, an avalanche destroyed the church of San Giovanni Battista in the village of Moguenot in the Swiss valley of Maggia. In designing the new church, Mario Botta incorporated a pair of ancient bells from the old church, built in 1746. The new church was built on the site and maintained the volume limits of the old building. The architects used local materials, using marble from the nearby town of Peccia and granite slabs from the Machia Valley to alternately stack, coupled with the combination of basic geometric shapes such as ovals, circles and triangles that make up the overall form, restoring the ancient and heavy feeling of the building. The foundations of the new church are oval in shape, and the upper walls are cylindrical, which can slow the impact and prevent possible avalanches in the future.
St. John the Baptist Church in Mogno, Switzerland | Photo by Enrico Cano
The façade of the Eglise Saint-Antoine-Abate church in genestrerio, Switzerland, was remodeled | 2003
The newly renovated façade of the ancient church is made of stone cutting and stitching, and compared with the appearance of the previous trompe l'oeil frescoes, the remodeled façade of the 17th century ancient church building is more contemporary. The new gate of the church is about three meters high, and the three facades of the door frame are made of stone slabs to separate the walls from the gate. The small square in front of the church has also been renovated and provides direct access to the parish houses. These parish houses were also designed by Mario Botta in 1963 and were his first architectural design works when he was only 20 years old.
Church of Sant'Antonio Abate in the Swiss village of Genestere Rio | Photo by Enrico Cano
Eglise de Santo Volto, Italy | 2006
The church is located in the old metallurgical factory area of Fiat. The design not only retains the chimneys of the former factory, but also surrounds the chimney columns with spiral stainless steel sheets, deliberately reinforcing the industrial culture imprint here. The church has a seven-sided shape in the direction of the cross-section, and the main body consists of seven towers, and there are also seven dwarf churches built around the towers. The top part of the church has a cut-out window to facilitate the introduction of sunlight. The roof of the church is pyramid-shaped, and the lower combined space is very large, and the incoming light and the inner wall form a staggering effect of light and dark, which is very interesting. The head of God is a collage of mosaic material and sits on the walls of the semicircular apse of the church.
Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Turin, Italy | Photo by Enrico Cano
The Granata church in penkenjoch en Zillertal in Austria | 2013
The name of the chapel comes from a local type of garnet (grenat) because the appearance of the church is inspired by the chemical structure of this stone. Located on the top of a hill overlooking the Ziller Valley, the church is a diagonal square dodahedron with a concrete base at the bottom. The main structural material of the church is wood, covered with steel plates. There are steps on the concrete base, and visitors can climb the ladder to enter the interior of the church and experience the structural balance brought by the geometric space. Prismatic windows at the top of the church filter the light and allow sunlight to gently shine on the larch walls, adding vitality to the overall atmosphere. The magic of this church also lies in the ever-changing light and shadow effects inside its space, at different times of the day, with different light projected onto the wall, people perceive different visual effects.
Garnet Church of Pengchi Mountain in the Ziller Valley of Austria | Photo by Enrico Cano
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