Italian architect, urban planner and writer and designer of the well-known Barcelona Olympic Stadium, Vittorio Gregotti has died at the age of 92 from the novel coronavirus, Italy’s minister of culture Dario Franceschini has confirmed.

Vittorio Gregotti has died at the San Giuseppe hospital in Milan on March 15, his wife is still being treated at the same hospital. Gregotti is one of the principal figures of Italian Neo-Avant Garde and was a strong defender of "historical interpretations and contextual references in design". 

Regarding Gregotti's death, Italy's minister of culture Dario Franceschini described him as "a great Italian architect and urban planner who has given prestige to our country in the world".

Barcelona Olympic Stadium. Image © Diliff

Pirelli CEO expressed his deep condolences for the passing of Vittorio Gregotti, one of country’s greatest architects. "With the loss of Vittorio Gregotti – said Marco Tronchetti Provera, Pirelli Executive Vice Chairman and CEO - we have lost one of the great protagonists of twentieth century architecture, whose contributions changed the face of Milan, raising it to the international level. 

"Among other things, he was responsible for the design and regeneration of the Bicocca area in Milan and Pirelli’s headquarters, a leading example of industrial conversion. My warmest thoughts go to his family."

Vittorio Gregotti founded his own practice Gregotti Associati International in 1974 and he designed many important sports venues and cultural buildings, including Barcelona Olympic Stadium (1992), Belém Cultural Center in Lisbon (1992), the Arcimboldi Opera Theater in Milan, Grand Théâtre de Provence in Aix-en-Provence and several university campuses, including that of the University of Calabria (founded in 1972) and Università Bicocca in Milan. 

Grand Théâtre de Provence in Aix-en-Provence. Image © f.torasso

Born in Novara, east of Milan, in 1927, after graduated from the Politecnico di Milano in 1952, he continued his career by working at the BBPR studio, considering Ernesto Nathan Rogers his teacher. 

In 1951, together with Rogers, he signed his first room at the Milan Triennale and then landed at CIAM in London. Then as an architect and editor he contributed to Italian historical magazine "Casabella" from 1953-1955, later Gregotti became editor-in-chief until 1963. 

By founding his own architecture practice, he worked on important urban design projects, including the Bicocca district of Milan and Pujiang New Town in Shanghai, China. 

University Milano Bicocca. Image © Carlo Dell'Orto

The ZEN district of Palermo was conceived as one of the most controversial urban projects. ZEN district of Palermo was built in 1969 in an economically deprived quarter on the northern outskirts of Palermo, Sicily, the area now houses around 16,000 people. 

But with the rise of unemployment, poverty and high-school drop-out rate, marginalization of the residents, the area is "sadly known as one of the most dangerous and "criminogenic" neighbourhoods in Italy.

In 1975, Gregotti curated an exhibition, entitled "Regarding the Stucky Mill", at the Venice Architecture Biennale. His theme focused on searching creative options on abandoned granary mills on Venice’s Giudecca. Then he was named as director of the visual arts at the Venice Biennale from 1974 to 1976 to expand the Biennale's focus to be held in more venues. 

Lisbon’s Belém Cultural Centre. Image via Wikipedia 

In 1978, he was selected as the director of the Venice Biennale and designed an exhibition under the theme of "Utopia and the Crisis of Anti-Nature: Architectural Intentions in Italy."

 Gregotti wrote many books, showing  his commitment to architecture, historicism and his concern with the environment, as well as his vast polemics. "When modern was not a style" (2018), "(presentation of) We dream of silence , Rome, (2015), "Against the end of architecture" (2008), few of his latest books. Inside Architecture (1996) is another important books of Gregotti, who examined theoretical discussion on the impacts of the elements of mass culture on our environment. 

Stefano Boeri paid tribute to his fellow Italian on his Instagram account, and he said: "In these gloomy hours, a Master of international architecture is leaving; an essayist, critic, teacher, editorialist, polemicist, man of the institutions, who - always and above all being an architect - made the history of our culture." 

"Conceiving architecture as a perspective: on the whole world and on the whole life. What a great sadness."

Top image: Vittorio Gregotti © Adriano Alecchi

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