AR. GIO PONTI..

1. Introduction2. Life history3. Contributions and style4. Major works

Contents..

Introduction…

“Love architecture, be it ancient or modern. Love it for its fantastic, adventurous and solemn creations; for its inventions; for the abstract, allusive and figurative forms that enchant our spirit and enrapture our thoughts. Love architecture, the stage and support of our lives…."

………Those were the words with which Gio Ponti (1891-1979) began the 1957 collection of essays he published in Italian as Amate L'Architettura, and in English as In Praise of Achitecture.

• An Italian, born in Milan on 18th November 1891.• Parents were Enrico Ponti and Giovanna Rigone • He did military service during the first world war

with the rank of captain, from 1916 to 1918, receiving the Bronze Medal and the Italian Military Cross.

• Gio Ponti graduated with a degree in Architecture in 1921 from the Politecnico di Milano University.

• In 1921, he married Giulia Vimercati; they eventually would have four children and eight grandchildren.

Gio Ponti played many roles in his long career:

• Architect• industrial designer• craftsman• poet• painter• Journalist

Career biography…

• 1921 Finally graduates, having interrupted his studies during World War I.

• 1923 Becomes artistic director of Richard-Ginori, the ceramics manufacturer for which he wins the Grand Prix at the 1925 Paris Expo.

• 1926 Designs his first house on Via Randaccio in Milan.• 1928 Founds Domus, which he establishes as Europe’s

most influential architecture and design magazine.• 1936 Construction of the first Montecatini headquarters

in Milan.• 1941 Quits Domus to found Stile, an art and

architecture magazine.• 1946 Start of three year project to design Murano

glassware for Venini.• 1948 Unveils the La Pavoni coffee machine and begins a

four year commission to restore four Italian liners with Nino Zoncada.

• 1950 Collaborates with Fornasetti on interior of the Casino at San Remo.

• 1955 Completion of Villa Planchart, or the "Butterfly House", in Caracas.

• 1956 Construction of the Pirelli Tower as "a graphic slogan" in Milan.

• 1957 Design of Superleggera Chair for Cassina, a lighter version of 1955's Leggera Chair.

• 1960 Builds Villa Nemazee in Tehran.• 1964 Interior design of Hotel Parco dei Principe in Rome and its

(recently restored) sister hotel in Sorrento. Builds Church of San Francesco in Milan.

• 1970 Construction of Taranto Cathedral conceived as a very visible "sail".

• 1972, the Denver Art Museum.

Drawn letter by Gio Ponti

Graziella Roccella in her book ‘Gio Ponti: 1891-1979, Master of Lightness’

Italian architect and designer Gio Ponti (18911979) was the creator of a multifaceted oeuvre. Starting off with ceramics and majolika works at the First International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Monza, he moved on to furniture and interior design and built structures of all kinds, from small residential dwellings to high rise buildings, schools, and office blocks. One of his great interests was the theme of the home, for which he continually sought to find new solutions. Ponti’s colorful, carefree, elegant spaces were designed to inspire optimism in their occupants. The founder and nearly lifelong editor of domus magazine never stopped developing and reinventing his style. This book provides an introduction to Ponti creative process and gives an overview of the various phases of his career.

Contributions/Style…

• Gio Ponti is rightfully known as the godfather of italy's post-war design renaissance.

• Italian art deco reached its pinnacle under Gio Ponti, who made his designs sophisticated, elegant, stylish and raffined, but also modern, exotic and creative.

• soft colours, exuberant patterns

floor tiles for parco dei principe in rome, manufactured by d'agostino, salerno, 1968

'centolettere' collection of tiles manufactured by ceramica bardelli, 1950's.

‘conversazione classica', 1927

maiolica vases for richard ginori, ca. 1925

serie B , 1953for ideal standard, milan

settee, designed for the hotel parco principe, rome, 1964

'distex' lounge chair, 1953

'novedra', upholstered chair 1968

'969' chair for montina

artisan tall ladder-back chair, ca. 1958

'pirellina',1967 for fontana arte 'pirellone', 1967 for fontana arte

'bilia', 1931 for fontana arte 'fato' for artemide, 1969

• Gio Ponti’s work is characterized by grace and clarity. Ponti believed that “architecture is made to be looked at.” It is public landscape. “Facades are the wall of the street, and a city is made of streets; the facades are the visible part of the city, they are all of the city that appears.”

Major Works…

VILLA PLANCHART…also called the ‘BUTTERFLY HOUSE’…

This classic Modernist house was designed in 1955. Here Ponti created almost every aspect of the project from the architecture and interiors to most of the furniture and objects as well….

A model of the villa….

• Gio Ponti designed not only the house but selected all the furnishings and decorative objects. Many of which were also designed by him as well as carefully planning and executing the relationship between architecture and landscape. The modernist principle of integration of the arts with the architecture was naturally carried out in this building.

                                                                  Villa Planchart interior design..

Villa Planchart Staircase Decorative Wall….

                                                                        outer decorative wall….

The appearance of the entry. A wing with its large cantilever shades the outdoor car park….

Left: The natural environment in which the house stands is on top of a ‘cerrito’ (a small hill). On the ‘cerrito’ around the house, the garden was not designed but created with a wonderful collection of trees and tropical flowers chosen by the clients themselves who have a great love for these things and are very knowledgeable about them. Right: the facade towards Caracas…

In the master bedroom, the wall unit houses a jade collection. In the central illuminated display case, there is a surprising play of positive and negative, depending on the position of the swivel panel covering the niche…

PIRELLI TOWER,MILAN…

• The slender Pirelli Tower was the first building in Milan to surpass the height of the cathedral. The innovative skyscraper, nicknamed Pirellone (Big Pirelli), was instantly recognized as an international landmark when it was completed in 1959 as the headquarters of Pirelli.

Creation• Construction of the tower started in 1955 at the site

where the company's first factory stood since 1872. It was designed by a collective of architects, spearheaded by Gio Ponti and Pier Luigi Nervi. Ponti was both a designer and architect who created items ranging from coffee machines and chairs to houses and even churches. Nervi was one of the greatest engineers of his time, specialized in concrete structures. The combined knowledge and creative thinking of these two led to a truly innovative skyscraper.

Design• The most striking aspect of the Pirelli Tower's design is its

slender shape. Thanks to Nervi's technical knowledge it was possible for Ponti to design a tower with a very narrow base, supported by concrete piers that decrease in size as it approaches the top of the building. The building's slender appearance is reinforced by the receding concrete walls that hold the service areas at either side of the building. Here the front and back facade almost touch each other, except for a narrow gap that runs all the way from the bottom to the top, reinforcing the image of a tall and narrow tower. A similar gap between the roof and top floor result in a roof that seems to float above the building.

• The Pirelli Tower rises from a small base straight up to a height of 127 meter (417ft). It was the first building that rose above the top of the Madonnina on the Duomo, which for centuries marked the highest point in the city. For a short time after its completion in 1959 the tower also held the title of the world's tallest reinforced concrete building. Today it isn't even the tallest tower in the city, but the iconic building is still the most elegant and architecturally successful skyscraper in Milan.Soon after its completion the building became an inspiration for other architects, and its form can be found in other skyscrapers

THE DENVER ART MUSEUM…

North Building • In 1971, the museum opened what is now known as the

North Building, designed by Italian architect Gio Ponti and Denver-based James Sudler Associates. The seven-story structure, 210,000-square-foot building allowed the museum to display its collections under one roof for the first time.

The North Building was an innovative move away from traditional, temple-style museum architecture. More than a million reflective glass tiles on the building’s exterior complement the dramatic windows and pierced roofline of the building’s castle-like facade. "Art is a treasure, and these thin but jealous walls defend it," said Gio Ponti.

The 1971 art museum building….

PONTI: MASTER OF LIGHTNESS..

“Pure architecture is a crystal. When it is pure, it is clear like a crystal – magic, closed, exclusive, autonomous, unsullied, absolute, conclusive like a crystal.”

Bibliography…o en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giò_Ponti o designmuseum.org/design/gio-ponti o www.cassina.com/portal/page/portal/UI/webpages/

cassina/.../detail?... o ‘Gio Ponti: 1891-1979, Master of Lightness’ by Graziella

Roccella o http://www.designboom.com/portrait/ponti/bio.htmlo www.domusweb.it/en/from-the.../villa-planchart-

caracas-1953-57-