Antonio Sant'Elia

Antonio Sant'Elia

Antonio Sant'Elia in his twenties in Milan
Born 30 April 1888
Como, Lombardy
Died 10 October 1916 (aged 28)
Gorizia, Friuli Venezia Giulia
Nationality Italy
Occupation architect

Antonio Sant'Elia (Italian pronunciation: [anˈtɔnjo santeˈlia]; 30 April 1888 - 10 October 1916) was an Italian architect, key member of the Futurist movement in architecture.

Life

Antonio Sant'Elia was born in Como, Lombardy. A builder by training, he opened a design office in Milan in 1912 and became involved with the Futurist movement. Between 1912 and 1914, influenced by industrial cities of the United States and the architects Renzo Picasso, Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos, he began a series of design drawings for a futurist Città Nuova ("New City") that was conceived as a symbol of a new age.

Many of these drawings were displayed at the only exhibition of the Nuove Tendenze group (of which he was a member) exhibition in May/June 1914 at the "Famiglia Artistica" gallery. Today, some of these drawings are on permanent display at Como's art gallery (Pinacoteca).

The manifesto Futurist Architecture was published in August 1914, supposedly by Sant'Elia, though this is subject to debate. In it the author stated that "the decorative value of Futurist architecture depends solely on the use and original arrangement of raw or bare or violently colored materials".[1] His vision was for a highly industrialized and mechanized city of the future, which he saw not as a mass of individual buildings but a vast, multi-level, interconnected and integrated urban conurbation designed around the "life" of the city. His extremely influential designs featured vast monolithic skyscraper buildings with terraces, bridges and aerial walkways that embodied the sheer excitement of modern architecture and technology. Even in this excitement for technology and modernity, in Sant'Elia's monumentalism, however, can be found elements of Art Nouveau architect Giuseppe Sommaruga.[2]

A nationalist as well as an irredentist, Sant'Elia joined the Italian army as Italy entered World War I in 1915. He was killed during the Eighth Battle of the Isonzo, near Gorizia. Most of his designs were never built, but his futurist vision has influenced many architects, artists, designers and filmmakers such as Fritz Lang's 1927 film, Metropolis and Ridley Scott's 1982 Hollywood movie, Blade Runner.[3]

Works

La Città Nuova, 1914

Image gallery

See also

Futurist architecture

References

  1. ↑ See point 4 ho "Proclama" section of Manifesto of Futurist Architecture ("Manifesto of Futurist Architecture". 8-01-2011. Check date values in: |date= (help) )
  2. ↑ Futurist architecture and Angiolo Mazzoni’s manifesto of aerial architecture, published in VV.AA. Angiolo Mazzoni e l'Architettura Futurista - p.11
  3. ↑ "Irish Arts Review". http://www.irishartsreview.com. Retrieved 27 September 2014.

Bibliography

External links

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