Designer
Born in Milan in 1916, he received his degree in architecture in 1939 and from 1945 he started his career as a designer, architect and planner. As soon as the war ended he played an active part in the cultural debate in the Modern Movement; he was a member of CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne) and the National Town Planning Institute. From 1947 to 1949 he was editor-in-chief of Domus and in the 1950s he was in the editorial staff of Casabella. In 1947 he began designing furniture in metal tubing, reinterpreting the Rationalist tradition: since then, as a designer he addressed the problem of the relationship between the architect and the manufacturer, between design and experiment.
In 1954 he contributed to establish the Industrial Design Association and the concept of the Compasso d'Oro award. Subsequently, he took stands in public bodies in the town-planning and design fields, making a contribution to the Milan Triennale and city planning. He received many awards, including the Compasso d'Oro, and the inclusion of his products in the international museums. Capping his long teaching career, he has been professor of industrial design at the Faculty of Architecture at Milan Polytechnic since 1979. Since 1981 he has been the president of the Planning and Production Department there.
