Go back 
“A building always redesigns new relationships, it cannot be indifferent. The Mart in its central space collects and enhances the surrounding language. The diversity of languages, ancient modern, becomes wealth” – Mario Botta.
The project
Mario Botta’s building, clad in yellow stone to blend in with the setting, is monumental but at the same time sober.
The MART consists of a large square body, low and empty in the centre.
The most scenographic element is surely the suggestive circular “square”, surmounted by a dome made of steel and glass.
The beautiful dome is an explicit reference to the Pantheon, with a sort of central eye nine meters in diameter that contrasts with a circular fountain, free of water features, with a black background that captures lights and colours that penetrate the dome.
The “square” connects the new building to the surrounding eighteenth-century buildings and the integration of these entities creates a real citadel of culture.
The interiors are very large with high walls painted completely in white.
For all these characteristics, the building that houses the museum has been defined as a work of art in itself.
Where
Rovereto, Trento (Italy).
The architect
Mario Botta was born in 1943 in Mendrisio. After compulsory school, he entered at the age of 15 as an apprentice designer at the architectural firm of Luigi Camenisch and Tita Carloni in Lugano and at the age of 18, he made his first construction. He attended the Art School of Milan and continued his studies at the University Institute of Architecture in Venice.
In 1970, he opened his own architecture studio in Lugano and in 2011, he moved to Mendrisio where he continues to actively deal with projects on a national and international scale.
