Arquitectos #2: Giuseppe Terragni

(b. Meda, Italy 1904; d. Como, Italy 1943)

Giuseppe Terragni was born in Meda, Italy in 1904. He attended the Technical College in Como then studied architecture at the Milan Polytechnic. In 1927 he and his brother Atiilia opened an office in Como. They remained in practice until Giuseppe's death during the war.

A pioneer of the modern movement in Italy, Terragni produced some of its most significant buildings. A founding member of the fascist Gruppo 7 and a leading Italian Rationalist, Terragni fought to move architecture away from neo-classical and neo-baroque revivalism. In 1926 he and other progressive members of Gruppo 7 issued the manifesto that made them the leaders in the fight against revivalism.

In a career that lasted only 13 years, Terragni created a small but remarkable group of designs; nearly all of them are in Como which was then the center of modern Italian architecture. These works form the nucleus of the language of Italian rationalist or modernistic architecture. In his last designs, Terragni achieved a more distinctive Mediterranean character through the fusion of modern theory and tradition.

Terragni died in Como, Italy in 1943.

http://www.greatbuildings.com/

Giuseppe Terragni, Casa del Fascio, Como, 1932-36