Giò Ponti

Gio Ponti ( born November 18, 1891 in Milan, † September 16, 1979 ) was an Italian architect and designer.

Life

Gio (actually Giovanni) Ponti studied in Milan until 1921 architecture at the Polytechnic, where he later received a professorship and taught from 1936 to 1961. Gio Ponti is among the few architects in Italy, which reached both in the design of small everyday objects as well as in the design of large-scale construction projects to international fame. In 1923 he became artistic director of the porcelain manufacturer Richard -Ginori (up to 1930). In the same year he was one of the founders of the Triennale in Monza. In 1933 he took over the management and organization of the V Triennale in Milan. In 1928, he founded the art, architecture and design magazine "Domus ", which he - until his death - with interruption 1941-1947. "Domus " was already in the first years an important forum rationalist - and anticipated Pontis gradual change of course from the Novecento Milanese to Razionalismo.

Between 1933 and 1945 he designed a variety of buildings such as the Department of Mathematics at the University of Rome in 1934. Commissioned by the Italian Cultural Institute in 1936, he designed the interior of the Fürstenberg Palace in Vienna in neosezessionistischen new style. In the same year Ponti was appointed a full professor at the Faculty of Architecture of the Polytechnic in Milan, where he taught until 1961.

Ponti was initially in the circle of the Milanese neo-classicists, who joined forces in the 1920s to " Novecento Milanese ". His first creative phase is marked by the influence of Otto Wagner, he is looking to connect with the emerging rationalist. The designs for the three houses Domus Julia, Fausta and Carola (1932-1936) in Milan already distinguished himself from Pontis turning to a moderate form of the rationalist.

In contrast stands the almost simultaneously realized office building "Primo Palazzo Montecatini ," the 1936 Ponti realized with much stronger references to " Novecento " in Milan. This office building Ponti wanted a " Palazzo del Lavoro " (Palace of the work) create from uniform, running in the façade, window openings and curtain stone slabs. The result is a three-part structure with up to 15 floors, is experiencing its monumental effect through the generous opening gesture of the two ten-story wing. Serially arranged office space to both sides of an inner development corridor and symmetrically positioned stairs and elevators for vertical access here support the impression of a mechanization of the world of work. Ponti had meticulously calculated here the size of the facade panels and also the glazing module.

This rigor and uniform materiality solves Ponti in the construction of the second office building for Montecatini, the " Secondo Palazzo Montecatini ", from 1952 to well. At this new building in the immediate vicinity of the different influences from Novecento and Razionalismo be clearly noticeable. The concave curved main facade has a completely different facade design that works with forward and backward jumps: A fine- membered grid of narrow aluminum profiles is preceded by the recessed glazing. The facade is three-dimensional, given a spatial depth. It is this design principle has been widely applied by the protagonists of the rationalist. From the uniform polished facade of the Palazzo Primo developed Ponti when Secondo Palazzo a game of supply and return jumps and different materials by contrasting large stone slabs with small-scale mosaic.

In the postwar period Gio Ponti gave the Italian design a new impetus. In 1948 he succeeded to the coffee machine "LA CORNUTA ", produced by the coffee machine manufacturer " La Pavoni ", a classic of Italian design. For a transatlantic ocean liner emerged after his draft Occasional Chairs. In 1957 he designed his most famous furniture, emphasizes the delicate " Superleggera " chair.

In 1958 he realized - along with Pier Luigi Nervi, Arturo Danusso among others - His most important architectural project, the Pirelli Tower in Milan. This building is one of the world's first high-rise buildings, which, detached from the basic shape of a parallelepiped, a pure high- cuboid. This of clear contours drawn, clearly defined, finite form Ponti tempted by the known until then, get rid any continuable grid cubature. At 127 meters high Pirelli Tower through the two narrow sides, similar to a ship's bow, pointed together. The two massive tails contain the side stairs, elevators and the vertical supply lines. The innovative support structure of the tower, which has been tested in several pilot experiments, allowed a largely column-free office zone and thus enables high flexibility in terms of internal organization.

Important buildings

Denver Art Museum, Denver, USA (1966-1972)

266183
de