Mario Botta was born in 1943 in Mendrisio, Switzerland. In his work he took inspiration from such masters as Le Corbusier, Louis I. Kahn, and Carlo Scarpa, whom he met during his studies in Venice.
Architecture and memory are inseparable in his work, where the changes implemented in architecture become part of man’s landscape. Light generates space, primary geometric forms are distinctive signs left by man in his surroundings. Since his early detached houses in Canton Tessin, his work encompassed all building types (schools, banks, administration buildings, libraries, museums, and religious buildings), as well as design.