Vittorio Gregotti, the Italian architect who helped design the Barcelona Summer Olympic Stadium, has died aged 92 after contracting the coronavirus.
Gregotti died on Sunday, March 16 after being admitted to the San Giuseppe hospital in Milan with pneumonia caused by the virus. His wife, Marina Mazza, is also being treated at the same hospital. It is still unclear whether she contracted Covid-19 as well.
He is one of more than 1,800 people to die from the virus in Italy, which has become the worst affected country outside of China.
Gregotti was born in Novara, west of Milan, in 1927. He graduated from the Polytechnic University of Milan – the largest technical university in Italy –in 1952, going on to work for the Italian architectural magazine Casabella, first as a contributor then as its editor-in-chief until 1963.
After founding the Gregotti Associati International in 1974, he went on to design the Belem Cultural Centre in Lisbon, the Arcimboldi Opera Theatre in Milan and several university campuses including the University of Calabria. He also designed the Marassi Geneva Stadium in Genoa for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. His studio was also behind the design of the Pujiang New Town in Shanghai, a planned town build with Italian architectural themes.
Gregotti was also a distinguished curator and essayist. In 1975, he curated an exhibition called Regarding the Stucky Mill, which explores options for the abandoned granary mills on Venice's Giudecca. The exhibition, inspired the La Biennale di Venezia to establish an exhibition on architecture, was a precursor for the Venice Architecture Biennale, which began in 1980.
“I don’t really know why [they asked an architecture to curate the Biennale] – it was very strange,” Gregotti said in 2010. “I agreed to do it only if we also had a small first exhibition of architecture. That was the condition because if not, well, I wasn’t going to do it. The biennale had never had an architecture section, so this would be the first one.”
Fellow Italian architect Stefano Boeri paid tribute to Gregotti following news of his death, calling him a “master of international architecture” who “created the story of our culture."
“What a great sadness,” Boeri wrote on Facebook.
Dario Franceschini, Italian Minister of Cultural Heritage, said that Gregotti was “a great Italian architect and urban planner who has given prestige to our country in the world. I cling to the family on this sad day.”
LIVING IN...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The story of Edge
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, established Edge in 2019.
It brought together 25 state-owned and independent companies specialising in weapons systems, cyber protection and electronic warfare.
Edge has an annual revenue of $5 billion and employs more than 12,000 people.
Some of the companies include Nimr, a maker of armoured vehicles, Caracal, which manufactures guns and ammunitions company, Lahab
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The Scale for Clinical Actionability of Molecular Targets
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Some insurers, such as World Nomads, allow you to book once you are travelling – but, as Mr Mohammed found out, pre-existing medical conditions are not covered.
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Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
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The biog
Name: Ayisha Abdulrahman Gareb
Age: 57
From: Kalba
Occupation: Mukrema, though she washes bodies without charge
Favourite things to do: Visiting patients at the hospital and give them the support they need.
Role model: Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Women's Union, Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation and President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood.
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