Luigi Moretti
*2. 1. 1907 – Rome, Italy
†14. 7. 1973, Italy
Biography
Luigi Walter Moretti was an Italian modernist architect who became involved with the fascist regime in the 1930s and realized several iconic buildings overseas after World War II (such as the Watergate hotel complex in Washington or the Tour de la Bourse stock exchange building in Montreal). His parents were Maria Giuseppina Moretti and architect Luigi Rolland.
He was born on Via Napoleone II on the Esquiline hill in Rome, where he spent his entire life in the same apartment.
From 1925 to 1929, he studied architecture at the Regia Scuola di Architettura and subsequently received a three-year scholarship in 1931, which he spent working with archaeologist Corrado Ricci on Trajan's Market, as well as assisting professors Vincenzo Fasoli and Gustavo Giovannoni. In 1932, he participated in competitions for urban planning solutions for Verona, Perugia, and Faenza, winning second place. In 1933, he completed his university education and took part in the fifth Milan Triennale. At the same time, he met Renato Ricci, who was the president of ONB (the Association of Italian Fascist Youth). Subsequently, as the technical director of ONB, he designed several youth centers. In 1937, he took on the design of Foro Mussolini, where he created one of his most significant works: the Fencing Academy and Duce's Gymnasium. In 1938, he participated in the design of E42 (the World Exhibition in Rome planned for 1942) in the newly built EUR district. He also ran a private practice, with clients that included fascist officials.
Between 1942 and 1945, he stopped appearing in public. He re-emerged in 1945 when he was arrested for collaborating with the fascist regime. He was briefly imprisoned in San Victor prison, where he met Count Adolf Fossataro, with whom he founded Cofimprese after his release in November of the same year, a company specializing in the construction of hotel buildings (out of twenty planned constructions, only three were realized, and the company dissolved in 1949). In 1950, he built the Il Girasole (Sunflower) residential building on Via Parioli, which Robert Venturi elucidated in his book Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture as an early example of postmodern architecture balancing tradition and innovation. According to the Swiss architecture theorist Stanislause von Moose, the Vanna Venturi House, one of Venturi's masterpieces, with its broken pediments, "recalls the duality of the facade of Luigi Moretti's apartment building on Via Parioli in Rome." He subsequently designed villas for prominent patrons, including La Villa Saracena (1954) in the seaside resort of Santa Marinella for the former director of the Roman newspaper Il Messaggero, Francesco Malgeri. From 1950 to 1953, he published the artistic magazine Space, Review of Arts and Architecture. In 1953, he founded the 'space' gallery in Rome. Together with French art critic and theorist Michel Tapié, he established the International Center for Aesthetic Research in Turin, which operated until Tapié's death in 1987. In 1957, he became a consultant for the Società Generale Immobiliare (SGI), for which he designed buildings in the EUR district. In the same year, he also founded the Institute for Operations Research and Applied Mathematics in Urban Planning (IRMOU) with the clear aim of continuing the study of so-called "parametric" architecture, a new approach based on the application of mathematical theories in planning.
He studied new spatial relationships using mathematical analysis, just as Le Corbusier studied the Modulor and the golden ratio. These studies were presented with great interest at the XIII Milan Triennale in 1960.
In 1958, he continued designing residential districts (including CEP in Livorno) and collaborated with Adalberto Libera, Vittorio Cafiero, Amedeo Luccichenti, and Vincenzo Monaco on the project for the Olympic Village in Rome intended for the XVII Olympic Games planned for 1960. The village design won the Prix IN/ARCH for the best achievement in the Lazio region in 1961.
From 1960 to 1966, he was the main coordinator of the urban project for the Quartiere INCIS Decima (Istituto nazionale per le case degli impiegati statali - National Institute for Housing of State Employees) in the Roman Zone Z (created together with Vittorio Cafiero, Ignazio Guidi, and Adalberto Libera). He had a significant influence on the land-use plan for Rome, which was adopted by the city council in December 1962.
For General Real Estate, he designed the Watergate hotel complex in Washington and the Tour de la Bourse stock tower in Montreal, Canada, in 1962. In 1963, he again received the IN/ARCH award for the best achievement in the Lazio region for a study of two buildings for Esso in the EUR district of Rome. In 1964, President Antonio Segni awarded him a medal for merit in school, culture, and art.
His participation in an international conference on Michelangelo studies (1964) with the essay "Ideal Structures of Michelangelo's Architecture and Baroque" led him to attempt another creative experience - in 1964, he created a three-quarter hour biographical film about Michelangelo Buonarroti, "Michelangelo: The Man with Four Flaws", which was written and directed by Charles Conrad and funded by the Italian government. The film won the Saint Mark's Lion award for artistic film at the Venice Film Festival in the same year.
In 1965, he began a fruitful collaboration with the consulting group Le Condotte. In 1972, as part of the work on the Roman metro, he designed the Pietro Nenni car bridge.
From 1967 to 1968, he received the Antonio Feltrinelli Prize and was commissioned to design the Tabgha Sanctuary on the Sea of Galilee. The project was approved by the Holy See, but work was not started due to the delicate situation between Israel and the Palestinians, which soon escalated into war. In 1969, he received several commissions in Arab countries, particularly in Kuwait (where he designed the headquarters of the Bedouin Engineering Club) and in Algeria (the El-Aurassi hotel and Club des Pins complex, in addition to schools and residential districts). In 1973, he designed an underground parking lot under the Borghese park for two thousand cars. He died in 1973 from heart failure on the island of Capraia amidst work duties.
Luigi Walter Moretti was an Italian modernist architect who became involved with the fascist regime in the 1930s and realized several iconic buildings overseas after World War II (such as the Watergate hotel complex in Washington or the Tour de la Bourse stock exchange building in Montreal). His parents were Maria Giuseppina Moretti and architect Luigi Rolland.
He was born on Via Napoleone II on the Esquiline hill in Rome, where he spent his entire life in the same apartment.
From 1925 to 1929, he studied architecture at the Regia Scuola di Architettura and subsequently received a three-year scholarship in 1931, which he spent working with archaeologist Corrado Ricci on Trajan's Market, as well as assisting professors Vincenzo Fasoli and Gustavo Giovannoni. In 1932, he participated in competitions for urban planning solutions for Verona, Perugia, and Faenza, winning second place. In 1933, he completed his university education and took part in the fifth Milan Triennale. At the same time, he met Renato Ricci, who was the president of ONB (the Association of Italian Fascist Youth). Subsequently, as the technical director of ONB, he designed several youth centers. In 1937, he took on the design of Foro Mussolini, where he created one of his most significant works: the Fencing Academy and Duce's Gymnasium. In 1938, he participated in the design of E42 (the World Exhibition in Rome planned for 1942) in the newly built EUR district. He also ran a private practice, with clients that included fascist officials.
Between 1942 and 1945, he stopped appearing in public. He re-emerged in 1945 when he was arrested for collaborating with the fascist regime. He was briefly imprisoned in San Victor prison, where he met Count Adolf Fossataro, with whom he founded Cofimprese after his release in November of the same year, a company specializing in the construction of hotel buildings (out of twenty planned constructions, only three were realized, and the company dissolved in 1949). In 1950, he built the Il Girasole (Sunflower) residential building on Via Parioli, which Robert Venturi elucidated in his book Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture as an early example of postmodern architecture balancing tradition and innovation. According to the Swiss architecture theorist Stanislause von Moose, the Vanna Venturi House, one of Venturi's masterpieces, with its broken pediments, "recalls the duality of the facade of Luigi Moretti's apartment building on Via Parioli in Rome." He subsequently designed villas for prominent patrons, including La Villa Saracena (1954) in the seaside resort of Santa Marinella for the former director of the Roman newspaper Il Messaggero, Francesco Malgeri. From 1950 to 1953, he published the artistic magazine Space, Review of Arts and Architecture. In 1953, he founded the 'space' gallery in Rome. Together with French art critic and theorist Michel Tapié, he established the International Center for Aesthetic Research in Turin, which operated until Tapié's death in 1987. In 1957, he became a consultant for the Società Generale Immobiliare (SGI), for which he designed buildings in the EUR district. In the same year, he also founded the Institute for Operations Research and Applied Mathematics in Urban Planning (IRMOU) with the clear aim of continuing the study of so-called "parametric" architecture, a new approach based on the application of mathematical theories in planning.
He studied new spatial relationships using mathematical analysis, just as Le Corbusier studied the Modulor and the golden ratio. These studies were presented with great interest at the XIII Milan Triennale in 1960.
In 1958, he continued designing residential districts (including CEP in Livorno) and collaborated with Adalberto Libera, Vittorio Cafiero, Amedeo Luccichenti, and Vincenzo Monaco on the project for the Olympic Village in Rome intended for the XVII Olympic Games planned for 1960. The village design won the Prix IN/ARCH for the best achievement in the Lazio region in 1961.
From 1960 to 1966, he was the main coordinator of the urban project for the Quartiere INCIS Decima (Istituto nazionale per le case degli impiegati statali - National Institute for Housing of State Employees) in the Roman Zone Z (created together with Vittorio Cafiero, Ignazio Guidi, and Adalberto Libera). He had a significant influence on the land-use plan for Rome, which was adopted by the city council in December 1962.
For General Real Estate, he designed the Watergate hotel complex in Washington and the Tour de la Bourse stock tower in Montreal, Canada, in 1962. In 1963, he again received the IN/ARCH award for the best achievement in the Lazio region for a study of two buildings for Esso in the EUR district of Rome. In 1964, President Antonio Segni awarded him a medal for merit in school, culture, and art.
His participation in an international conference on Michelangelo studies (1964) with the essay "Ideal Structures of Michelangelo's Architecture and Baroque" led him to attempt another creative experience - in 1964, he created a three-quarter hour biographical film about Michelangelo Buonarroti, "Michelangelo: The Man with Four Flaws", which was written and directed by Charles Conrad and funded by the Italian government. The film won the Saint Mark's Lion award for artistic film at the Venice Film Festival in the same year.
In 1965, he began a fruitful collaboration with the consulting group Le Condotte. In 1972, as part of the work on the Roman metro, he designed the Pietro Nenni car bridge.
From 1967 to 1968, he received the Antonio Feltrinelli Prize and was commissioned to design the Tabgha Sanctuary on the Sea of Galilee. The project was approved by the Holy See, but work was not started due to the delicate situation between Israel and the Palestinians, which soon escalated into war. In 1969, he received several commissions in Arab countries, particularly in Kuwait (where he designed the headquarters of the Bedouin Engineering Club) and in Algeria (the El-Aurassi hotel and Club des Pins complex, in addition to schools and residential districts). In 1973, he designed an underground parking lot under the Borghese park for two thousand cars. He died in 1973 from heart failure on the island of Capraia amidst work duties.
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