GIO PONTI

(1891 - 1979)

R I D A H A B D U R A S S A C K B100069 AR

EARLY LIFE

BORN IN MILAN (1891). 1921 HE GRADUATED FROM THE MILAN UNIVERSITY . HE DID MILITARY SERVICE DURING WORLD WAR I WITH THE RANK OF CAPTAIN, FROM 1916 TO 1918. WAS AN INFLUENTIAL WRITER, PAINTER,TEACHER, INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER AS WELL AS AN ARCHITECT.

EARLY CAREER
PONTI BECAME AN ART DIRECTOR FOR THE CERAMICS MANUFACTURER JUST AFTER HIS MILITARY SERVICE. IN 1923, PONTI BEGAN HIS ARCHITECTURAL CAREER ,IN PARTNERSHIP WITH MINO FIOCCHI AND EMILIO LANCIA. 1926 DESIGNS HIS FIRST HOUSE ON VIA RANDACCIO IN MILAN. IN THE MID-1930S, PONTI WON BIG COMMISSIONS FOR THE MATHEMATICS DEPT. AT ROME UNIVERSITY (1934) AND HEADQUARTERS FOR MONTECATINI (1936).

 HE DEVELOPED MODEL HOUSES CALLED THE DOMUS, WHICH LOOKED LIKE A TYPICAL MILANESE HOME FROM THE OUTSIDE, BUT FEATURED AN INNOVATIVE INTERIOR WITH FLEXIBLE SPACES AND MODULAR FURNITURE.

THE 32 STOREY PIRELLI TOWER DESIGEND BY PONTI WAS LIKELY THE ZENITH OF PONTIS ENTIRE CAREER. HE WAS ALSO THE FOUNDING EDITOR OF DOMUS MAGAZINE (1928).

PHILOSOPHY
PONTI'S GOALS WERE THAT HIS BUILDINGS SHOULD HARMONISE FORM WITH FUNCTION,AND BE EXAMPLES OF THE CORRECT USE OF MATERIALS. HE INSISTED THAT DECORATION AND MODERN IDEAS WERE NOT INCOMPATIBLE. HIS IDEAS ABOUT BLENDING THE OLD AND THE NEW DID HAVE SUPPORTERS. PONTIS RATIONALIST YET DECORATIVE TENDENCY TAKES MORE AESTHETIC CUES FROM THE VIENNESE MASTERS HE ADMIRED THAN THE INTERNATIONAL STYLE. WANTED A MODERNISM THAT WAS PERSONAL, SITE SPECIFIC AND FUNCTIONAL, WITH A LIGHTNESS AND ELEGANCE.

 Ponti as the godfather of post-war Italian design. was influenced by and associated with the Milanese neoclassical Novecento Italiano movement.

Ponti was a friend and admirer of Le Corbusier and the Bauhaus designers but was not the glass box types.
During the 1950s, Ponti devoted more time to industrial design ,and worte in his journals "Industry is the style of the 20th century, its mode of creation,"

HONORS& AWARDS
HE RECEIVED (1934) THE TITLE OF COMMANDER OF THE ROYAL VASA ORDER IN STOCKHOLM. THE ART PRIZE OF THE ACCADEMIA D'ITALIA,

AN HONORARY DOCTORATE FROM THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART IN LONDON.

A GOLD MEDAL FROM THE ACADMIE D'ARCHITECTURE IN PARIS.

WORKS

VILLA PLANCHART

 PIRELLI TOWER

 DENVER ART MUSEUM