Andrea Branzi Andrea Branzi architect and designer of utopias (1938-2023)
10/10/2023.
[MIL] Italy
metalocus, ADELA BONAS
metalocus, ADELA BONAS
Italian architect and designer Andrea Branzi, who was one of the founders of the influential Archizoom Associati studio and the Domus Academy, passed away yesterday, October 9, 2023, at the age of 84.
Andrea Branzi was born in Florence in 1938 and in 1966 he founded, together with Gilberto Corretti, Paolo Deganello, and Massimo Morozzi, the studio Archizoom Associati (which would dissolve in 1974), an experimental group known for its innovative projects that, together with the contemporary group Superstudio, launched internationally to the world the Italian avant-garde in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly the experimental movement known as radical architecture.
Andrea Branzi was born in Florence in 1938 and in 1966 he founded, together with Gilberto Corretti, Paolo Deganello, and Massimo Morozzi, the studio Archizoom Associati (which would dissolve in 1974), an experimental group known for its innovative projects that, together with the contemporary group Superstudio, launched internationally to the world the Italian avant-garde in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly the experimental movement known as radical architecture.
Superonda Sofa, 1966. Image courtesy of Dario Bartolini (Archizoom Associati)
Andrea Branzi. Image courtesy of Triennial Milano.
Residential Park, No-Stop City project (Plan) 1969. Andrea Branzi. Image courtesy of MoMA.
Andrea Branzi designed the Mies chair as part of Archizoom Associati. Image courtesy of Triennial Milano.
Throughout a six-decade career, he created numerous avant-garde proposals, including the visionary No-Stop-City (1969), an urban utopia, an invention proposed as a surreal city project, which was proposed as a continuous residential structure, without empty spaces, in the line of proposals such as those of Yona Friedman, or the Japanese of metabolism.
His design proposals include furniture created with the intention of challenging the conventions of the time, such as the Superonda sofa (1967), (and produced by Poltronova) the Mies chair (1968) or the Safari modular sofa (1968), pieces that were created with the intention of challenging conventional notions about how we use furniture. His objects have been produced by several prestigious brands, including Alessi and Cassina...
In 2022, Branzi received the Italian Architecture Prize for lifetime achievement, highlighting different awards throughout his career, including three Compasso d'Oro in 1979, 1987, and 1995. His objects have been produced by several prestigious brands, including Alessi and Cassina. He was also one of the founders of Domus Academy, a private design school that he ran for years, and a full professor at the Milan Polytechnic.
His design proposals include furniture created with the intention of challenging the conventions of the time, such as the Superonda sofa (1967), (and produced by Poltronova) the Mies chair (1968) or the Safari modular sofa (1968), pieces that were created with the intention of challenging conventional notions about how we use furniture. His objects have been produced by several prestigious brands, including Alessi and Cassina...
In 2022, Branzi received the Italian Architecture Prize for lifetime achievement, highlighting different awards throughout his career, including three Compasso d'Oro in 1979, 1987, and 1995. His objects have been produced by several prestigious brands, including Alessi and Cassina. He was also one of the founders of Domus Academy, a private design school that he ran for years, and a full professor at the Milan Polytechnic.
