Ignazio Gardella

As a designer, Ignazio Gardella furniture and lighting designs were something he pursued early in his career. Most of his early pieces were made by local craftsmen and smaller manufacturing shops, such as the Ignazio Gardella furniture that was designed for Villa Coggi in Milano (1942).

Gardella Co-Founds Furniture Maker Azucena

In 1947, the year he graduated as an architect, he cofounded the design and manufacturing company Azucena with fellow architects Luigi Caccia Dominioni and Corrado Corradi Dell’Acqua. From the start, Azucena distinguished itself for its design collections that combined formal elegance, clear modernist aesthetics, and excellent craftsmanship and manufacturing quality.

With the founding of Azucena, the newly graduated architect Ignazio Gardella, just as other prominent and entrepreneurial Italian architects of the time, cemented a long and successful architect-designer career. From the start, Gardella’s furnishing and lighting designs made by Azucena became highly sought after, including his brass chandeliers, wall lights, and sconces and a wide variety bookcases, and height-adjustable tables—all made with high attention to detail and texture and with a strong sense of subtle modernity. Gardella also designed for Gavina the unique and iconic reclining chairs and couches with brass “Duck” feet (1957).

Between 1952 and 1956, Ignazio Gardella, Franco Albini, Giuseppe Samonà, and Ernesto Nathan Rogers managed and taught summer courses at the CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne) in Venice.

Although Ignazio Gardella’s work changed with the architectural tendencies of the time, his designs show continuity and an impulse to maintain a “classic” composure, as well as a careful attention and refinement to the quality of the details.

Ignazio Gardella Excelled In Integrating Modern Design In Historical Settings

Ignazio Gardella demonstrated his capacity to adapt to the spirit of a place as few other architects have succeeded in doing. A perfect example of this instance is the contrast between Casa Borsalino (1947-1952), made by the Borsalino hat manufacturer for its employees, in Alessandria, and the Casa alle Zattere (1958-1962) in Venice, an excellent example of introducing modern architecture in the center of a monumental historical setting without the use of historical simulations. At Casa alle Zattere, Gardella marked the difference in materials, style, decorative elements, and the conception of volume in an effort to take up influences from the built environment and context without subjugating to it.

Gardella remained very engaged developing and collaborating in architectural projects throughout his entire life. Additional important architectural work include: The construction in Milan of the new museum for contemporary art, PAC (1947-1954), or Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, on the grounds of the old museum; the offices for Alfa Romeo in Arese (1969-1972); the building of the faculty of architecture in Genoa, with its unique brick facade (1975–1989); the reconstruction of the theater Carlo Felice in Genoa (1981-1990), in collaboration with architects Aldo Rossi and Christoph Reinhardt; the Lambrate train station in Milan (1984-1992); and the restoration of the antituberculosis clinic in Alessandria (1996) that he had built more than 60 years prior.

Last updated: August 11, 2020