Antonio Sant'Elia (; 30 April 1888 – 10 October 1916) was an Italian

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and a key member of the Futurist movement in architecture. He left behind almost no completed works of architecture and is primarily remembered for his bold sketches and influence on modern architecture.

Early years

Antonio Sant'Elia was born in Como,

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

. A builder by training, he studied at the Brera Academy in Milan with Giuseppe Mentessi, and then at the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

, where he graduated in architecture in 1912. The same year, he opened a

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

office in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

and became involved with the Futurist movement after meeting with Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.

Writing

The ''

Manifesto A manifesto is a written declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party, or government. A manifesto can accept a previously published opinion or public consensus, but many prominent ...

of Futurist Architecture'' was published in Lacerba in August 1914. It has been attributed to Sant'Elia, though some historians dispute this. In it, the author states that "The decorative value of Futurist architecture depends solely on the use and original arrangement of raw or bare or violently colored materials". Sant'Elia's vision consisted in an industrialized and mechanized city of the future, which he saw not as a conglomerate of individual buildings but a vast, multi-level, interconnected and integrated urban

conurbation A conurbation is a region consisting of a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ...

designed around the "life" of the city.

Work

Between 1912 and 1914, influenced by the

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urban landscape as well as by architects such as Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos, and Renzo Picasso, Sant'Elia started working on a series of sketches for a futurist "Città Nuova" ("New City") designed to symbolize a new age. Many of his drawings were exhibited at the only show of the ''Nuove Tendenze'' group (of which he was a member) in May-June 1914 at the Famiglia Artistica gallery in Milan. Today, about 170 of his works on paper are on permanent display as part of the collection of Pinacoteca Civica di Palazzo Volpi, Como. Sant'Elia's work featured vast monolithic

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

buildings with terraces, bridges and aerial walkways that embodied the sheer excitement of modern architecture and technology. His monumentalism, however, was also influenced by

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

architect Giuseppe Sommaruga.''Futurist architecture and Angiolo Mazzoni’s manifesto of aerial architecture'', published in VV.AA. ''Angiolo Mazzoni e l'Architettura Futurista'' - p.11 A

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

as well as an

irredentist Irredentism () is one state's desire to annex the territory of another state. This desire can be motivated by ethnic reasons because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to or the same as the population of the parent state. Hist ...

, Sant'Elia, together with other futurists such as Mario Sironi, Umberto Boccioni and Marinetti, joined the Italian army as Italy entered

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in 1915. Sant'Elia was killed during the Eighth Battle of the Isonzo, near

Gorizia Gorizia (; ; , ; ; ) is a town and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, Region ...

, in 1916.

Legacy

Sant'Elia left behind very few examples of his architecture work. Among those are Villa Elisi in San Maurizio (nowadays a subdivision of Brunate), and a War Memorial in Como. The latter was completed by Giuseppe Terragni in 1933. Though most of Sant'Elia's designs were never realized, his utopian vision turned out to be quite influential for generations to come. Sant'Elia is often cited as a precursor to architects such as John Portman and Helmut Jahn. The production design of dystopian films like

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), better known as Fritz Lang (), was an Austrian-born film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety Obituari ...

's 1927 ''

Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big city b ...

'' and

Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English film director and producer. He directs films in the Science fiction film, science fiction, Crime film, crime, and historical drama, historical epic genres, with an atmospheric and highly co ...

's 1982 Hollywood movie '' Blade Runner'' is also indebted to Sant'Elia's ideas.

Works

*''La Città Nuova'', 1914

Image gallery

File:Centrale elettrica Sant'Elia.jpg, Power station (1914) File:Casa Sant'Elia.jpg, House with external elevators (1914) File:Casa a gradinata con ascensori dai quattro piani stradali 1914- Sant'Elia.jpg, Drawing (1914) File:Santelia02.jpg, Drawing (1914) Image:Stazione Sant'Elia.jpg, Perspective drawing from ''La Città Nuova'', 1914

References

Bibliography

* VV.AA. ''Angiolo Mazzoni e l'Architettura Futurista'', Supplement of CE.S.A.R. September/December 2008 (Available at ) (Also at ) *Riccardo Rosati, ‘Antonio Sant’Elia e il contributo del futurismo italiano in Metropolis e Akira’, ''Manga Academica'', 13, 9-34, 2020.

External links

Website in Italian
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santelia, Antonio 1888 births 1916 deaths Italian Futurism Futurist architects 20th-century Italian architects Modernist architects from Italy People from Como Italian military personnel killed in World War I Brera Academy alumni