Alberto Camenzind (7 June 1914, in

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

– 29 September 2004, in Astano) was a Swiss architect from

Ticino Ticino ( ), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino, is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eight districts ...

. He also became a professor at the prestigious Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (''"Zürich Technical University"'').

Early years

Alberto Camenzind was the son of, Eduard Camenzind, a hotelier originally from Gersau in the (officially German speaking)

Canton of Schwyz The canton of Schwyz ( ; ; ; ) is a Cantons of Switzerland, canton in central Switzerland between the Swiss Alps, Alps in the south, Lake Lucerne to the west and Lake Zürich in the north, centred on and named after the town of Schwyz. It is one ...

, by his marriage to Chiara d'Ambrogio. He attended secondary school in Lugano. Between 1933 and 1939 he studied architecture with, among others, Professor William Dunkel at the Zürich Technical University, where fellow architecture students included

Max Frisch Max Rudolf Frisch (; 15 May 1911 – 4 April 1991) was a Swiss playwright and novelist. Frisch's works focused on problems of identity (social science), identity, individuality, Moral responsibility, responsibility, morality, and political commi ...

(subsequently better remembered as a writer than as an architect) and Justus Dahinden.

Professional career

On completing his studies he worked at the studios of the architects Otto Rudolf Salvisberg and William Dunkel. Returning south, in 1942 he opened his own architectural studio in

, working in association with Bruno Brocchi between 1959 and 1991. His early work as an independent architect included houses in Cademario (1953) and Sorengo (1957). Camenzind's first public commission was a secondary school (today a "Media School") in

Bellinzona Bellinzona ( , ; ; is a municipality, a List of towns in Switzerland, historic Swiss town, and the capital of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The town is famous for its Three Castles of Bellinzona, three castles (Castelgrande, Montebello, Sa ...

(1958), followed by the main building for the RTSI (the Swiss Italian language TV/Radio station), completed between 1958 and 1961, undertaken by Camenzind in collaboration with Augusto Jäggli and Rino Tami. He was also responsible for the headquarters, at Agno, of the Swiss

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian carmaker known for its sports-oriented vehicles, strong auto racing heritage, and iconic design. Headquartered in Turin, Italy, it is a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe and one of 14 brands of mu ...

importer (1963) which has subsequently been converted into a

Migros Migros () is Switzerland's largest retail company, its largest supermarket chain and largest employer. It is also one of the forty largest retailers in the world. It is structured in the form of a cooperative federation (the Federation of Migros ...

supermarket) and the Gmür House (1963 ''"la Casa Gmür"'') in Brissago. Outside Switzerland Camenzind became much better known in 1964 when he was appointed a co-director for the "EXPO 64" exhibition in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

. As chief architect he was responsible for designing "multi-cell format" exhibition halls for the event. Particular attention was paid to the repeating "Swiss Way" (''"Weg der Schweiz"'')

Leitmotif A leitmotif or () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is a partial angliciz ...

that was a feature of this "Expo". In 1965 he was appointed to a professorship at the Zürich Technical University, where he became a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

in 1981. Collaborating with the structural engineers Pier Luigi Nervi and the French architect Eugène Beaudouin, Camenzind was the lead architect for the "Bureau International du Travail", built at

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

for the ILO between 1969 and 1975. At the time this immense structure was Switzerland's largest office building, with a length of 200 meters and a height of 50 meters. Closer to home, one of his last major projects was the Quartiere Maghetti (1984) in the Ticinese capital, characterized by exposed concrete and dry stone wall facings.

Honours and committees

Alberto Camenzind was granted

honorary citizenship Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honor usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

in 1964. He was a member of the Swiss and Ticinese Memorial Preservation Commissions (''"Denkmalpflegekommission n''), between 1964 and 1968 he was President of the Swiss Central Architects' Federation and, between 1965 and 1972, a member of the Federal Fine Arts Commission (''"Eidgenössischen Kunstkommission"'').

Retirement and death

He retired to Astano in 1997, and it was here that he died in 2004.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Camenzind, Alberto Architects from Ticino Academic staff of ETH Zurich 1914 births 2004 deaths ETH Zurich alumni