Giuseppe Terragni

Born Feb. 1, 1904, in Meda, Lombardy; died May 25,1943, in Como. Italian architect.

Terragni was influenced by A. Sant’Elia. Together with A. Libera and others, in 1926 he founded the Gruppo 7, which advanced the acceptance of the architecture of rationalism throughout Italy. His major works include the Novecomum apartment building (1929), the Casa del Popolo (1932), and a kindergarten (1936), all in Como. In these buildings, Terragni organically integrated interior space and the surrounding environment, combining blank wall surfaces with open frameworks of reinforced concrete. He skillfully incorporated elements of traditional Mediterranean architecture into his works, for example, by using a courtyard-atrium as the center of an architectural composition.