Mario Botta: "I'd like to create a monastery"

Throughout his 50-year-long career, architect Mario Botta has seen his profession undergo profound change, from the introduction of modern styles to the advent of post-modernism. He is a founder of the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture and today is proud of what sets his school apart. Botta's work can be found in all four corners of the globe - from Tokyo and Beijing to New Delhi, Basel, Evry and San Francisco. Born in Ticino in 1943, he studied architecture in Venice in the late 1960s and - like many architects of his generation - made a name for himself building villas for wealthy families. We spoke with him while he was on campus this November to give a talk at the " Habiter la modernité : villas de style internationales sur la Riviera vaudoise " ["Living in Modernity: International Style Villas in the Swiss Riviera"] exhibition held by EPFL's Modern Architecture Archives Department (ACM) at the Archizoom exhibit hall. Early on in your career, you said that a home should be a shelter, like a "mother's womb." Is building these types of villas still feasible in Switzerland today? It's true that land isn't used in the same way as it was, and we therefore can't build villas like we used to. Lifestyles have changed and we need to pay attention to the collective values governing how land is managed.