Kostas Grigoriadis
David Knight
Roberto Bottazzi is an architect, researcher and educator living in London. His research on the impact of globalisation and digital technology on architecture and urbanism has been widely published both in the UK and internationally.
Born in 1972 Roberto Bottazzi graduated with distinction from the University of Florence in 1999; in the same year he also became a registered architect in Italy. As a student at University of Florence, he was taught by influential members of Italian architecture culture such as Gianni Pettena, Remo Buti and Adolfo Natalini. Roberto's most important project in Italy was as part of the design team for the International Centre for “Reggio Children” (first prize, in collaboration with Studio Zini and Andrea Branzi, 2011).
In 2003 Bottazzi completed his Master in Advanced Studies in Architecture (MASA) at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, with a thesis entitled S.O.U.P. – Sustainable Operative Urban Principles, under the supervision of Professor Oliver Lang. The research won the Wolfgang Gerson Award for best MASA thesis as well as being exhibited at the Emily Carr Institute as part of the 4+ Design City exhibition. Upon graduation, Bottazzi worked for LWPAC on a mixed-use scheme in Vancouver (Roar_One, Home Award of the Year).
In 2004 Bottazzi moved to London and joined Chora Architecture and Urbanism where he led several projects and competitions. A selection includes Martyrs Square, Beirut, Design Competition with ARUP_AGU Grossmax, ZEF (2004); The Landing-Public Space in Arnhem, Netherlands, first prize with GrossMax, Joost Grootens (2004); Homerton Pavilion, research project (2005); and Xiamen Interactive Model (2009).
Since 2003 Roberto Bottazzi has been developing research projects to study the cultural, political and disciplinary impact that digital techniques have on design methodologies. His engagement with both academia and practice has been deeply instrumental in dissecting how urbanism and architecture are evolving in the digital age. Through exhibitions, lectures, papers, publications and installations he explores different aspects of this long-term project. His research has been exhibited in Italy, Canada, Germany, Portugal, the United States, Austria, Sweden and China. Some of these events include:
- S.O.U.P. – Sustainable Operative Urban Principles, paper delivered at the 'Surfacing Urbanisms' conference in Pasadena, California;
- Touching the Second Skin – Non-linear Open Source Behaviour: Dynamic Planning and the Digital Agora, in Game Set and Match II, Delft: Delft University of Technology, 2006, with Raoul Bunschoten and Jorge Godoy;
- Nature vs. Culture, international workshop organised by Fargbabriken Stockholm, with Payam Sharifi;
- ISLANDS: The Spatial Politics of Soccer, part of Publish (Domus Web and the Network Architecture Lab, Columbia University) initiative about the future of architectural media;
- Glimpses of an Urbanism to Come, paper delivered at the ‘Architecture and Justice’ conference, Lincoln, UK;
- Molecular City, installation (with Tobias Klein) at the FuturePlaces Festival in Porto, Portugal, 2010, as well as 'Digital Aptitudes' Conference at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA, 2012; and
- 35 Degrees, Augmented Reality Installation, Unseen Site Festival, Chattanooga, USA, 2012.
Roberto Bottazzi has been a tutor at the Royal College of Art since 2005 (ADS1) and – since 2009 – he is also research coordinator for the MPhil/PhD programme. Students’ work has been exhibited at the 2006 Venice Biennale, Tate Modern and Hong Kong/Shenzhen Biennale. He is a regular visiting critic in several schools such as the Architectural Association, The Bartlett, Westminster University, London Metropolitan and University of British Columbia.