Born in Mendrisio in 1943, Mario Botta graduated with a degree in architecture from IUAV in Venice,   working with Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn. Strongly influenced by the two great masters, his architectural vocabulary evolved to design pure imposing geometric forms. Brick is a key material in his poetics, used as a covering material to underline the severity of the volumes he designs.

Every one of his works is covered with a mantle of sacredness, through which he demonstrates the importance of architecture as a means of expression of human memory.In 1969 Botta opened his own practice in Mendrisio and began a busy career designing highly significant, exemplary works of architecture, including several prominent religious buildings.