‘Ticino School’ architect Galfetti dies aged 85

Aurelio Galfetti was described by friends as possessing a reserved and highly ethical personality. © Keystone / Ti-press / Pablo Gianinazzi

Renowned Swiss architect and urban designer Aurelio Galfetti, founder of the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture, has passed away aged 85.

Born in 1936, Galfetti was one of the most prominent “Ticino School” of architects in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino in southern Switzerland.

His most famous works took place in the city of Bellinzona where he designed the public baths, the post office building and restored the ancient Castelgrande fortification.

But Galfetti was also active abroad, most notably in Italy, the Netherlands and Greece.

In 1996, Galfetti established the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture at the Università della Svizzera Italiana, where he taught for many years.

In particular, he headed the acclaimed AlpTransit diploma course that examined the changes to the landscape of the NEAT alpine rail route.

“His work and his thinking had the most significant influence on the architectural culture in the Canton of Ticino and Switzerland from the ’60s until today,” wrote the Università della Svizzera Italiana in a testamentExternal link.

“His critical contribution to the debate on the complex relationship between architecture, territory and landscape and his consequent architecture has been a founding example for all those who wanted to train at the Academy in the last 25 years.”

Speaking to the Schweizer Ingenieur und Architekt magazine in 1993, Galfetti said his restoration – or rather “transformation” – of historical buildings was to show them “in a different light that makes them more clearly readable and brings them closer to the lifestyle of our time.”