Mario Bellini

The search for beauty must be relentless. But it cannot be the sole aim of the architect, who should unfailingly per­ceive the need for dialogue: with humankind, with the city, with the landscape, between cultures, religions, etc. The volume, with a foreword by Germano Celant and nu­merous critical contributions, retraces the work of Milane­se architect Mario Bellini in a sweeping overview spanning almost 60 years of design, architecture, exhibition design and more besides. This is therefore a tribute to the remarkable, many-sided work of an Italian designer who has achieved all manner of success on both the small scale (eight Compasso d'O­ro awards, and objects and furnishings that have become icons in homes and offices around the world, often antici­pating or revolutionising tastes and styles), and on the large scale (conference centres, trade fair venues and museu­ms from Japan to the USA, Germany and Australia and, in 2012, the Department of Islamic Art - a golden wave for the most prestigious museum in the world, the Louvre in Paris).

texts: Germano Celant, Francesco Moschini, Deyan Sudjic, Ermanno Ran­zani, Marco Sammicheli, Francesco Maggiore e Martina Motta, Kenneth Frampton, Enrico Morteo, Franco Purini, Lorenzo Pietropaolo, Francesco Binfaré, Gabriele Basilico, Mario Calabresi, Marco Romano, Italo Lupi, Ar­turo Carlo Quintavalle, Vittorio Sgarbi.