Pietro Belluschi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personal information
Pietro Belluschi
Name	Pietro Belluschi
Nationality	Italy United States
Birth date	August 18, 1899(1899-08-18)
Birth place	Ancona, Italy
Date of death	February 14, 1994 (aged 94)
Work
Significant buildings	Portland Art Museum 555 California Street
Awards and prizes	AIA Gold Medal

Pietro Belluschi (August 18, 1899 - February 14, 1994) was a Portland, Oregon architect, a leader of the Modern Movement in architecture, and responsible for the design of over one thousand buildings.^[1] The native of Italy won the 1972 AIA Gold Medal for his work. His designs are concentrated in New England and the West Coast of the United States, with some of these works now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

1 Early life
2 Career
- 2.1 Awards
3 Later life
4 Works
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Early life

Pietro Belluschi was born in Ancona, Italy in 1899.^[2] He grew up in Italy and served in the Italian armed forces during World War I when Italy was allied with Great Britain, France, and later the United States.^[2] Serving in the army he fought against the Austrians at the battles of Caporetto and Vittorio Veneto.^[2] After the war Belluschi studied at the University of Rome, earning a degree in civil engineering in 1922.^[1]

He moved to the United States in 1923, and finished his education as an engineer at Cornell University. As an exchange student at Cornell, he did not speak English when he arrived.^[2] Instead of returning to Italy, he worked briefly as a mining engineer in Idaho earning $5 per day, but then joined the architectural office of A. E. Doyle in Portland.^[2] He remained in the US as friends in Italy had cautioned him to not return home due to the rise to power of Benito Mussolini and the Fascist government.^[2]

[edit] Career

Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco.

At Doyle’s office Belluschi rose rapidly soon becoming chief designer. Doyle took him into partnership in 1933. By 1943, Belluschi had assumed control of the firm by buying out all the other partners and was practicing under his own name. In 1951 Belluschi became Dean of the Architecture and Planning school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a position he held until 1965.^[1] (When he accepted the position of Dean and moved to Massachusetts, he transferred his office in Portland, Oregon to the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.) The move reduced his annual income from $150,000 to a salary of $15,000, but was prompted by health concerns from the long hours of managing his office while still designing buildings.^[2]

Belluschi emerged as a leader in the development of American Modern architecture with the design of several buildings reflecting the influence of the International Style and his awareness of the technological opportunities of new materials. Most important was the Equitable Building (1944-47) in Portland, Oregon, a concrete frame office block clad in aluminum, considered the first office building with a completely sealed air-conditioned environment.

Belluschi's churches and residences differed from his commercial works. Although of Modern design, they fit within the development of the Pacific Northwest regional Modern idiom as they frequently used regional materials (particularly wood) and were often integrated with their suburban or rural sites.

[edit] Awards

Belluschi was a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and was awarded the AIA Gold Medal, the highest award given by the Institute, in 1972.^[1] He was awarded the National Medal of Arts by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1991 for his lifetime achievements.^[3] Belluschi was on the jury that selected the winning design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C..^[4]

[edit] Later life

The Portland Art Museum.

After leaving MIT in 1965 he continued to work. Belluschi would design and consult on both buildings and issues surrounding urban planning.^[2] Pietro married Marjorie, and they had two sons named Peter and Anthony.^[2] Pietro Belluschi died in Portland on February 14, 1994.^[2]