MARIO BOTTA

In 1986 an avalanche overwhelmed the small village of Mogno, Maggia Valley. The church San Giovanni Battista rises up on the site of the small 17th-century homonymous chapel and, though it preserves the relatively modest dimensions, it introduces a new image and a new language. The language conveys a contemporary dimension, mediated by an archaic meaning thanks to the interplay of essential shapes: a rectangle inscribed within an external ellipse that changes into a circle at roof level. The thick stone wall and the light glass roof give the building the meaning of resistance against a possible future disaster.

source: Mario Botta