Pierluigi Spadolini

Biography

Pierluigi Spadolini (1922–2000) was an Italian architect and designer born in Florence. From 1952 he worked across public and private architecture and industrial design, creating radios, televisions and household appliances for Magneti Marelli, ICS, Lesa, Graetz and Autovox, biomedical equipment for OTE Biomedica, furniture for Arflex, Kartell and 1P, and leisure boats for Cantieri di Pisa. At the University of Florence he helped establish the chair of Artistic Design for Industry, later becoming professor of Architectural Composition and director of the Institutes of Construction and Special Technologies. His extensive theoretical work was accompanied by public service on national committees for school and university buildings. Spadolini received recognition in architecture and nautical design, including the 1987 Compasso d’Oro for a mass-produced foldable emergency housing unit developed for Civil Protection and the 1992 IN/ARCH award for the new Assicurazioni Generali headquarters. He lectured in Moscow, participated in the Venice Biennale exhibition of sacred architecture and served on the scientific committee of L’Arca.