Mario Bellini’s career highlights, from design exhibitions to a Rome airport

Architecture | 13 Jan 2017

1961: ‘Compasso d’oro‘ exhibition design, Milan
Bellini’s debut set the scene, creating a sleek industrial design exhibition within the classical splendour of the Palazzo Reale

1965: ‘Programma 101’ desktop calculator, for Olivetti
The form of the P101 created an effective division between the user’s inputs and (printed) outputs and the electronics at the rear of the machine. Even to the modern eye, it still clearly resembles a computer. Photography: Alberto Fioravanti

1968: ‘Phono Boy’ portable record player, for Grundig
Also known as the Minerva Pop, this bag-styled 7" single player was an early portable sound player, a precursor to the Walkman and a masterpiece of miniaturisation. Photography: Alberto Fioravanti

1968: Cassina showroom, Milan
A quasi-industrial modular landscape of metal grids and grilles formed the backdrop for Cassina’s inventory of modernist classics, all mounted within a glassed over courtyard in this Milanese building. Photography: Ugo Mulas

1971: ‘Totem’ stereo system, for Brionvega
This radio and tape player was the ultimate manifestation of modern electronics reduced to sculptural simplicity. Three folding boxes open up to form the Brionvega unit and its two speakers; snapped shut they form an impervious cube. Photography: Aldo Ballo 

1972: ‘Kar-a-sutra’ concept car
Despite selling many thousand typewriters, computers and radios, the ‘Kar-a-sutra’ remained hugely influential in a doomed edition of just one. Effectively furniture on wheels, the concept prefigured the 1980s craze for one-box people carriers and still foreshadows the flexible interiors of tomorrow’s autonomous cars. Photography: Studio Castelli

1976: ‘Duc’ sofa, for Cassina
The epitome of the big, bold, comfortable but undeniably contemporary Seventies sofa, Duc was a defining piece that remains in production. Photography: Aldo Ballo

1985: ‘Grazia’ phone, for NTT
Designed for the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, the ‘Grazia’ telephone brought crisp Italian aesthetics into a marketplace crying out for design. Angular and elegant, it gave a little sculptural boost. Photography: Mario Carrieri

1992: Tokyo Design Centre
The stepped facade of the Tokyo Design Centre created a distinctive centre for the country’s revitalised interest in all forms of design, from technology through to post-modernism

1992: Risonare Vivre Club Complex, Japan
A vast holiday complex set in hilly woodland in Yamanshi Prefecture, the Vivre Club was a bravura piece of placemaking that explored a range of architectural forms

2003: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
A transformation of Roy Grounds’ original 1960s structure, Bellini’s design brought space, light and grandeur to the National Gallery, helped by great swathes of structural glass. Photography: John Gollings

2012: Department of Islamic Arts, Louvre, Paris
The ’golden veil’ that unifies the collections in the Louvre’s revamped Islamic galleries is a billowing, dynamic form that oversails the new basement and ground level exhibition spaces. Photography: Albert Greenwood

2017: Terminal 3, Fiumicino airport, Rome
The ongoing transformation of Rome’s T3 takes the original 60s design by Riccardo Morandi and Amedeo Luccichenti and enhances it with a brilliant curtain of glazing. Courtesy of Mario Bellini Archive

Mario Bellini’s career highlights, from design exhibitions to a Rome airport

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