Mourning in the academic community: farewell to architect Michele Arnaboldi

With great sadness, Università della Svizzera italiana announces the death of Ticino architect and Professor Emeritus Michele Arnaboldi. His passing leaves a deep void in the world of architecture and disciplinary education, where he left an indelible mark through his innovative contribution and tireless passion.

Michele Arnaboldi was born into a family with a rich cultural heritage. He embarked on his professional career with dedication and curiosity, becoming a point of reference in the field of contemporary architecture in Ticino and Switzerland. His works include public and private buildings, urban projects, and the design of public spaces or landscape dimensions. Michele's approach was holistic and marked by a deep understanding of the historical and cultural context of reference.

As Professor of Design at the USI Academy of Architecture, Michele Arnaboldi had been a source of inspiration for generations of students. He had imparted not only disciplinary knowledge and method but also the values of human integrity and the social responsibility of architecture. His teaching methods, focused on dialogue and experimentation, encouraged his students to explore new design frontiers and "creative togetherness", enriching the university's educational offerings with innovative visions in reference to the architectural landscape.

As Walter Angonese, Director of the Academy of Architecture, remembers with affection: "...with Michele's departure, we are missing and will miss not only a great friend, colleague and passionate professor of design, but also a great man from Ticino, who loved and fought for his land, who saw in the Canton of Ticino an important role as a bridge between the world of great Mediterranean culture and that of the transalpine countries".

Università della Svizzera italiana expresses its deepest and most sincere condolences to the family of Professor Emeritus Michele Arnaboldi.

Biography

Michele Arnaboldi was born in 1953 in Ascona, Switzerland. At the age of twenty-six, he graduated as an architect from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and began a collaboration with Ticino architect Luigi Snozzi. From 1982 to 1993, he was assistant professor Dolf Schnebli's chair of architectural design at the ETHZ.

An architect and urban planner, he has had his own studio in Locarno since 1985. Author of over a hundred projects, he had won numerous national and international competitions and was invited to participate in multiple planning study mandates. Winner of numerous architecture awards, he exhibited his works in many museum contexts in Europe and beyond.

In 1994, he was a visiting professor at Washington University in St. Louis (USA) and subsequently participated in several design seminars at various universities in Europe, including the Politecnico di Milano and Politecnico di Bari in Italy, and at the Europäische Sommerakademie in Weimar and the Hamburger Stadtentwicklungsforum in Germany, in addition to his repeated participation as a lecturer at the "Monte Carasso International Architecture Seminar".

Since 2002, he had taught Architectural Design at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio, Università della Svizzera italiana, and in 2009, he was appointed full professor for the same teaching. From 2010 to 2013 he was director of the PNR65 research project "Public Space in the Città-Ticino of tomorrow" at the Academy, and from 2014 to 2021 he was director of the Ticino Lab-Ti Laboratory at the same Faculty.

In 1986 Michele Arnaboldi became a member of FAS Ticino, the Federation of Swiss Architects, and from 1993 to 2005 he was a member of the "CBN Natural Beauties Commission" of the Canton of Ticino CH; since 1998 he had been a member of the Swiss Federation of Town Planners FUS and from 1999 to 2001 of the editorial board of the important Swiss architecture magazine Werk Bauen Wohnen.

Michele Arnaboldi had also been a member of numerous national and international juries since 1993 and had lectured extensively in Austria, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the USA and Switzerland. In 2008, the first monograph dedicated to his work was published by the Birkhäuser publishing house, with texts by Mario Botta and Werner Oechslin.