Antonio Sant'Elia

Antonio Sant'Elia
Antonio Sant'Elia in his twenties in Milan
Born	(1888-04-30)30 April 1888 Como, Lombardy
Died	10 October 1916(1916-10-10) (aged 28) Gorizia, Friuli Venezia Giulia
Nationality	Italy
Occupation	architect

Antonio Sant'Elia (Italian pronunciation: [anˈtɔnjo santeˈlia]; 30 April 1888 – 10 October 1916) was an Italian architect and a key member of the Futurist movement in architecture. He left behind almost no completed works of architecture and is primarily remembered for his bold sketches and influence on modern architecture.

Antonio Sant'Elia was born in Como, Lombardy. A builder by training, he opened a design office in Milan in 1912 and became involved with the Futurist movement. A nationalist as well as an irredentist, Sant'Elia joined the Italian army as Italy entered World War I in 1915. He was killed during the Eighth Battle of the Isonzo, near Gorizia.

The Manifesto of Futurist Architecture was published in August 1914, supposedly by Sant'Elia, though this is subject to debate. In it, the author stated that "the decorative value of Futurist architecture depends solely on the use and original arrangement of raw or bare or violently colored materials". His vision was for a highly industrialized and mechanized city of the future, which he saw not as a mass of individual buildings but a vast, multi-level, interconnected and integrated urban conurbation designed around the "life" of the city.

Between 1912 and 1914, influenced by industrial cities of the United States and the architects Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos, and the Genoese architect Renzo Picasso, he began a series of design drawings for a futurist Città Nuova ("New City") that was conceived as a symbol of a new age. Many of these drawings were displayed at the only exhibition of the Nuove Tendenze group (of which he was a member) exhibition in May/June 1914 at the "Famiglia Artistica" gallery. Today, some of these drawings are on permanent display at Como's art gallery (Pinacoteca).