Antonio Cassi Ramelli Biography
Antonio Cassi was born in Milan on 12 April 1905 to Paolo Cassi and Erminia Ramelli. Later he also adopted his maternal surname to distinguish himself from an architect of the same name. He enrolled at the Milan Polytechnic in 1922. At the same time he dedicated himself to fencing with good results. In 1926 he graduated as professor of architectural drawing at the Brera Academy; In the same year he began to carry out his activity in the field of architecture with his colleagues Giuseppe Biella and Paolo Buffa. In 1927 he graduated in architecture and, the following year, obtained his professional qualification in Rome. He then began his career as a journalist, which he continued throughout his life: he collaborated with La casa bella, L'luminazione rationale and Rassegna diarchitettura. He began to establish himself as an architect in the early thirties. He becomes a member of the building commission of the municipality of Milan. The publisher Hoepli published Luminous Architecture and Lighting Apparatus written together with Giovanni Canesi in 1934. In 1936 he received the gold medal for furniture at the Milan Triennale. In 1937 he was hired as a professor at the Polytechnic of Milan. In 1938 the municipality of Milan commissioned him to rebuild the Teatro Lirico, which was destroyed following a fire. Meanwhile, he continues his profession with various projects for residential buildings, villas and shops. In 1939 he worked as a freelance professor of Distributive Characteristics of Buildings (in 1944 he was reconfirmed with a report by Piero Portaluppi on his work as a teacher). He gets married in the same year. Called up to arms in 1941, he fell ill and was therefore sent on leave. The bombings on Milan destroy his home and studio. In 1945 he began the publication of Documents of architecture and the following year he published Edifici per cult together with Vallardi. Already a leading exponent of Milanese architectural culture before the war, he resumed an intense design activity, soon becoming a protagonist of the city's economic boom. His creative language is inspired by a sort of "moderate modernity" full of contaminations but which does not disdain recovering the values of classicism. In addition to building projects and construction, he also dedicated himself to furniture design and interior design, painting, as a critic and scholar and joined the Council of Architects. After Palazzo Perego, the AEM headquarters, the Alemagna sales points and some rooms of the Andrea Doria, in the 1950s he worked for Alfa Romeo. In 1954 he won the competition for the position of extraordinary professor of Distributive Characters. From 1953 to 1956, working within the building commission of the municipality of Milan, he dealt with the arrangement of Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Piazza Fontana, the fountain in Piazza Castello, and the reconstruction of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. From 1957 to 1965 he was an advisor to the Fabbrica del Duomo and was responsible for the restoration of the windows, the vaults and the reinforcement of the main spire; it also follows the creation of the fifth door, the work of the sculptor Minguzzi. In 1958 he held the chair of Architectural and Public Composition with Vallardi Logic and reality of buildings. In 1959 he published the Syllabarium of architecture with the publisher Tamburini; in the same year he was appointed to the Architectural Restoration of Monuments course. In 1961 he was in charge of Elements of composition and participated in the design of the new headquarters of the Faculty of Architecture of the Polytechnic in via Bonardi. He is also involved in the projects of the Bruzzano cemetery and the expansion of the Milan headquarters of Assicurazioni Generali. In 1963 he was a candidate for dean of the Faculty, but the university was occupied by students who contested the "academic" organization and in particular reproached him for the too "conservative" project of Snia Viscosa. In January 1964 he published "From caves to shelters armored buildings. Thirty centuries of history of military architecture". A month later, embittered by the controversy and the climate, he made the decision to resign from his university positions. However, he continued his intense professional activity as an essayist and lecturer until his death from a heart attack on 23 August 1980 in his home in Capiago Intimiano. On the occasion of the centenary of his birth, in September 2005 the Municipality of Milan dedicated the exhibition The Eclecticism of Reason to him, which retraces and documents his entire work as an architect.
