Moretti, Luigi Walter

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Moretti, Luigi Walter (1907–73). Italian architect. His early works were in the stripped Neo-Classical style of Rationalist architecture under Fascism, epitomized by the buildings and the plan for the Foro Mussolini, Rome (1927–32), developing by the late 1930s to acquire Grecian references. After the 1939–45 war his buildings became marked by strong horizontals and verticals, and an almost violent juxtaposition of elements. His individuality was marked in the Astrea Co-operative Building, Monteverde Nuovo (1949), and Il Girasole House (1950), both in Rome, and the Villa la Saracena, Santa Marinella (1954). He was an important and influential writer in the 1940s and 1950s, being especially critical of International Modernism and opposed to the fundamental principles of Mies van der Rohe and his disciples. He designed the Watergate Complex, Washington, DC (1960–3—which is better known for other than architectural reasons), and (with Nervi) the Stock Exchange Tower, Montréal, Canada (1961–7).

Bibliography

Architectural Review, cxxxix/832 (Jun. 1966), 432–8;
Kalman (1994);
Jane Turner (1996)

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