BBPR architects

BBPR is the acronym that indicates the group of Italian architects formed in 1932 by:

– Gian Luigi Banfi 
– Lodovico Barbiano of Belgiojoso
– Enrico Peressutti 
– Ernest Nathan Rogers

Graduated from the Polytechnic of Milan, the four designers in their initial works follow the themes of Italian rationalism of the thirties, even if they are not an integral part of the main movement "Gruppo 7" and MIAR, they collaborate on some projects with Figini and Pollini; these compositional canons are clearly legible in an exemplary building such as the heliotherapy colony of Legnano (1938), where they also create popular housing units, the so-called working-class district Le Grazie (1940-1942).

They stand out for various urban plans, the Pavia master plan (1932), the Elba Island tourist plan (1939), and above all for the most important and far-reaching master plan for the Aosta Valley (1936-1937). In this period they actively participate in the controversy that arose between rationalists and traditionalists and at first, like others, they believe they can support the fight for freedom of expression and for the triumph of modern architecture within fascism, but after the introduction of the racial laws of 1938 which also affect one of their collaborators, the architects of the BBPR embrace the values ​​of the Resistance.

The vicissitudes of the war lead Rogers to flee to Switzerland and Banfi to take an active part in the Resistance and to die in the Gusen extermination camp in 1945. Belgiojoso was also deported to Gusen, but managed to survive imprisonment in the camp and return to Italy after the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp by Allied troops. This strong hold and involvement in the war by the members of the studio is evident in the studio's work after the end of the conflict, with an emblematic work such as the monument to those who died in German concentration camps in Milan in the Monumental Cemetery (1946), which was also one of the first projects of the BBPR studio. Suspended in the centre of the matrix of white tubes, a mess tin contains earth from the Gusen extermination camp. The black and white marble panels speak of martyrdom, persecution, justice and freedom. Around the monument, eight tombstones bear the names of Milanese who died in the concentration camps.

Meanwhile, their rationalism had been affected by the expressive changes typical of the late Le Corbusier and their approach to the themes of brutalism read by many critics, alongside other neo-liberty interpretations, in what many consider their greatest work, the Torre Velasca in Milan (1958).
Source: Wikipedia