The Swiss architect Mario Botta is a leading exponent of what is known as the Ticino School. He served an apprenticeship as a technical draftsman from 1958 to 1961 in the practice of Carloni and Camenisch in Lugano before attending art school in Milan from 1961 to 1964 in Milan. From 1964 until 1969 Mario Botta finally studied architecture at Venice University. In 1970 Mario Botta opened an architecture practice in Lugano. In addition to designing numerous private houses and company buildings in Switzerland and Italy, Mario Botta also worked on an international scale. His most important buildings include the cathedral at Evry (1988-1990), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1990-1995), and the Tinguely Museum in Basel (1995/96). From the early 1980s Mario Botta was also active as a designer. For Alias, an Italian furniture company, Mario Botta designed the following, successively: the "Prima" and "Seconda" chairs, the "Terzo" table , "Quarto", an armchair weighing 23 kilos, and, in 1986, the "Quinta" chair and the "Sesto: Re e Regina" sofa. As he had done in his earliest chair designs, Mario Botta used steel tubing for the "Vis à vis" sofa and the "Latonda" chair. For Artemide Mario Botta designed the "Shogun" lamp (1986, both a table lamp and a floor lamp), "Fidia" wall lighting, "Melanos", a table lamp, and the "Zefiro" ceiling lamp. For Alessi gestaltet Mario Botta designed the caraffes "Tua" and "Mia" (2000) and, in 2002, the "Tronco" vase. Mario Botta has published numerous books and monographs. In 1996 he founded the Accademia di Architettura Svizzera.