Mario Botta (born April 1, 1943) is a Swiss architect.

He studied at the Liceo

Artistico in Milan and the IUAV in Venice. His ideas were influenced by Le
Corbusier, Carlo Scarpa, Louis Kahn. He opened his own practice in 1970 in
Lugano.
Botta designed his first buildings at age 16, a two-family house at Morbio
Superiore in Ticino.
His designs tend to include a strong sense of geometry, often being based on very
simple shapes, yet creating unique volumes of space. His buildings are often made
of brick, yet his use of material is wide, varied, and often unique.
In 1998, he designed the new bus station for Vimercate (near Milan), a red brick
building linked to many facilities, underlining the city's recent development. He
worked at La Scala's theatre renovation, which proved controversial as
preservationists feared that historic details would be lost.
Mario Botta participated in the Stock Exchange of Visions project in 2007. He was
a member of the Jury of the Global Holcim Awards in 2012.