Mario Botta – Seconda Chair (1982)

As a young architect, I went for the straight lines in furniture, so the Seconda Armchair designed by Mario Botta for Alias, with its extremely characteristic geometric shapes such as straight lines, right angles and cylinders, was indeed a favorite. This chair is not only an eccentric piece of seating furniture, but equally a design object that fits well in public spaces as in the living or dining room.
The frame of the Seconda Armchair is made from painted steel. The seat of the chair is made from perforated sheet steel and the back is made from two cylindrical polyurethane elements for maximum seating comfort.

Seconda is more than a chair; it is architecture that you sit upon. Designed in 1982, this iconic chair shows the influence of all of Mario Botta’s mentors including Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn and Carlo Scarpa. The architectural lines of this chair design are reminiscent of Botta’s design for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art building, his first building in the U.S. Often cited as the chair design that epitomizes the “matte black” aesthetic of the 80’s and a rationalist response to the Memphis design movement.

Author: Anna Marie Fisker

Photo: https://www.ambientedirect.com/en/alias/602-seconda-armchair_pid_5881.html