As a collaborator of humanist architect Ernesto Nathan Rogers, one of Magistretti's first projects was the "poetic" round church in the experimental Milan neighbourhood of QT8.

[1] During the second world war, to avoid being deported to Germany, on September 8, 1943, he left Italy during his military service and moved to Switzerland.

[4] According to The Guardian, "He soon came under the influence of the architect Ernesto Nathan Rogers, whose humanist ideas for the reconstruction of postwar Italy inspired a whole series of intellectuals.

At that time Magistretti took part in work on the extraordinary experimental neighbourhood on the edge of Milan known as QT8, where a group of architects and planners were given complete freedom.

There were the smooth lines of the wooden supports and legs, the colour, the pop-art bright red frame and elements of Scandinavian design.

[17][1] In 2021, to celebrate the centenary of Magistretti's birth the Palazzo dell’Arte of the Triennale in Milan staged an exhibition his life's work.