Overlooking Lake Maggiore, immersed in the woods above Ascona, the house with a hanging pool designed and designed by engineer Bonalumi for himself.
The pool occupies part of the top floor and, from the water, the view sweeps across the entire lake.
The bottom of the pool is the slab of the master bedroom.
The structure is a Drytech Tank in exposed waterproof concrete, with the edge of the pool completely covered with the Drycoat waterproof covering.
Project: Pianifica SA, Locarno
Infinity pool surrounded by an aquatic garden, also infinity.
With a breathtaking view of Lugano Lake, this suggestive swimming pool is a Drytech Tank with three walls against the ground and one – on the lake side – completely exposed.
Project: Franzi and Canetta Architects, Noranco
The Polleggio Operation Center manages the railway traffic of the Gotthard and Monte Ceneri base tunnels.
Known as “The Periscope” for its futuristic architecture, the POC is one of the four SBB operating centers in Switzerland, together with the ultra-modern centers of Lausanne, Olten, Zurich.
Height and shape of the building are the architectural response to two functional constraints.
The POC marks and declares the entrance to the Gotthard base tunnel. It is a symbol.
To be perceived as such by the railway and the motorway it was developed in height.
The second constraint is the dimensional incompatibility between the control room and the type of an office building, which has led to accepting the contrast and expressing it in a radical way. Thus, the double-height slab of the control room is grafted onto a trunk of office space, arranged diagonally on the lot.
The POC therefore appears as a sculptural object animated by a twist between the two volumes.
Seen from a moving vehicle it transforms, changing its proportions and offering different states of balance.
Client: Canton Ticino logistics section
Project: Architect Bruno Fioretti Marquez, Berlin
Structure: Ingg. Borlini & Zanini, Pambio Noranco
Construction: CSC, Lugano
Waterproofing: Drytech Ticino, Bedano
Drytech Tank: 711 m²
The CPC double gym in Chiasso is the victory of lightness over weight, interaction over separation, flexibility over rigidity.
The duality between the podium and the covering volume of the room is defined by a detachment, produced by a punctual support on all four sides.
Through this suspension, the monolithic volume appears very light, to the point of seeming to be held back – rather than supported – by the four lateral Vs.
The detachment connects the interior space with the urban and natural elements that surround the gym. An interaction that places it in the context of the school and cultural campus, weaving various relationships with the peculiar elements of the place.
The building reacts to different situations and topographical differences. To the north it has an access terrace, in relation to the school buildings and access from the public car park. To the south, a flight of steps in relation to the small garden.
A delimitation of the road field and the existing square to the east. Finally, it is at the same level as the m.a.x Museum and the Spazio Officina, sharing their public vocation.
The podium is a Drytech tank. The insulation of the internal facades is protected by an exposed wooden strip in the lower part and by an acoustic paneling in the upper part.
From an energy point of view, the building meets the criteria of the Minergie standard.
Client: Canton Ticino logistics section
Project: Architects Nicola Baserga and Christian Mozzetti, Muralto
Structure: Engineers Andrea and Eugenio Pedrazzini, Lugano
Construction: Mafledil, Osogna
Waterproofing: Drytech Ticino, Bedano
Drytech Tank: 2’128 m²
Drytech tank system for the 5 floors of the underground car park of Palazzo Mantegazza, 15 meters from the lake, in the presence of a water table of 18.80 meters.
The basement was built in underlay, using the hanging formwork technique: after the completion of the diaphragm walls, the slab of the ground level is cast, leaving openings through which it is possible to dig up to the level of the slab -1.
Then the formwork already used for the zero slab is lowered and, once it has reached level -1, the new slab is cast on it. And so on up to the bed, at level -5.
The walls of the Drytech Tank are made directly against the diaphragm, obtaining both the lining and the wall itself in a single casting.
Project: Camponovo Architects & Associates, Breganzona
Structure: Studio Ingg. Mantegazza and Cattaneo, Sorengo
Construction: Garzoni SA, Lugano
Waterproofing: Drytech Switzerland
Drytech Tank: 6’600 m²
There are only two ways to build a waterproof structure directly in water: either the classic double tank, or the single tank of the Drytech Tank technology.
The undergrounds of the Villa Branca Residence in Melide, on the banks of the Ceresio, were built with this system.
A luxurious crescent consisting of 16 apartments and 5 penthouses, with terraces, roof gardens, whirlpools and parking below the lake level.
In addition to allowing underwater installation, the Drytech tank ensured compliance with the internal volumes envisaged in the project, being a single waterproof concrete structure.
Drytech Engineering has defined the recipe for waterproof underwater concrete. As the casting matured, the construction details were waterproofed with the injection of DRYflex resin, effective despite the presence of water outside the new tanks.
Client: Chiancianesi & Longoni, Pregassona
Project: Archiconsult SA, Lugano on behalf of Marco Chiancianesi and Daniele Longoni with the architectural supervision of Source Project Manager SA
Structure: Ing. Alessio Casanova, Pazzallo
Company: PromEng SA, Lugano Besso
Waterproofing: Drytech Switzerland
Drytech Tank: 2,900 m²
This is the story of a beautiful elementary school from the 1960s that wants to continue to be beautiful in the new millennium. Where beautiful means adequate to the needs of modern pedagogy.
With this objective, the project by the Durisch + Nolli and Giraudi Radczuweit Architetti studios proposed the integral maintenance of the body of the school designed sixty years ago by Arch. Finzi, updating it through a process of reorganization, adaptation and expansion.
The spaces have been rethought on the needs of contemporary teaching, which requires larger classrooms to allow for dynamic teaching, with flexible spaces divided into different areas of activity.
The school complex was then expanded and completed with the construction of a double gymnasium and a canteen for pupils and teachers.
The double gymnasium dug into the ground made it possible to maintain a proportionate volume with the school building.
The hypogeum consists of a 4,000 m² Drytech tank structure, impermeable to both water and radon.
The roof of the gymnasium, on which the new school canteen also stands, is a completely accessible space: a large public square also for the use of the population.
Among the different access routes to the level, the long staircase perfectly camouflaged in the architectural lines of the south facade stands out for its architectural quality.
The complex is presented as an open system connected with the city, with which it dialogues and interacts beyond the educational function.
The outdoor public spaces are in fact characterized by a great variety of themed places: from the birch park to the basketball court, from the lavender hanging planter to the long pool / fountain that borders the canteen square on one side.
But the school-city integration is confirmed by the extensive mending of the pedestrian connections that characterize the urban fabric of Massagno.
The area is permeable and inclusive and invites to be crossed because it offers direct and safe routes.
The school becomes a daily presence for the whole community.
Property: Municipality of Massagno
Project:
Durisch + Nolli Architects, Massagno
Giraudi Radczuweit Architects, Lugano
Structure: Lurati Muttoni Partner, Mendrisio
Construction: Quadri SA, Cadempino
Waterproofing: Drytech Ticino, Bedano
Drytech Tank: 4,000 m²
Past and future have finally found a point of contact: the DRYset Injectable Waterstop Tape for movement joints.
The addition of a new body to the building of the Frigerio company in Locarno required the opening of a passage between the existing building and the new one.
The underground connection was made waterproof by inserting a continuous waterstop tape in the movement joint between the two bodies.
The DRYset injectable Waterstop Tape adds to the mechanical barrier function of traditional tapes the possibility of maintaining the joint over time, with possible re-injections of DRYflex expansive resin.
The profile of the Waterstop DRYset tape is in fact equipped with two micro-perforated ducts, through which the waterproofing resin can be injected and re-injected.
The tape was prepared in the Drytech laboratory and subjected to joint tightness tests before installation.
Access to the belt for any maintenance of the joint is guaranteed by cannulae accessible from the intrados of the building.
Client: Poncini Holding SA, Locarno
Project: 3G Architects SA, Tenero
Structure: Anastasi engineering firm, Locarno
Contractor: Gamboni and Salmina SA, Gordola
Waterproofing: Drytech Ticino, Bedano
The new administrative headquarters of AET in Monte Carasso (the Ticino Energy Company) produces more energy than it consumes.
On the one hand it boasts maximum energy efficiency in every technical component inside the building, on the other it produces energy entirely derived from renewable sources.
A positive energy balance, consistent with the corporate mission, which makes it the public building with the best energy performance in the Canton.
Designed by architects Lukas Meyer, Ira Piattini and Francesco Fallavollita, the new administrative headquarters of the Ticinese Electric Company appears impenetrable or transparent, simply matching the point of view.
The core of the building is in fact set back from the modular concrete grid facade. What a surprising optical effect from the outside translates into visual comfort on the inside: the offices are in fact flooded with mostly indirect natural light.
The site is lapped by the Ticino river and a stretch of water has been created between the existing building and the new one.
The underground structure was therefore built with the Drytech tank system: a waterproof construction of 1,190 m², which houses the technical rooms, changing rooms, warehouses and the AET general archive.
Client: AET Ticinese Electric Company
Project: AArch. Lukas Meyer and Ira Piattini, Lugano + Fallavollita, Como
Structure: Tajana & Partner Ingegneria SA, Bellinzona
Spadea and Bondini Sagl, Lugano
Construction: Bossi e Bersani SA, Bellinzona
Waterproofing: Drytech Ticino
Drytech Tank: 1,190 m²
Work of the Ticino architect Ivano Gianola, the project involves the construction of a public part – which houses the new cultural center of the city, with theater, concert hall, art museum, underground parking – and a private part dedicated to apartments and offices.
The complex integrates the façade of the historic Hotel Palace and develops around a large square which can in turn host shows and exhibitions.
The city also has 10,000 m² of pedestrian areas and a park behind the building.
Drytech designed and built the waterproofing of the underground structures of both bodies, for a total of 19,800 m² of Drytech Tank, built below the level of the lake.
Client: City of Lugano
Project: Architect Ivano Gianola, Mendrisio
Structure: Studio Ing. Sciarini, Vira Gambarogno
Construction: Cosma Swiss SA, Lugano
Photo: Studio Pagi, Lugano
Waterproofing: Drytech Ticino, Bedano
Drytech Tank: 19’800 m²