Primary school, Torricella

Scuola infanzia di Torricella-Taverne

The construction of the Torricella-Taverne nursery school is part of the overall reorganization of an area in which the construction of various public, scholastic and sporting works is planned.

The Celoria Architects studio has translated the constraint represented by an existing wall into a resource, which, by touching the individual elements present in the area, defines their mutual relationships.

The wall has in fact become the main subject of the intervention, constituting the base of the building and the site of the pedestrian walkway that leads to the school and connects to the sports fields via a ramp.

The three remaining sides of the podium are underground and house the technical and service rooms in a waterproof Drytech Tank structure.

The planimetric organization of the building interprets the functional indications relating to school buildings, with the aim of optimizing circulation spaces, reducing distribution to a minimum and eliminating corridors.

The abstract composition of the volume is however softened by the introduction of some elements somehow extraneous to this composed monumentality, which allude to ancient bastions characterizing their formal expression. 

Even if the final touch of tenderness to the Torricella-Taverne nursery school is given by the row of small colored scooters parked under the loggia.

Project: Celoria Architects, Balerna

Structure: Brenni engineering SA, Mendrisio

Construction: CSC SA, Lugano

Blade, Canobbio

Rivestimento in Cor-ten della residenza Blade di Canobbio

For architect Mino Caggiula “Designing means reworking what we have absorbed to find new solutions. Blade is the product of the experience lived inside a work of art by the American sculptor Richard Serra.”

The Ticino architect feels it is “a great responsibility to leave a balanced and integrated mark on the territory, capable of generating a harmonious connection with the space and the surrounding landscape.”
The operation was to carefully “scratch” the hilly terrain through the insertion of curved Cor-Ten steel blades, positioned so as to prospectively override the view of the forest to the south and lead the gaze towards the lake.

Organized into two separate blocks, the housing units are divided by a system of primary and secondary blades. The distribution on two levels also generates large terraces, which take on the dimensions of real private hanging gardens.

Tognola Group, which is the promoter and general contractor of the project, also developed the interior design of the villas. The complex also includes a wellness area reserved for residents, with gym, sauna and Turkish bath, plus an outdoor swimming pool.

The entire underground structure, the garage with its lift pit, the SPA and the swimming pool were built with the Drytech Tank system.

Promoter: Tognola Group, Lugano

Project: Architect Mino Caggiula, Lugano

Strutture: Engineer Alessio Casanova, Pazzallo

Construction: GTL, Gravesano

Foto: Paolo Volonté

Drytech Tank: 2’875 m2

Reka Village, Albonago

Infinity pool of the Reka holiday village in Albonago, overlooking the Gulf of Lugano

“Making holidays and free time accessible to all”: it was with this objective that the Swiss Travel Fund (Reka) was founded in 1939, founded by visionary entrepreneurs, trade unions and tourism and transport companies. At the time, travel and holidays were prerogative of an elite.

Reka was created with the aim of making them accessible to an ever-increasing number of families, initially with a targeted savings system, then by developing its own holiday offers at affordable prices.

Reka has expanded and reconfigured the tourist village of Albonago with an investment of 33 million francs, creating 49 apartments, two hotel rooms, a tavern/pizzeria, a panoramic swimming pool, a wellness area, a bicycle station, areas for barbecues and playgrounds, for approximately 270 guests.

Drytech created all the waterproof structures of the car park, underground areas, swimming pools and wellness area.

One of the symbols of the Reka village is undoubtedly the infinity pool overlooking Lake Ceresio, with an incomparable view that embraces the entire Gulf of Lugano, the iconic Mount San Salvatore and extends to the horizon as far as Malcantone. A privilege truly available to all families.

Preliminary project: Itten+Brechbühl, Lugano

Project: Charles De Ry Architettura, Paradiso

Structure: Pianifica, Locarno

Direzione Lavori: Implenia Building, Besso

Construction: Barella, Chiasso e Giovanni Quadri, Cadempino

Drytech Tank: 5’360 m2

Polis, Pregassona

Polis Multifunctional Center in Pregassona

The plan of Polis Multifunctional Center in Pregassona is a double L that welcomes and embraces, enhancing the sense of openness towards the outside. An architecture that is both symbolic and functional, which guides routes, creates aggregations and integrates the Center into the urban fabric.

The structure was designed by Studio Mario Campi, winner of the international competition in 2008. The subsequent development of the work was managed by the architect Rosario Galgano, until the inauguration in 2021.

The complex is an important resource of the social services network for the elderly in the Lugano area.

On the lower level, the nursery, with its own outdoor play area, overlooks the courtyard, which contributes to the intergenerational and interconnected character of the Polis Centre.

The opposite wing instead houses the structures for the functionality of the centre: radiology, underground car parks, supplier entrance, technical rooms, etc.

This level, partially buried in the profile of the hill, is made with the waterproof Vasca Drytech structure.

Drytech also created the waterproof covering of the courtyard pools, with the continuous Drycoat covering in two colors obtained from the mixture of quartz sands (not from paints) and therefore resistant to continuous exposure to atmospheric agents, without chromatic degradation.

The complex, like every new building in the city, complies with the Minergie energy standard, significantly reducing energy needs. Furthermore, the Polis Center is unique for the self-production of electricity, through an integrated photovoltaic system (BIPV) which exploits both the horizontal surfaces of the roof and those of the facades, equipped with a further 1,600 meters2 of photovoltaic panels.

Project: Studio Mario Campi

Executive project: Architect Rosario Galgano, Lugano

Structure: Afry Engineering, Rivera

Construction: Consortium GarzoniRizzani De Eccher

Drytech Tank: 2’900 m2

North face, Pregassona

The beautiful building designed by Gieffe Studio has a north-facing façade with completely windows

The beautiful building designed by Gieffe Studio has a north-facing façade with completely windows. Rules are (also) made to be broken.

An original choice dictated by the shape of the sediment and made possible by the performance of modern thermal insulation systems and materials.

The three-family villa is set in a sloping plot facing north-west, with a 270° view of the Cassarate valley, which ranges from the Denti della Vecchia to Lake Lugano.

Gieffe Studio has therefore designed ultra-panoramic window walls for the living areas, recessed and re-oriented with respect to the front of the building, thus guaranteeing the interiors natural lighting and correct sun protection in all seasons and favoring the view of the mountains on the north façade and of the lake on the west.

At street level there is the garage, connected to the floors by an internal lift, and built with a 700 m2 Drytech Tank. The main entrance is located on the south side, at the height of the third floor.

The rationalist design is made organic by the warm travertine stone cladding and the changing reflection of the mountains and the sky that is projected onto the large windows and the elegant glass railings.
The cut and the different tones of the stones lighten the large continuous wall on the mountain side, harmoniously inserting the volume into the gentle slope of the land.

Project: Gieffe Studio, Lugano

Structure: Eng. Lucini Cesare, Paradiso

Construction: Gtl, Gravesano

Drytech Tank: 700 m2

Town hall, Bioggio

A brutalist structure in red concrete makes the historic seat of the municipality of Bioggio contemporary. Architects Bronner and Bruno.

A brutalist structure in red concrete makes the historic seat of the municipality of Bioggio contemporary.

Work of the architects Lorenzo Bronner and Luciana Bruno, the intervention added a large external staircase to the eastern façade, incorporated into a thin reinforced concrete frame that recalls the Venetian red of the nineteenth-century building.

A perfect connection between past and present, reiterated and at the same time modernized by the deep frames that define the window spaces. The constant module of the openings on the facades of the original body becomes asymmetrical and intermittent on the new facade, yet recognizable in the grid hinted at by the occasional openings.

The clear stringcourses of the original body connect to the frames of the glass walls that incorporate the new external staircase, establishing a further connection between the stylistic features of the two architectures.

In continuity with the concrete wall, the architects Bronner and Bruno designed a podium in which the large basement garage for police vehicles is located. The podium slab is covered with a large grassy surface that interacts with the brutalist façade.

Two external staircases in the same color as the structure allow access to the entrance level. The footboards of the steps were waterproofed with the Drycoat covering which, thanks to the flexibility of the quartz colour, made the stairs perfectly in tone and integrated with the rest of the intervention.

Project: Bronner+Bruno Architetti, Bioggio

Structure: Engineering Studio Reali Guscetti, Quinto

Construction: Taddei, Viganello

Drytech Tank: 600 m2

The Scudo, Stabio

A building that produces environment.

A building that produces environment. It is the new frontier of construction, which extends the concept of sustainability to the regeneration of biodiversity, establishing an active and osmotic connection with the context.

The Scudo di Stabio by architect Giuseppe Rossi is Minergie-P-ECO certified and is the first residential building in Ticino built according to the Swiss Sustainable Construction Standard (SNBS 2.0 BUILDING – GOLD certified). For the innovative choices that characterize it, it was selected among the finalists of the Active House Awards 2022 in the Netherlands.

A sustainability that starts from the volumetric compactness of the structure, functional to the energy efficiency of the building. The construction consists of two systems. The first, in recycled reinforced concrete, concerns the basement, the ground floor and the central distribution volume.

The other consists of the two wooden macro-volumes, dedicated to the apartments distributed over two floors. Vitro-photovoltaic tiles are set on the suggestive cork roof: a renewable energy production system that combines functionality and design and makes the building self-sufficient.

The project also involved the outdoor spaces, planted with native hedges that attract birdlife with berries and acorns.

The vocation for dialogue with the context is also expressed through the promotion of shared and green mobility, thanks to the availability of electric bicycles and car parks with charging stations for cars.

General contractor: Luca Bolzani, Mendrisio

Project: Arch. Giuseppe Rossi, Mendrisio

Structure: Eng. Roberto Mondada, Balerna

Construction: Garzoni, Lugano

Drytech Tank: 260 m2

Enzo Ferrari Museum, Modena

The Enzo Ferrari Museum in Modena is an engaging hymn to the myth of the car and the architectural manifesto of Jan Kaplicky: the Czech architect who founded the Future System in London.

The Mef can count on an area of ​​6’000 m², of which 4’400 are intended for exhibitions. The Museum is a car hood that emerges powerful from the ground. In Kaplicky’s style, the height is contained to establish a harmonious relationship with Ferrari’s birthplace, without however attenuating the evocative force of the new structure.

The exhibition spaces were developed in the basement, creating a waterproof structure of 5’850 m² with the Drytech Tank System.

Access to the museum is through an imposing curved glass wall, whose inclined plane is bisected by a series of fins that resemble the radiator of a custom-built car.

The exhibition spaces are accessed from the hall through two inclined platforms, going down to a depth of 5 meters

“Spaces defined by eight edges are not necessary, they are not mandatory”. One of Kaplicky’s famous phrases expresses well the spirit of the project, to whose sinuous lines the flexibility of the Drytech tank has been perfectly adapted.

The design phase saw an intense collaboration with Drytech Engineering to define the waterproofing solutions for the unprecedented construction details proposed by the particular shape of the basement.

Project: Future System, Londra

Structure: Politecnica, Modena

Works Management: Ingegner Coppi, Modena

Construction: CCC, BolognaIng. Ferrari, Modena, CSM, Modena

Drytech Tank: 5’850 m²

Ra Curta Residences, Montagnola

Ra Curta residences Project A++, Lugano

The project of the Ra Curta residences was born from the conformation of the land on which it stands.

The emerging architectural elements follow the natural morphological elements of the lot, so that the project is strongly rooted and in balance with the context

The translation of the blocks downstream and the different heights lie harmoniously on the natural terrain, guaranteeing maximum privacy and visual channels to the lake.

The 4 blocks that are mirrored, accentuating symmetries and proportions, are crossed by two stairways that become urban connections between the streets of Montagnola.

Large terraces emerge from the ground like horizontal blades, the edges of which are made of different materials that form suspended frames and light eaves.

Particular attention was paid to brightness, while still maintaining a high level of privacy.

Drytech created both the hanging swimming pools and the underground waterproof structures, including the long and elegant access corridor to the private garages of the properties.

Promoter: Tognola Group, Lugano

General contractor:
Abacho, Lugano

Project:
A++, Lugano

Structure:
Casanova Engineering Studio, Pazzallo

Construction:
GTL, Gravesano

Drytech Tank: 4,200 m2

Beata Vergine Hospital, Mendrisio

The superficial grid of the Mendrisio regional hospital brings together the different distribution of spaces

The Mendrisio regional hospital is located in an area on the edge of the historic centre, characterized by the presence of buildings surrounded by majestic gardens.

The positioning of the hospital expansion aims first and foremost to strengthen this ensemble through the definition of a public space: an urban park capable of offering a spatial quality to the buildings that stand on this place.

The main architectural choices of the new wing, such as the porticoed ground floor and the design of the facade, derive largely from the particular condition of a hospital building surrounded by a public space.

The semi-underground rooms, the underground ones and the extension of the garage with 127 parking spaces created under the new square were created with the Drytech Tank system.

The facade seeks an adequate response to the public situation of the building, allowing an open view towards the outside but at the same time closure and appropriate discretion for those looking from outside.

Through the twisting of standard aluminum profiles, a precise identity is given to the building. This surface grid makes the different distribution of spaces unified.

Project: Gaggini Studio D’Architettura, Lugano

Structure: Pianifica, Locarno

Works Management: Direzione Lavori, Lugano

Construction: Barella, Chiasso

Drytech Tank: 3’500 m2