Basements
Porta Nuova, Milan
The masterplan of Milano Porta Nuova was signed by the Kohn Pedersen Fox studio of London, while the executive plan is the work of the Arquitectonica IC of Miami and m²P Associati of Milan, for the commissioning of Hines Italia and Galotti SpA.
3,000 m² are destined for the Municipality of Milan to make it a cultural center. The four underground levels, made with the Drytech Tank waterproofing system, house parking spaces for 2,000 cars.
Drytech has built 43,730 m² of waterproof underground structures with the White Tank System, collaborating with the designers of Arup Italia in Milan and coordinating with the CMB company for the preparatory activities for waterproofing which, being parallel to those of the construction site, are in fact been removed from the work calendar.
Owner: Hines Italia / Gallotti Spa
Project: Kohn Pedersen Fox, London / Arquitectonica IC, Miami / m²P Associati, Milan
Structure: Arup Italia, Milan
Works Management: Engineer Coppi, Modena
Construction: CO, VAR: Sarl, Reggio Emilia
Waterproofing: Drytech Italia, Como
Drytech Tank: 43’730 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, London
Structure: Polytechnic, Modena
Works Management: Engineer Coppi, Modena
Construction: CRB, Carpi – Ing. Ferrari, Modena
Waterproofing: Drytech Italia, Como
Drytech Tank: 5’850 m²
CPC Gym, Chiasso
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
Corso Como Place, Milano
Corso Como Place represents the new frontier of smart building: a building model that combines energy efficiency and environmental sustainability with a new experience for users and an evolved concept of living well-being.
What makes the project even more special is that it starts from the renovation of a building from the 1960s.
The Pirellino, as it was called by the Milanesi, stands in the center of the new Milan of Gae Aulenti Square, Corso Como, Eataly and the Feltrinelli Foundation & Microsoft House.
An iconic and very central place, which has stimulated a revolutionary project.
Corso Como Place is a complete redevelopment project, symbol of an architectural and urban planning path that creates beauty without destroying the existing one, starting from the enhancement of the Tower designed by Francesco Diomede, Giuseppe and Carlo Rusconi Clerici, converted to modernity in the sign of innovation.
At its foot stands a Podium that draws an open square directly connected to Corso Como and the Porta Nuova district.
The environmental sustainability of the buildings is guaranteed by the Nearly Zero Energy Building international standard.
The photovoltaic system chosen for the structures, the use of geothermal energy, which covers over 65% of the annual requirement, and the high-performance facades with automatic solar shading devices, allow very high energy performance and maximum reduction of CO2 emissions.
Furthermore, the choice of the Drytech Tank for the hypogeum ensured the impermeability of the underground structure not only to water, but also to radon.
A smartphone application allows everyone to customize their work environment, by intervening on lighting, temperature and shading.
Underground parking can be booked in real time based on the availability of free parking spaces and the IoT sensors (the Internet of Things) will monitor the noise level of the offices and the quality of the air, to ensure comfort and well-being for users.
With a role as a hub for green mobility paths and green areas, as well as a driving force for the redevelopment of the area, Corso Como Place represents a beautiful example of how architecture and construction technology can transfer a historic building into the future.
Asset & Development Management: COIMA, Milan
General Contractor: ICM, Vicenza
Project: PLP Architecture International, London
Structure: CEAS, Milan
Construction: ICM, Vicenza
Waterproofing: Drytech Italia, Montano Lucino
Drytech Tank: 4,500 m²
Mantegazza Palace, Lugano
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
Branca Crescent, Melide
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
Gym, Massagno
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
Sant’Ambrogio car park, Milan
In Piazza Sant’Ambrogio, in Milan, the construction company Borio Mangiarotti S.p.A. built a five-storey underground car park.
Drytech has designed a waterproofing system for the diaphragm, based on Injectable Waterstop Tapes.
By making the diaphragm waterproof directly, it was not necessary to create the lining wall, thus increasing both the internal volume to comply with the legal limits, and the surface, or the parking spaces available.
The Injectable Waterstop Tape for the joints between the partitions of the diaphragms is a Drytech patent that makes it possible to maintain the joint with ex-post injections of resin, performed in the event of any infiltrations.
The Drytech tape is laid with a special sheet piling which acts as a formwork of the diaphragm wall.
The diaphragm of the parking lot that flanks the Milanese basilica drops to a depth of 22.70 meters and the laying of a sheet pile of this size required special care by the company’s technicians, to ensure perfect alignment of the joints.
At the end of the casting, the sheet pile is extracted, equipped with a new belt and repositioned for the casting of the next septum.
The re-injectability of the DRYflex resin guarantees the possibility of carrying out maintenance on the diaphragm at any time, by intervening from inside the structure, without excavation or demolition and, above all, without having to close the car park.
Client: Municipality of Milan
Structure: Engineer Domenico Insigna, Milan
Construction: Borio Mangiarotti SpA, Milan
Drytech waterproofing: Italy, Como
Drytech Tank:
Diaphragm: 5,600 m², h 22.70 m
Bed: 3,300 m²
AET, Montecarasso
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