Waterproofing the underground garage of a beautiful building with a completely windowed north façade.
Rules are made (also) to be broken.

The choice of Gieffe Studio’s project is dictated by the shape of the site 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

Waterproofing of the basement garage of the brutalist red concrete structure that makes the historic seat of the town hall 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

Waterproofing the recycled concrete basement of an environmentally friendly building in Stabio.

The Shield is the new frontier in construction, extending 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

Waterproofing the garages and swimming pools of a terraced villa complex, which follows the conformation of the terrain.

The emerging architectural elements of the Ra Curta residences 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