Domus Adriana, Cureglia

Domus Adriana was born in the seemingly narrow path of physical and architectural limitations and, like a stream in a gorge, it is precisely from obstacles that it draws energy and meaning.

Domus Adriana was born in the seemingly narrow path of physical and architectural limitations and, like a stream in a gorge, it is precisely from obstacles that it draws energy and meaning.

A project designed by constraints.

Like the land located 9 meters above the street level, an existing building in grey concrete with which to communicate and, again, the absence of surface access to the road.

The architect Edy Quaglia has in fact decided to design a free form, which refers only to its own volume. A monolith characterized by an empty entrance, which connects the entire volume with the street below.

The clients of the work are the owners of the Taddei di Viganello construction company. Domus Adriana was therefore required to also be an expression of their professional quality and their passion.

In this sense, facing concrete is the most effective choice, because it literally leaves the builder’s work bare, showing his skill and care without filters.

However, the proximity of another concrete building presented a context problem, which in turn proved to be a powerful opportunity.

To mark the gap between the two buildings, the concrete was in fact colored red and, consequently, rough formworks were used, laid horizontally.

In addition to defining the identity of Domus Andriana, this choice has enhanced the dialogue between the two buildings.

The coloring and horizontal formwork also characterize the space between the volumes and, in particular, the elevator walls and open stairways.

An architectural continuity that brings out the idea that the void separates the two volumes of the building, but formally unites them, emphasizing the fixed scene.

Domus Adriana is spread over seven floors, three of which are completely underground and four resting on the natural ground, divided into apartments.

The hypogeum is a waterproof structure made with a 1,540 m² Drytech Tank, which houses cellars and laundries for each apartment, the technical rooms and two garages with direct access to the street.

Owners: Fulvio and Adriana Pagnamenta, Cureglia

Project: Architetto Edy Quaglia, Lugano

Structure: Ing. Fulvio Pagnamenta, Cureglia

Construction: Taddei, Viganello

Drytech Tank: 1,540 m²

Photos: L. Crivelli, A. Vitiello, G. Pagnamenta

AET, Montecarasso

The new administrative headquarters of AET in Monte Carasso (the Ticino Energy Company) produces more energy than it consumes.

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:
Azienda Elettrica Ticinese

Project: AArch. Lukas Meyer e Ira Piattini, Lugano + Fallavollita, Como

Structure: Tajana & Partner Ingegneria SA, Bellinzona / Spadea e Bondini, Lugano

Construction:
Bossi e Bersani SA, Bellinzona 

Drytech Tank: 1,190 m²

Roof swimming pool, Lugano

The iconic hanging swimming pool in exposed concrete, with a glass wall overlooking Lake Lugano, is the emblem of the Drytech Tankl, which enhances the purity of lines of the project by architect Edy Quaglia.

The iconic hanging swimming pool in exposed concrete, with a glass wall overlooking Lake Lugano, is the emblem of the Drytech Tankl, which enhances the purity of lines of the project by architect Edy Quaglia.

The edges of the pool and the walkable areas are waterproofed with the continuous Drycoat, which adapts like a second skin to the surface.

Project: Architetto Edy Quaglia, Lugano

Construction: Garzoni, Lugano

Drytech Tank: 40 m²

Hanging swimming pool, Ascona

Overlooking Lake Maggiore, the house with a hanging pool designed and designed by engineer Bonalumi for himself.

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

Pool and aquatic garden, Vernate

Piscina a sfioro immersa in un giardino acquatico, anch’esso a sfioro. Con una vista mozzafiato sul lago di Lugano.

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

AlpTransit Control Center, Pollegio

The AlpTransit Operations Centre in Pollegio, which operates the railway traffic in the Gotthard and Monte Ceneri base tunnels.

The AlpTransit Pollegio 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 AlpTransit Pollegio Operation Center 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: Architetto Bruno Fioretti Marquez, Berlino

Structure: Ingg. Borlini & Zanini, Pambio Noranco

Construction: CSC, Lugano

Drytech Tank: 711 m²

PalaCinema, Locarno

The red carpet of the 70th Locarno Film Festival inaugurated the new cinema building. A screen of movable tiles designed by the London-based architecture firm AZPML rationalises the lines of the façade, while at the same time enhancing the original three-volume profile.

The new cinema building in Locarno was born from the transformation of the historic Palazzo Scolastico, designed in 1892 by the architect Ferdinando Bernasconi.

The London-based architectural firm AZPML has capitalized on the existing structure for identity, cultural and environmental reasons.

A screen of movable tiles rationalizes the lines of the facade, but at the same time enhances the original three-volume profile.

The intervention also involves the Remo Rossi square, transformed into a large red carpet perfectly connected to the surrounding street web.

Inaugurated on the occasion of the 70th edition of the Locarno Festival, the Palazzo del Cinema has three avant-garde screening rooms, two of which with 142 seats each, located between the basement and the ground floor, and one with 500 seats on the second floor.

The two underground rooms and all the other service structures below the ground level were built with the Drytech Tank System.

The window sills, on the other hand, are protected with the Drycoat waterproof covering which, with its reduced thickness, does not alter the purity of the architectural lines.

The vibrant covering of gold tiles is iconic. Ethereal, changeable, dynamic: it is architecture, but it looks like cinema.

Owner: PalaCinema SA, Locarno

Project: Consorzio AZPML+DF, Londra/Lugano

Structure: WMM Ingenieure, Münchenstein

Construction: Impresa Mafledil, Osogna

Drytech Tank: 1,200 m²

Pedestrian underpass, Agnuzzo

The Drytech Tank System allows you to create waterproof underpasses without interrupting traffic and, above all, without the risk of damaging the waterproofing

The Drytech Tank System allows you to create waterproof underpasses without interrupting traffic and, above all, without the risk of damaging the waterproofing.

Commissioned by the Municipality of Muzzano, the Agnuzzo pedestrian underpass was built outside the carriageway, in Drytech waterproof concrete.

The joints have been prepared for resin injection with DRYset channels. The shrinkage cracks were checked with the DRYset crack elements.

The monolith was then pushed by jacks below the roadway, while the ground was progressively dug from the inside.

Once in place, the monolith was injected from the inside with DRYflex resin, whose elasticity and expansion qualities allow the waterproofing to adapt to the vibrations produced by higher traffic.

The ex-post waterproofing, by means of injections, on the one hand cannot be damaged during processing and, on the other hand, also allows to seal any cracks produced by the thrust stresses.

Client: Canton Ticino

Structure: MPN Ingegneria SA, Muzzano

Construction: Geo-Edil SA, Lugano

SBB CFS FFS train station, Lugano

The large canopy protecting the underground atrium connecting Lugano's railway station to the city.

An atrium that creates a new connection between the Lugano railway station and the urban fabric: a real portal that connects arriving and departing travelers with the rest of the city.

The icon of this project, which adapts the important urban hub to the increase in the flow of travelers and rationalizes their routes, is the large 1,600 square meter canopy suspended above the underground atrium.

The thin, airy roof creates a wallless atrium. From the train window you can thus admire a suggestive glimpse of the lake.

The atrium is lowered to the level of the main underpass, which connects the two parts of the city divided by the station, and through which you access the ramps that lead to the platforms.

The hypogeum is a waterproof structure made with the 2,700 m² Drytech Tank.

Owership: SBB CFF FFS, Lugano

Project: Gruppo architetti StazLu, Lugano

Struttura: Studio d’ingegneria G. Dazio & Associati, Cadenazzo
Studio d’ingegneria Bernardoni, Lugano

Construction: GeoEdil, Lugano

Drytech Tank: 2’700 m² 

Trevisani house, Cureglia

Architect Stefania Trevisani Mahler's villa consists of two volumes: one dedicated to housing and the other used as a studio for photographer Sandro Mahler. In the foreground, the swimming pool built with the Vasca Bianca Drytech waterproof structure, like the basement of the property.

Where do architects live? What is the house of someone who designs houses like? The answer of the architect Stefania Trevisani Mahler stands on a flat parcel, on which two independent volumes have been built: one dedicated to the house and the other used as a studio by the photographer Sandro Mahler.

The construction choices favored a prefabricated wooden structure with high insulating potential for all the perimeter walls of the volumes emerging from the height of the garden.

As regards the basement floors, the Drytech Tank System in waterproof concrete was instead opted for, due to the strong presence of water in the subsoil.

Project: Arch. Trevisani Mahler, Cureglia

Structure: Ingg. Giani e Prada, Lugano

Construction: Impresa Taddei SA, Viganello

Drytech Tank: 400 m²