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

AIL tunnel, Agno

Cunicolo AIL Agno-Bioggio

The AIL Agno-Bioggio tunnel for high voltage systems runs alongside the Vedeggio river for 4 km and, in a central stretch, is also bordered by the Prati Maggiori canal. Precisely at this point the route of the structure crosses the Riale Roncaccio drainage canal.

To overcome it, the tunnel dives further below the riverbed up to -5 meters from the ground level. Due to the particularly delicate position exposed to multiple water pressures, this section of the tunnel was created with a total Drytech Tank: foundation, walls and slab.

The Drytech Tank structure of the AIL Agno-Bioggio tunnel has a thickness between 30 and 40 cm and the joints have been waterproofed with injections of DRYflex expanding resin.

By sealing the entire thickness of the joint, the resin also protects the reinforcing bars, because it keeps water completely outside the concrete. In the event of any infiltrations, the system provides practical and easily manageable maintenance from inside the structure, without interruptions to the service.

The real possibility of carrying out maintenance contributes to the main quality of waterproofing: which is to prevent water from entering for the entire life of the work, i.e. for 50 – 100 years in the case of civil engineering structures, as prescribed by SIA 272.

Structure: Comal Engineering, Lugano

Construction: Implenia, Bioggio oh the 

Prefabricated underpass, Crema

The railway underpass of Indipendenza street in Crema allows the passage of a road and a cycle path under the railway path.

The railway underpass of Indipendenza street in Crema allows the passage of a road and a cycle path under the railway path. The work was carried out without interrupting the overlying passage of the trains.

The Drytech Tank made it possible to prefabricate the monolith near the tracks and push it to its final location with an excavation that gradually replaced it for the ground supporting the railway line.

Once positioned in place, the monolith was waterproofed in its critical points (cracks and joints) with DRYflex expanding resin injections.

Made ex-post, the waterproofing did not risk being damaged during the launching operations.

The expansion joints f the railway underpass of Indipendenza street in Crema were prepared with DRYset injectable waterstop tapes.

Structure: Ing. Terzini, Crema

Construction: De Fabiani Spa, Cavenago d’Adda

Drytech Tank: 3’600 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: Architetti Nicola Baserga e Christian Mozzetti, Muralto

Structure: Ingegneri Andrea e Eugenio Pedrazzini, Lugano

Construction: Mafledil, Osogna

Drytech Tank: 2’128 m²

Lee Tunnel, London

The Lee Tunnel is one of the two pipelines that convey an average of 39 million tons per year of wastewater, coming from 35 sewer pipes, built in the Victorian era as part of the network that still serves London, after 150 years.

The works began in September 2010 at the Beckton treatment plant, with the construction of the first of the four 80-meter wells, waterproofed by laying DRYset channels in the joints, then sealed with DRYflex resin injections.

The sections of the 120-meter-long milling machine were then lowered through the shaft, which in 2012 began excavating the connection tunnels, with a diameter of 7 meters.

The infrastructure is part of the strategic plan to improve and ensure the health of the Thames waters. The system routes discharges from London’s largest surplus sewer to Mills Abbey Pumping Station in Stratford, which handles 40 per cent of the total waste.

The four miles of tunnel were built beneath the Borough of Newham, from Abbey Mills to Beckton. The new tunnel helps prevent more than 16 million tonnes of sewage mixed with rainwater from overflowing into the River Lee each year, capturing and transferring it to Beckton’s sewage treatment facilities, which are in turn being expanded by 60 per year. one hundred to cope with the increase in volumes handled.

This is the deepest tunnel ever built in London. This involved excavating in conditions of high groundwater pressures, along four miles of extraordinarily abrasive soil and without lateral vent pipes.

Owner: Thames Water Utilities, London

Structure: Engineer Emmanuel Costes, London 

Construction: Morgan Vinci Bachy JV, London

Waterproofing: Drytech UK, London

Allianz Isozaki Tower, Milan

The Isozaki Tower, inspired by Constantin Brancusi’s endless column, has become one of the symbols of the city. Designed by the Japanese architect Arada Isozaki together with the Italian architect Andrea Maffei, the skyscraper is the headquarters of Allianz in Italy.

The building, which can accommodate up to 3,800 people, is the tallest skyscraper in Italy by number of floors (50) and according to the highest occupied floor criterion (with its 207 m).

Drytech has designed the waterproofing of all the structures below the project ground level. The fire-fighting tanks, the system tunnels, the multi-lancet windows and the lower sections were therefore built with the Drytech Tank technology.

Property: CityLife s.p.a., Milano

Project: Architect Arata Isozaki, Tokyo / Architect Andrea Maffei, Milano

Structure: Prof. Marco Mola, Ing. Michele Cap, Milano / Ing. Francesco Iorio, Bergamo

Works management: In.Pro srl, Torino

Drytech Tank: 7’400 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 Architetti & Associati, Breganzona

Structure: Studio Ingg. Mantegazza e Cattaneo, Sorengo

Construction: Garzoni SA, Lugano

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

Drytech Tank: 2,900 m²

Expansion of the Frigerio plant, Locarno

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.

Owner: Poncini Holding SA, Locarno

Project: 3G Architetti SA, Tenero

Structure: Studio d’ingegneria Anastasi, Locarno

Construction: Gamboni e Salmina SA, Gordola

Liquid perspective, Coldrerio

very long swimming pool

A very long swimming pool on the way out and short on the way back.

It is the perspective effect created by architects Mikail Akbas and Massimo Carmellini, who also designed the villa on the heights of Chiasso.

Seen from the side of the diving board, the pool appears very long and the body of water is the absolute protagonist.

Conversely, on the opposite side it is the villa and the large lawn that characterize the space, and the swimming pool – which previously seemed as long as the porch – retreats into the greenery.

The infinity east side and the slope of the lawn produce another surprising effect, with the trees in the hedge appearing to rise directly from the water.

The exposed swimming pool was built in a Drytech waterproof concrete structure and waterproofed, once the construction was completed, with injections of expanding resin which sealed the joints, the shrinkage cracks and the numerous crossings, such as the inflow vents, the drains and the immersed lamps.

Project: Architetti Mikail Akbas, Chiasso and Massimo Carmellini, Balerna.

Construction: Garzoni, Lugano