GIG - RONDINELLA
The project involved the renovation and extension of a secondary residence located on the residential outskirts of Ascona, a small village in the Locarno region. The neighbourhood, surrounded by vegetation and characterised by independent buildings with large green spaces, is located near the lake, offering a unique naturalistic context, overlooking one of the oldest golf courses in Switzerland.
The original building was a single-family house organised on one floor with tiny spaces, two bedrooms with separate external entrances, all unfortunately in a precarious state of maintenance. Volumetrically, it was unbalanced and clearly assembled volume after volume with addition after addition, without any clear planimetric intentions or even less defined spatial concepts. A patchwork situation that in consideration with the client's requests, the regulations and other aspects, such as the flood hazard zone of Lake Maggiore, led to a radical and general intervention.
Starting from the roots of the building, considering a maximum legal extension of 30%, a material and compact approach was chosen, inspired by the image of a green bush resting on a rock. This material image, which is very figurative, has been transposed by means of a compact rocky volume that clearly distinguishes the building and a more abstract one defined by the greenery covering the volume of the pergola terrace on the first floor. The rocky volume of sedimentary origin,
sandy in appearance, is flanked by bare reinforced concrete volumes that recall the granite bowls (gneiss) that came wandering to the river delta from the mountains of the nearby Maggia Valley.
The project is inserted in a land of alluvial origin, on the edge between the Maggia river delta and Lake Maggiore, an area that was once marshy and difficult to use, even for agricultural purposes, characterised by sandy soils dotted with large boulders. The intervention rationalised the volumetry and gave the building a new architectural expression, profoundly linked to the landscape context. The objective was to reduce the volumetric perception of the dwelling, making it almost imperceptible in the landscape. The choice of materials - rough striped plaster, reinforced concrete and vegetation - strengthens this mimetic strategy, integrating into the vegetation redesigned for the terraces, the pergola and the green roofs, up to the surrounding garden.
The new distribution of the internal programme on the ground floor mainly includes the daytime living areas, flanked by the guest room to the west and some essential rooms. This large living area, although without clear divisions, is strongly structured. Connecting the whole, in addition to a 15 metre wooden ridge integrating cupboards and high kitchen, we find the kitchen island with a double-sided fireplace acting as a sculptural pivot to communal living. As in the days of our grandmothers, the kitchen with its fireplace became the warm heart of sharing, and so we wanted to place a fireplace directly in the centre of the house so as to make it the master of the whole scene, of the words and memories of the family.
The large wooden wall in the background unifies the living area, hiding the service spaces and the staircase leading to the upper floor and providing defined but varied spaces.
The relationship between the living room and the garden has been emphasised with the insertion of tall rhythmic openings, while the material continuity between various elements reinforces the dialogue between inside and outside. The elevation has allowed the creation of a master bedroom totally isolated from the rest of the dwelling. The first floor is characterised by a fluid organisation, with a central wooden core of reduced height that subdivides without clearly separating the sleeping area from the wardrobes, bathroom and service. The bedroom opens onto an outdoor terrace, obtained by removing the old pitched roofs. Bounded by a solid parapet and covered by a metal pergola with climbing plants, the terrace is conceived as an intimate and protected space, in continuity with the surrounding landscape. A platform invisible from the outside, in perfect harmony with the landscape.
Proletico:
The name "Rondinella" was born in relation to the adjacent residence, "Cingallegra", sealing the link between the two dwellings, as well as connecting it to the house behind Pettirosso.
