Bianchi House
From WikiArquitectura - Buildings of the World
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[edit] Introduction
The Swiss couple Carlo and Leontina Bianchi were close friends of Mario Botta when he remodeled an old apartment for them in the small town of Genestrerio. Soon after, in 1971, the same family commissioned a newly graduated Botta to design a new house, but this time in the area of the canton of Ticino, at the foot of San Giorgio Monde and with views of Lake Lugano. While the listing requirements were very similar to that of the previous remodel: a house with economic rooms for a couple with two children, the process of thinking in the new house was very different. In fact, it came to be almost like it was constructed starting with the roof.
[edit] Situation
The house is located in a rural area of subalpine Switzerland, on a steep slope that descends to Lake Lugano, on the outskirts of the town of Riva San Vitale.
The area along the trail which ends in the plot of the Bianchi House had been experiencing indiscriminate urban development. As a result, one of the main objectives for Mario Botta, right from the very beginning, was to propose a house capable of limiting the expansion of the development and thereby protecting the village and the forest so long neglected.
[edit] Concept
This work can be regarded as a compendium of compositional elements characteristic of Botta. A house resulting in a clear partnering of clear form and primary geometry, like a prism, in which the house takes after an echo of the devotion to solid elements of Le Corbusier. The house presents a series of grand substractions vertically, which create spaces of various heights and form an openwork space in the main volume. The varying heights also present the intersection of another, smaller prismatic shape that creates the entry to the house. This smaller metallic space, in contrast to the larger volume, appears almost translucent.
The work, in relation to the envrionment, is intented to achieve its form in a vertical manner, so as not to lose importance when compared with the lofty mountains as its backdrop.
[edit] Spaces
The main entrance features a metallic bridge structure that comes from the mountainside and cleanly penetrates the house at the fifth floor. One enters into the foyer and can access the balcony which provides a view of Lake Lugano.
The spiral staircase in the center of the house creates a radial distribution of space on each floor and a vertical connection point which is what binds all levels.
At the third level, there is a suite including a bedroom, dressing room and bathroom. The suite also features a lake view balcony.
The second level houses the children's bedrooms, bathroom and a study, which also serves as a balcony overlooking the kitchen-dining room below.
On the floor below, the first level, is the social hub of the home. Here is located the kitchen and dining area and living room.
Finally on the ground floor there is laundry and storage space and also a garage.
[edit] Materials
The most emblematic elements of this house are the gray concrete bearing walls and the red metal footbridge leading to the house.
[edit] Bibliography
STORIES OF HOUSES: A Family House at Riva San Vitale, by Mario Botta
[edit] Drawings
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[edit] Photos
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