Casa Bianchi | Switzerland Architecture

Casa Bianchi Switzerland architectureLocated at the foot of the San Giorgio Mountain, in the Mendrisio district of Switzerland, Casa Bianchi (1971-3) at Riva San Vitale stands apart from the beautiful natural landscape of this fishing town. Occupying 220 squ ar beats of an 850 square metre site, the concrete block lift resembles a fortress in its relative isolation above Lake Lagona rimed notwithstanding yet familiar in its modern pains.Built on a hill cheek, the main addition to this family star sign is curiously through its top al-Qaida. This square vertically extruded building seems fortress-like in that it does not move with its surroundings hardly rather observes them. However, a connection is established amid hillside and home by an 18 metre long red metal duad which provides the main access to the house reinforcing its severehold appearance. The bridge pierces the heart of the home through the fifth floor where a studio and a terrace are to be set. Private view s are offered from both(prenominal) these spaces, together detaching the viewer from the world, and directly creating a rapport between the two. The feeling, when crossing the bridge towards the house, is of entering into the landscape, and ones eyes extend beyond to the church of Melano, at the other side of the lake.iMario Botta (b. Switzerland 1943) designed this house shortly after graduating for his c drop friends Carlo and Leontina Bianchi. This was Bottas second project for the couple the first was the refurbishment of a flat in the crossroads of Genestrerio, Switzerland. The brief for the residence at Riva San Vitale was equal in that a low budget home was required for a couple with two children. Botta himself strongly believed in a house beingness designed for its particular environment hence the distinctive appearance employed by the home.According to Arnardttir, Halldra and Snchez Merina, Javier, the land along the small road where the Bianchi site ends had been suff ering from haphazardly development during the last century. Botta opposed the tendancy to treat architecture as a commodity and so it was his aspiration from the very beginning to propose a house that would mark the limit of the careless expansion of the village as means of protecting the woods. Due in part to his protest, shortly after the completion of the house, sore regulations declared no further construction could be approved in the area and so, for this reason the tower house now stands alone in its protected landscape.The greatest influences on the work of Mario Botta came in the form the renowned brutalist architects Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn, both of whom he briefly collaborated with in the sixties. Brutalism was a movement conceived from modernist architecture that thrived in the wake of World War II due to economically depressed states requiring low-cost construction and design. Characterisd by its stark, monolithic forms, brutalism comprised of unembellished exte riors and often block-like geometric forms.Undoubtedly the Bianchi house is a true example of brutalist architecture but Botta himself is most commonly referred to as a neo- acuteist architect, belonging to the Ticense school. Neo Rationalism was an Italian movement of great repute in 1960s and 1970s. Seeking to redefine architectural form through the rational mergence of its components, neo Rationalism dismissed the sentiment that technology is the only way forward in architecture. rather they looked to the past and were inspired by the architectural forms that were once abundant.Botta looked to the Ticinese movement of which he was one of the foremost figures when conception the Riva San Vitale residence. The Ticinese school was comprised of a group of Swiss architects who promoted a greater appreciation for the significance of historical style, both socially and culturally. Roccolo houses, or bird hunting towers once typified the Ticino sphere and it is from these buildings th at Botta took inspiration when designing the load behavior concrete brick tower house.These buildings were raised over the trees as traces of human marks Later, although many of them were destroyed, some were converted into weekend houses. It was precisely this combination of astonishing nature and basic construction which gave a special fibre to the area.iiBottas intentions in utilising this form were however very different The house stands at a respectful outgo from the hillside, infringing upon the land only as very much as is necessary. The vertical manner ensures the house does not lose importance when compared with the lofty mountains as its backdrop and by doing so answered his friends wishes of enjoying both the views of the lake above the trees and by having strong contact with the ground. Stevens Curl, James described Bottas buildings to openclear, powerful geometries and display fine craftsmanship. For instance, the house at Riva San Vitale is monumental, and has h eavyset and powerful voids in the elevationsiiiThe house is open plan and yet still private, organized around a mostly enclosed central open newel staircase and offers a selection of different views of the region from each living space. In turn, the stairs section off the house and so act as a divider, creating privacy. From the bridge, the floor to be found when descending the staircase is the private one of Carlo and Leontina themselves. Through being positioned thus, the couple are essentially the gatekeepers to their own home. So long as they are on their floor, no one can leave or enter through the front without their discernledge. Botta has created for them an intimate space comprising a bedroom, bathroom, dressing room and even a lake view balcony.The second floor of the home was designed for family living. The children have their own twin bedroom and bathroom and there is also a study which serves as a balcony, overlooking the kitchen-dining room. The duplex nature of the h ouse allows for interaction between the different floors, making it more social, but there are still private quarters to be found on each level giving a range in atmosphere not only across the different floors, but in each room also. A dining room can also be found on the first floor and the basement consists of a laundry room, storage spaces and a garage which are clearly mean for family use only.Botta arranged the house so that the service areas occupy a similar vertical position with the bathrooms on the second and third floors and the laundry room in the basement. This way, plumbing the house would be more cost effective as certain pipes such as those for drainage would trifle through the building and it would also save space. The only part of the house to require a withdraw system would be the kitchen which occupies a different part of the first floor. It is in this part of the house that we outwear Botta has considered his clients spacial requirements the priority.The bas ement consists of a laundry room, storage spaces and a garage which are clearly intended for family use only. The social centre of the house can be found on the first floor where there is a living room in addition to the kitchen -dining room. Guests to the house would be required to mountain pass across the bridge and down into the public region of the house. Standing at the bottom of a slope, with such depths and fortification within the property, the Bianchi house feels like an upside down castle.The simple design and allows for as much light as possible to enter the home without compromising the privacy of the family.Increasing commercialization by those seen as having betrayed architecture, a return to academic theories propounded by Quatremre de Quincy and others was proposed. A good example of realized works is Grassis student residences, Chieti (1976), which drew on proposals by Weinbrenner (1808).BibliographySurname, First Name (or initials if you do not know the first nam e). Date. Title (in italics). Place of publication Publisher.Arnardttir, Halldra Snchez Merina, Javier. 2005. A family house at Riva San Vitale by Mario Botta. Available from http//storiesofhouses.blogspot.com/2005/07/family-house-at-riva-san-vitale-by.html (Accessed th October 2009)FDHA, Federal Department of Home Affairs. Mario Botta. 2009 Available from http//www.bundesmuseen.ch/cdn/00127/00203/index.html?lang=enStevens Curl, James. 2000. A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.