Lugano Tunnel, Architecture, Swiss Landscape Design
Vedeggio-Cassarate Gallery : Lugano Building
Vedeggio-Cassarate Tunnel Development, Switzerland – design by CZA_Lugano
16 Nov 2012
Vedeggio-Cassarate Project
Architect: Cino Zucchi Architetti – CZA_Lugano
An environmental sculpture for the city of Lugano
Location: Lugano, canton of Ticino, southern Switzerland
photo : Cino Zucchi
Tunnels are “wounds” inflicted on geology to facilitate human movements. Their history is ancient, glorious and gory, but today techniques have been refined to the point of making the excavation similar to endoscopic surgery.
photo : Cino Zucchi
The new Vedeggio-Cassarate tunnel that connects the area by the Lugano stadium to the Milan-Zurich highway has already triggered an extensive urban transformation of the area, which will become the new entrance point to the city from the north. Pending the completion of the link with the existing road, the entrance and exit from the tunnel on the Cassarate side needed a temporary arrangement to screen the structural works before the second implementation phase was completed, which blended with the surrounding landscape.
photos : Cino Zucchi
A simple idea, namely the repetition of a series of poles in spruce wood with rectangular sections, of different lengths, is rendered complex by the possibility to shape such forms through parametric design programs. A “ruled surface” (the geometric definition of a curved surface obtained with rectilinear sections that rotate in space) moves to reflect the orographical limits and the cinematic vision of those driving by.
A large sinuous “screen” reaching heights of 10 metres and undulating between concave and convex forms, at times permeable to the eye, at times opaque, depending on the points of view, constitutes a kind of “environmental sculpture” which characterizes the entrance to the city.
A parterre of white pebbles conceals the point where the poles enter the ground, making every structural detail disappear in favour of a purer perception of movement and the different plays of the light at different times of the day and in different seasons.
photos : Cino Zucchi
Cino Zucchi Architects originally won the competition for the town plan of the New Cornaredo District as part of a team including Federico Oliva Associati, Land and the Class group, and are now responsible for the architectural design of this element, which is about 250 metres long; Mauri & Banci SA engineers provided the structural consulting with the supervision of the Department of the Territory of the Canton Ticino (constructions division).
The large wooden screens thus become a small but significant sign of future transformations which will make this area become the new gateway to Lugano from the north. C.Z.
photos : Cino Zucchi
Vedeggio-Cassarate Gallery Lugano – Building Information
Title: Works of environmental mitigation at the entrance of the gallery Vedeggio Cassarate
Location: Lugano, Switzerland
Date: 2012
Client: Dipartimento del Territorio del Canton Ticino – Divisione delle Costruzioni
Executive project and structural consulting: Studio d’ingegneria Mauri & Banci SA
Collaborators CZA: Cino Zucchi, Andrea Viganò, Luca Torri with Marco Alì, Marco Cerati
Vedeggio-Cassarate Tunnel Switzerland images / information from Cino Zucchi Architetti / CZA_Lugano
Location: Vedeggio-Cassarate tunnel, Lugano, Switzerland, central Europe
Architecture in Switzerland
Contemporary Architecture in Switzerland
Swiss Architecture Designs – chronological list
Architecture Walking Tours by e-architect
Selected designs by Cino Zucchi Architetti on e-architect:
National Automobile Museum in Turin renovation and extension
Cino Zucchi Architetti with RecchiEngineering and Proger
National Automobile Museum Turin
Salewa Spa Headquarters, Bolzano / Bozen, Italy
Park Associati – Cino Zucchi Architetti
Salewa Spa Headquarters
Another Tunnel project on e-architect:
Albisola Superiore Tunnel, just east of Savona, Liguria, northwest Italy
Design: 3S studio
Italian Tunnel Project
Swiss Architecture
House in Lumino, Swiss Alps
Design: Davide Macullo Architects
Lumino House
westside Shopping and Leisure Center
Design: Studio Daniel Libeskind
Swiss retail building, Bern-Brünnen
Comments / photos for the Vedeggio-Cassarate Gallery – Lugano Building page welcome