Casa Minghetti: Single family residence in Gordola

The oblong single-storey structure of a family house designed in a clear form language in Gordola, Switzerland, shows a sensitive approach to the topography of the plot. In order to impact the existing terrain with its striking panoramic views as little as possible, the house has been placed between two existing cottages at the edge of the slope and rests on two mere rectangular columns.

Architect: Nicola Baserga, Christian Mozzetti, Muralto
Structural engineering: Pedrazzini Guidotti, Lugano
Location: 6596 Gordola, Switzerland

The individual steps in the construction process:

Layout of the foundations reinforcements:
(all diagrams: Pedrazzini Guidotti)

Like the house, the carport is built in reinforced concrete and consists of a parking deck anchored to a shoring wall, a roof that varies in thickness from 250 mm in the middle to 60 mm at the edges and two slanted rectangular columns, a lower one to hold up the parking deck and a higher one for the roof. Supported in this way at a single point, the roof has a cross-section in the form of a slab folded into two upward-angled wings. The upper and lower columns, each with a tapered cross-section, mirror each other in shape and angle, the latter being the result of functional and statical considerations in both cases. The parking deck anchored to the wall shoring up the slope is 220 to 280 mm thick and transmits force through the columns. The lower column is supported by a plinth slanted into the ground to absorb exerted forces.

Project data

Client: Tiziano Minghetti, Monica Rossi, Gordola
Construction management: Nicola Beserga, Christian Mozzetti, Muralto
Landscape architecture: Giorgio Aeberli, Gordola
Further information can be found in DETAIL structure 1/2015.