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Anyone who has a home at Blade Residence – in Canobbio, in the Swiss canton of Ticino – lives inside a work of art. The complex, which comprises eleven generously proportioned duplexes with private gardens, stands on the Swiss shores of Lake Maggiore. Its sloping site overlooks the Lugano Plain.
The project, the work of Mino Caggiula with Tognola Group acting as property developer, general contractor, and interior designer, combines poetry and technology to ensure residents’ wellbeing and to enrich the surrounding natural setting.
THE PLAN Media House examines the project with a docufilm in two parts, focusing on Mino Caggiula and Tognola Group respectively.
The design of Blade Residence had simple but powerful beginnings: an image of fingers making furrows in the soil to create a link between humans and nature. As Mino Caggiula explains, the marks left by the five fingers define the blocks destined for the ten homes, arranged on two levels to accommodate the slope of the land, to which an eleventh unit was added, designed to make room for access to the lot.
Two walls finished with weathering steel define the organization of the complex, with the first marking the housing units and the second organizing their internal spaces, which open onto large green terraces. This self-passivating steel is a living material, which evolves over time to produce unexpected colors as the surface is washed away by the rain. Covered by plants, the weathering steel partitions give privacy to the gardens while enveloping them in the scent of jasmine.
Much like the creations of Richard Serra, Blade Residence is a work poised between architecture and sculpture. And Mino Caggiula was inspired in particular by Serra’s work Intersection, in Basel, Switzerland. The American artist’s creations are genuine architecture that let viewers immerse themselves in them, arousing strong emotions and modifying the perception of the surrounding space.
Tognola Group is the property developer behind the project, also acting as the general contractor and looking after the interior design of the homes. Tognola offers future residents a turnkey service, in the belief that the success of any project is the result of not just having the right intuition, but also a thorough understanding of the intimate and personal desires of clients.
Each housing unit has a large living area at ground level, comprising a kitchen, living room, and dining room, while the upper level is devoted to the bedrooms. This made it possible for each villa to have a private front garden. The complex also includes a resident wellness area, with a gym, sauna, and Turkish bath, as well as an outdoor swimming pool.
With contemporary, welcoming, and elegant rooms, residents are offered high quality living in a residential complex of high value, not just for the property owners but for the whole area. Blade Residence is a place where shapes and colors blend harmoniously, generating a feeling of inner stillness. It’s a story that interweaves elements from the past with visions of the future to create unique living spaces.
Location: Canobbio, Switzerland
Client: Tognola Group
Completion: 2022
Built-up Area: 2047 m2
Architect: Mino Caggiula Architects
Construction Management: Mino Caggiula Architects
Interior Design: Tognola Group Interior
Main Contractor: Tognola Group General Contractor
Consultants
Structures: Casanova Ingegneria
Electrical: P&P Studio elettrotecnico
HVAC: STR Progetti
Fire Protection: Tea Engineering
Building Physics: EcoControl, Tecnoprogetti
Greenery: Verde Profilo
Photography by Paolo Volonté, courtesy Mino Caggiula Architects
