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RESIDENZA LE STELLE, LOCARNO, SWITZERLAND
BUILDING PROJECTS
RESIDENZA LE STELLE LOCARNO, SWITZERLAND
Riding the crest of a brick wave
Francesco Buzzi’s architectural studio has won an international award by covering apartment blocks in Switzerland with a wave-like brick cladding system built by robots. Jess Unwin finds out more
W
hen architect Francesco Buzzi persuaded his client that he could design something special in a suburb of the Swiss city of Locarno, the remarkable result was something that is now winning international praise. The focus of the plaudits is the robot- built brick cladding that is woven in an interlaced pattern around each of three six-storey buildings at the mixed residential and commercial development of Residenza Le Stelle.
Designed by Buzzi’s company, Buzzi Studio Di Architettura, the brick facade resembles a patchwork of pixels – the minute component blocks of colour in an electronic image that together form a whole picture.
But this cladding system is not designed to sit flat against the exterior of the build- ings – in fact, it forms a wave-like facade as the brick panels bend inward and outwards. Even more unusually, in some places this wave partially covers the buildings’ windows and loggias.
Like a curtain moving in the breeze
The effect is probably best summed up by the Buzzi Studio team, who describe it as being like “a curtain swelling and contracting in the breeze”.
The story of how this unusual building envelope design came into being begins with Buzzi’s intimate knowledge of Solduno, the Locarno neighbourhood it now graces.
“I grew up nearby and so know the area
well. The playful design and quality of the 60s-built structures I knew when I was
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK
ADF FEBRUARY 2017
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