Renovation villa Novazzano
The building is a single-family villa in modernist style built in 1938 in a plot located at the north-western edge of the historic core of Novazzano.
The villa is located in the center of the garden, accessed from the street below, along a cobbled avenue that leads to the entrance staircase located on the north corner of the building. Each floor of the building is equipped with large surfaces used as a terrace. The openings (doors and windows) are bounded by a Travertine perimeter. The building has a semi-underground floor and three floors above ground connected by a scenic staircase, the stone steps are fixed in the wall, the treads are in green Prato marble (serpentine) and the risers are in white Carrara marble. The staircase is bordered by a semicircular double height window. All the doors and windows of the house were original, made of wood with only a sheet of glass and no longer guaranteed insulation, air tightness and noise isolation.
The renovations have involved the replacement of the heating system, the removal and replacement of all the old windows replaced by new wood/metal windows with triple glazing
security. The inner side of the wooden window is finished with a white veil that allows glimpses of the wood grain; the exterior, in aluminum, is finished with a dark gray thermolacquering. The original winding system of the roller shutter (with fabric ribbon) has been restored; the bins were insulated and new wooden windowsills were placed.
For the large semicircular window of the stairs the panels of the original glazing have been removed, the original T-shaped metal profile has been maintained and restored, in the thickness of the profile they have found new compact glass enclosures of insulating and safety triple glazing, whose most external panel is hammered glass, like the original one.
On the ground floor a new living space has been created combining the old kitchen with an adjacent room. The demolition of the load bearing partition wall made it necessary to lay two HEB metal beams to support the load on the walls of the upper floors. The metal beams were painted white and were transformed into two lighting fixtures by inserting LED strips.
The original floors of the small entrance hall (design of squares of
Carrara marble and Bardiglio gray marble) and of the kitchen (light and dark square grit tiles arranged in a diagonal chessboard) have been preserved. The floor of the hall side is new and has been made with a white, gray and black colored rubber grit, which recalls and harmonizes with the colors of the pre-existing floors. A new pellet stove has been installed. The kitchen has been renovated and a piece of furniture has been created that articulates and organizes the entrance, kitchen and hall areas. This piece of furniture has two different heights; contains drawers and shelves on the kitchen side while the side facing the hall is equipped with a dark gray-lighted showcase, drawers, a corner bar and a wide sliding door that allows the TV to be hidden. The doors of all the furniture are light gray in color with a glossy lacquered finish.
Upstairs the existing bathroom was renovated, the walls were covered with two large photographs depicting the Breggia Gorge, the photographs were printed on large glass plates (1.84 m x 1.26 m) and applied to the wall. A cladding with white ceramic slabs measuring 3 m x 1.5 m was created around the photographs.
Date: 2018 – 2021
Photographs: Alberto Canepa
Client: Private
Architect: Enrico Sassi
Work management: Enrico Sassi
Collaborators: Roberta Blasi
Building physics: Think Exergy SA
Contractor: Pietro Calderari SA
Plumber: Conconi Sud SA
Electrician: Larghi Silvano SAGL
Plasterworker: Michele Vodola
Flooring: Uniquefloor AG
Tiler: Jotti Guglielmo SA
Windows: RK Mobili di Roberto Köchli
Marble-worker: GEG SA
Glass worker: Alla Vetreria Perletti SAGL
Heating engineer: Guscetti Camini SA
Painter: Marco Rossi SA
Carpenter kitchen and furniture: RK Mobili di Roberto Köchli
Bathroom Tiling: Gehri Rivestimenti SA
Photographic coating: Galvolux SA
Bathroom furniture: Il Piacere.ch Sagl
