2_1_DiscoverGermany_January15_Issue22:Scan Magazine 1
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Discover Germany | Special Theme | Great Architects
After working in a renowned architectural office in Locarno for more than fifteen years, architect Aldo Cacchioli successfully founded his own architectural office in the same city in 1997. Today 14 people work for the architect whose main focus lies on single- or multi-family houses. At the same time Aldo Cacchioli works on the design of commercial and administrative buildings. Cleft stones layered on a concrete building structure Natural stones of different origin play an important role in Also Cacchioli’s work. “We have used various kinds of stones in many of our projects: cleft stones glued on a concrete structure,” explains the architect. The stones used for his projects normally have a height of about 10 centimetres and a variable length up to 70 centimetres. Layered cleft stones shape the cladding. To give a few examples of how different kinds of stone are used for cladding one has to look at Aldo Cacchioli’s recent works: For the Residenza Paola in Gordola for example the architect used Travertine Noce, a stone that was extracted from a quarry in the province of Rome. Travertine is a certain kind of limestone, often with a white, cream or light ochre colouring. In this case while a part of the building is clad in stone other parts are painted in a red colour creating a warm colour symbiosis.
Sandstone claddings create a unique building surface For the Residence Alba in Losone Aldo Cacchioli used Pietra Serena stones from the province of Florence, an evenly coloured grey sandstone, while he used a Pietra Dorata cladding for an urban villa and the Palace Eos Uno in Ascona. The fine veined yellow-ochre Pietra Dorata sandstone was transported from a quarry in the Italian province of Grosseto to Ascona. “While we used only cleft stone material for the urban villa, for the Palace Eos Uno we integrated big monolithic elements into the façade. The eight centimetre thick slabs create a rather characteristic composition for the main façade.”Applied next to windows – on the right or left, above or below – these smooth slabs breach the rather rough surface of the nature stone cladding creating a completely different optic and haptic. New projects currently under construction also use natural stones There are currently two new projects under construction that include the use of natural stones in design and architecture. Take for example the Residence Onda Viva in Ronco s/Ascona where the architects plan to use a composition of two different cleft slabs from India: One is a red Agra, a sandstone that became popular as a building material because even after years this stone shows nearly no weathering effect. The second stone that will be used for the building is a grey, pink quartzite.
Another project using natural stones to create a beautiful outside look is a residence in Locarno Monti. Here Aldo Cacchioli works with a Ceppo di Gre’ extracted from Lake Iseo in Italy. Ceppo di Gre’ is a rather beautiful light-grey stone of sedimentary origin that is ideal for cladding or flooring on the in- and outside. www.aldocacchioli.com
Above: Villa urbana, Ascona © Aldo Cacchioli Architetto Below: Residenza Alba, Losone © Matteo Aroldi Residenza Paola, Gordola © Aldo Cacchioli Architetto Residenza Locarno Monti, Locarno © Aldo Cacchioli Architetto
Issue 22 | January 2015 | 71