Houses for Artists

Parco delle Golle della Breggia has a long history of industrial activities ranging from wine making, grinding and oil making with water mills to cement making. It was characterised by a strong sense of community especially in the neighbouring village involved in agricultural activities. Today it is a natural park exhibiting a wide variety of geological formations as well as specific fauna and flora. The project develops around a small community of artists seeking inspiration and a quiet working environment immersed in nature. The whole complex of houses and auxiliary buildings evolves in time as the community grows. The starting point is marked by the construction of the fountain as a center. It is then surrounded by the vegetable garden, the first houses and the summer kitchen. Onward, the subsequent rows of enclosures expand. The sequence of gardens becomes savager as it gets further from the center: vegetable garden, orchard, flower yard and wilderness. The geometry of the plan follows the same principle, as it starts from a perfect square and further expands following the curves of the site. This project was developed during the atelier with Bijoy Jain (Studio Mumbai) at the Accademia di Architettura in Mendrisio.