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Nizza Paradise Residence

A shape that aims at sky and follow the bends of the soil is truly surprising. While a well balanced composition of horizontal levels, which start from bases and glass walls, sweeten the effect, overlooking on large terraces. From here you can examine the landscape in every direction: a wood westward, the park of Guidino eastward, the blue stretch of Lake Lugano fills the horizon looking southward. The park, the lake and the city meet by the means of a pedestrian path at ground level, where many flows are conducted inside the new building and the public, semi-public and private spaces meet in one great sphere, completely revisited and rethought. And the impact of innovation finishes the project: a telescope is encrusted in the downward slope, frames the landscape and hosts a spa for the wellbeing of the Residence’s lodgers, while it outlines the visual itinerary created.

The firm Mino Caggiula Architects comes from a unique career developed over the last two decades which has always been divided among planning, design, construction, studies and theoretical research. Based in Lugano, Switzerland, the firm consists of a closeknit group of architects of different backgrounds and training. Mino Caggiula Architects’ team has realized many projects at different scales, from design objects to city plans. Simplicity, elegance, attention to sustainability of the projects as well as the environment and the territory are the main features that the architect Mino Caggiula demands from each project. Having previous experience as a bricklayer, the architect never starts from a sketch: trying not to split the inspirational phase from the technical one, he always establishes his creative process starting from the practice of building relative to the terrain.

The synergy of man’s work and the nature of a place is the quintessence of creativity. The concept, as design guideline, begins with the manual modeling of a territory. It develops through the creation of many models. Its tangible form matures in the final design, obtained by paying attention to the smallest details. Finally, through the management of the site and meeting deadlines and costs, it is transformed into the Art we call Architecture. The experience gained over the years has been enriched by collaborations with important architects and theorists such as Kenneth Frampton, Steven Holl and Elia Zenghelis, allowing the architect to enter into the international scene. This knowledge base is crucial in the creative process, bridging the distance that often arises between theory and built Architecture.