Andrea Botta
Arch. Dipl. Accademia di architettura di Mendrisio - USI Portfolio Education
Working experiences
Publications and expositions
2020-2022 | Master of Science in Architecture | Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, USI, Svizzera.
2022- Present | Architect studio we architetti, Switzerland Arch. Felix Wettstein Arch. Ludovica Molo
2017 Sette volte un inizio | Atelier Canevascini works.
Atelier diploma: Prof. Martin Boesch Master thesis supervisor: Prof.ssa Daniela Mondini 2016-2020 | Bachelor Degree in Architecture| Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, USI, Svizzera. 2015 | Scientific studies | Pontificio Collegio Gallio, Como, Italy
2021-2022 | Student Assistant | 12 months Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, Switzerland with Prof.ssa Daniela Mondini.
2017 Galleria Casabella “140 ways to fold paper”| Fuorisalone, Milano Design week | Atelier Blumer works 2021 Parma.Progetti dell’Atelier Paolo Zermani all’Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio| Atelier Zermani
Competitions 2018 | Kaira Looro Architecture Competition | Cultural center, Senegal
2018-2019 | Internship | 11 months LoCa studio, Barcelona, Spain. Arch. Phd. Daniel Lorenzo Arch. Carlota Casanova
2015-2016-2020-2021| Interiori designer | 24 months S.M.A. office furnischings, Como, Italy
10.08.1996 | Como, Italy | andrea.botta.arc@gmail.com | +39 331 9188675
2021 | ReUse the Fallen Church - Chiesa Diruta | Concert Hall, Grottole, Italy 2021 | 25 m² Microhome | Bee Breeders architecture competition
Accademia curriculum Bsc 1 | Atelier Mario Botta “Reinventare la fabbrica”, Val di Blenio, Switzerland Bsc 2 | Atelier Josè Marìa Sànchez Garcìa Atlantico cantabrico, Territorio abitato. A Coruña, Spain Bsc 2 | Atelier Josè Marìa Sànchez Garcìa Atlantico cantabrico, Territorio abitato. Donostia San Sebastian, Spain Bsc 3 | Atelier Paolo Zermani Biblioteca del Romanico. Parma, Italy Bsc 3 | Atelier Michele Arnaboldi La città insubrica. Varese, Italy Msc 1 | Atelier Martin Boesch The secret world inside an industrial coplex. Basel, Switzerland. Msc 1 | Atelier Martin Boesch Le charme discrèt of a former industrial area on Lake Zurich. Uetikon, Switzerland Msc 2 | Atelier Francisco and Manuel Aires Mateus Open architecture: new possibilities. Genova, Italy Diploma 2022 | Atelier Martin Boesch InsideOut. The reuse of the Saint-Hubert church. Brussels, Belgium.
Workshop 2020 | Tutela del patrimonio architettorico Prof. Nott Caviezel 2021 | RRR - Roma, Riuso e Restauro Prof. Christoph Frank, Daniela Mondini, Carla Mazzarelli, Sergio Bettini, Ruggero Tropeano
Selected projects Shaped house | Atelier Josè Marìa Sànchez Garcìa A Coruña, Spain Bsc 2 | Ass. Chiara Cattarini, Maria Eleonora Maccari
Rehabilitation comunity | Atelier Michele Arnaboldi Varese, Italy New possibilities. Library and housing | Atelier Martin Boesch Basel, Switzerland Academy of Circus Arts | Atelier Martin Boesch Uetikon am see, Switzerland
InsideOut | Atelier Martin Boesch Bruxelles, Belgium.
The design of this house comes from the observation of the Horreos, or granaries typical of Galicia. These structures, usually built in stone, are always raised above the ground in order to prevent rising damp from the ground in an extremely rainy region such as northwest Spain. The purpose of these barns is to dry the harvest thanks to the wind coming from the sea, which penetrates the structure thanks to the numerous loopholes always present in the building. The structure of the house is made up of twenty-three wooden trusses connected to each other by two orders of beams and joists. The trusses adapt their length to the lay of the land and allow the building to be lifted off the ground. The triangular shape of the building, which is in fact an inhabited roof, responds to the frequent winter rains characteristic of the region. The houses take in light from windows opened in the roof itself. The openings are differentiated according to the orientation of the house; thinner and smaller towards the sea to protect themselves from the strong winter wind and more generous towards the mountains. The large central terrace is shaded by the beams of the structure to allow for pleasant use even in the summer sun.
Selected projects Shaped house | Atelier Josè Marìa Sànchez Garcìa A Coruña, Spain Rehabilitation comunity | Atelier Michele Arnaboldi Varese, Italiy with Guglielmo Nicelli Bsc 3 |Ass. Christophe Maisonobe, Laura Gianellini
New possibilities. Library and housing | Atelier Martin Boesch Basel, Switzerland Academy of Circus Arts | Atelier Martin Boesch Uetikon am see, Switzerland
InsideOut | Atelier Martin Boesch Bruxelles, Belgium
The idea behind the project is to create a large community for the recovery and reintegration of drug addicts, which can be useful and accessible from both Italy and Switzerland. The lack of similar structures in the surrounding region led us to think of a large-scale project, which could also perform an infrastructural function within the territory. For this reason, in the community have been designed spaces accessible to the public from the outside and totally managed by the patients themselves, such as a restaurant, a theatre, classrooms and shops to sell objects and food produced in the structure. The main purpose was to create a relationship between the community within the rehabilitation center and the people who live in the surrounding areas, in order to break down the barriers of prejudice and reintroduce patients into the working world. The building also contains the accommodation for the patients themselves. The structure is positioned at the top of a hill outside Varese, which then slopes down to Lake Lugano. From the patients’ rooms it is in fact possible to see the lake and the valley. Technically, the building is made up of a series of x-lam frames which support the rest of the structural components, also in wood. Even the cladding is made up of panels and strips of the same material.
AAM - MAA 2020 SPRING SEMESTER CITTÀ INSUBRICA ANDREA BOTTA - GUGLIELMO NICELLI
Planimetria 1:5’000 academy of architecture mendrisio atelier prof. michele arnaboldi architect ass. laura gianellini and christophe maisonobe
Selected projects Shaped house | Atelier Josè Marìa Sànchez Garcìa A Coruña, Spain Rehabilitation comunity | Atelier Michele Arnaboldi Varese, Italy New possibilities. Library and housing | Atelier Martin Boesch Basel, Switz with Greta Strano Msc 1 | Ass: Alessandro Bonizzoni, Silvio Schubiger Academy of Circus Arts | Atelier Martin Boesch Uetikon am see, Switzerland
InsideOut | Atelier Martin Boesch Bruxelles, Belgium
Building B Hostel Restaurant
Building C Library
Building A Housing Market
Building A Offices Shops
The industrial complex provided as a project site is an old Novartis factory in east Basel, which has been abandoned for almost ten years. In a preliminary phase we considered and sketched plans for the four major continuous buildings in the area, inserting a library, a hostel with restaurant, a market, offices and housing. Subsequently we were asked to focus on two of these hypotheses: the library and housing.
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Building A Housing Market
The larger building is divided into two wings, the east one with the offices and the west one, where a market is planned on the ground floor and housing on the upper floors. The first decision was to open two large courtyards inside the building to allow light to enter and illuminate the apartments. Our reference was the Italian railing house (casa di ringhiera), to which model we wanted to add an open but private space that was inserted between the common balcony and the apartments themselves, so that each tenant could enjoy an open-air space without having to invade the public passage. To meet the needs of as many people as possible, three apartment sizes have been designed: 35, 70 or 110 m². Given the small size of the internal courtyards, systems have been studied to guarantee privacy inside the apartments; in fact, we find blackout curtains capable of isolating the private areas from the balconies during the night and satin-finish sliding glass to guarantee privacy during the day.
Courtyard
Ceilings
Public circulation
Private balcony
Apartments
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Building C Library
The building in which the library is designed is divided into two main volumes; a large basement and a high space above ground where there was originally a bridge crane. The proposal provides for the connection of these two spaces through the demolition of the slab on the ground floor, so as to be able to insert a new self-supporting metal structure in the space that acts both as a reading room and as a shelving for collecting books. In the basement, metal shelves are placed for the volumes of the library and a conference room. At the back of the building a double-height space is reused to place a bar that serves the library.
Selected projects Shaped house | Atelier Josè Marìa Sànchez Garcìa A Coruña, Spain Rehabilitation comunity | Atelier Michele Arnaboldi Varese, Italy New possibilities. Library and housing | Atelier Martin Boesch Basilea, Switzerland Academy of Circus Arts | Atelier Martin Boesch Uetikon am see, Switzerland with Lavinia Polsinelli, Susanna Roccucci Msc 1 | Ass: Alessandro Bonizzoni, Silvio Schubiger InsideOut | Atelier Martin Boesch Bruxelles, Belgium
On Lake Zurich in Uetikon am See, an old chemical factory has been abandoned since the 1960s and comprises a great variety of buildings. In a first phase of the masterplan we thought of the whole complex assuming that it could become a new leisure area for families, easily accessible from the city of Zurich. We were then asked to select a particular building and our choice was to insert an academy for circus artists inside the building. The school is located in the oldest structure of the complex, dating back to the mid-19th century, and is divided into two wings connected by a central courtyard. The north wing is modified in a more invasive way to house the new theatre, in which the original wooden construction of the building is maintained thanks to the static support provided by the new metal structure of the theater itself. The south wing, on the other hand, undergoes fewer changes, hosting a music school on the ground floor and the gymnasiums on the upper floor. A movable roof is installed in the central courtyard which allows the use of the open space for outdoor shows during the summer.
Programma Il Teatro
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Il Teatro
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Selected projects Shaped house | Atelier Josè Marìa Sànchez Garcìa A Coruña, Spain Rehabilitation comunity | Atelier Michele Arnaboldi Varese, Italy New possibilities. Library and housing | Atelier Martin Boesch Basel, Switzerland Academy of Circus Arts | Atelier Martin Boesch Uetikon am see, Switzerland InsideOut | Atelier Martin Boesch Bruxelles, Belgium Diploma | Ass: Alessandro Bonizzoni
The neo-Gothic church of Saint-Hubert, located south of Brussels, was closed in 2008 and subsequently deconsecrated following problems with infiltrations and the statics of the bell tower. Since then the monument has been abandoned and without prospects for future development. The proposal presented studies the possibility of inserting the new municipal center in the church, grouping the administrative offices, the municipal gymnasium and the library in a single building. At the basis of the project is the desire to transform the internal volume of the church into a covered courtyard, which can act both as a foyer and as a distribution to access the new annexed volumes around the historic building. The result is a single courtyard building built around the central void, or rather the church itself. On the north side a large pergola solves the view on the pedestrian street and invites you to enter the building.
studio we architetti sagl via besso 59
ch–69OO lugano
t O91 96O O9 41
Dear memebers of the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio
f O91 96O O9 42
info@studiowe.ch
www.studiowe.ch
Accademia di Architettura Università della Svizzera Italiana Largo Bernasconi 2 CH-6850 Mendrisio
I am a young architect recently graduated from the Accademi di architettura di Mendrisio. I have always been attracted by the world of teaching in the Accademia, attending the critiques of almost all the ateliers and taking an interest in the development of my colleagues’ projects. During my journey at the Accademia, under the guidance of Professor. Martin Boesch, I specialized in reuse in architecture, a discipline in which I strongly believe and which I never stop considering as my point of reference. During my practice in Spain I mainly dealt with the reforms of single houses, villas and apartments, going down to the smallest details of the projects. In that period, thanks to the arch. phd. Daniel Lorenzo, also started my interest in urban planning and design of public spaces for the city, participating in some competitions on this topic. Now I work in Lugano at studio we architects, where under the supervision of the arch. Felix Wettstein I am in charge of the development of the public and private competitions that the firm deals with. The possibility of assisting in teaching at the academy would represent a point of personal and professional growth for me, allowing me to give in return the teachings that the Accademia itself has given me in past years. My personal interests extend beyond architecture, especially including the history of art and architecture, photography, history of cities and town planning, cinema, design, exhibition design and scenography . I’m used to committing myself 100% to the tasks entrusted to me, always trying to add my own contribution. I am very organized and precise, and ready to devote myself to helping in teaching at the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture.
Letter of introduction for Andrea Botta Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, Andrea Botta asked me for a letter of introduction in relation to his candidacy for an assistant position at the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture. I am happy to accommodate this request. Andrea Botta, dipl. Arch USI, graduated in 2021 with an excellent diploma under the guidance of Prof. Martin Boesch, and has been working in our architecture firm since 2022. He started as a freshly graduated young architect and has worked in our team on a wide variety of projects and in different project phases. His professional growth has been surprisingly rapid, so much so that we have been able to entrust him with various and demanding tasks, which he still carries out today with full satisfaction and great commitment. Andrea has made a decisive contribution to the projects he has worked on with tireless dedication, motivation and competence. Andrea is an extremely loyal collaborator. He integrated without problems into the structure of our architectural studio and the collaboration within the team, even with external professionals and craftsmen, was very profitable. Furthermore, his excellent knowledge of CAD and his diverse cultural interests, which also go beyond architecture, should be underlined. We believe that the opportunity to teach at the Academy of Architecture as an assistant is an interesting and significant further development of his professional career. In this sense, we unreservedly support his candidacy and are at your disposal for further information.
Best regards Andrea Botta 10.08.1996 | Como, Italia | andrea.botta.arc@gmail.com | +39 331 9188675
Lugano, March 2023
Felix Wettstein Architekt ETH BSA SIA