© Ruedi Walti
Castasegna – a small Swiss village close to the Italian border: one would be unlikely to suspect that this was where architect Gottfried Sempers‘s most southerly building would be found. But in fact this is where he erected a villa for Agostino Garbald, the Director of -Customs. It is thanks to his late son, Andrea, that the property is now vibrant with new life. A seminar centre for arts, sciences and crafts, belonging to the foundation decreed in his will, has been developed on the land. ETH Zürich helped to finance the project, and now uses the rooms along with the inhabitants of the surrounding area. The villa, dating from the end of the 19th century, has been carefully renovated and adapted to today’s needs. In the northern part, a former barn has been replaced with a new residence. Echoing the north-Italian bird towers known as “roccoli”, it reaches out of the garden walls towards the sky. An ‘independent’ structure was created, whose colouring, surface textures and posture engage successfully in a dialogue with the surroundings.