Buchner Bründler’s Contemporary Concrete Renovation Of A 200-Year-Old House

Linescio lies in the secluded Rovana Valley in Ticino, surrounded by terraced fields and groves of chestnut trees. The history of the mountain village, first mentioned in historical texts in the 1400s, is evident in the aged dark granite buildings that sit at its heart. Many have fallen to disrepair, but projects like that undertaken by Buchner Bründler Architekten are aiming to reinvigorate the village.

Whilst externally ‘Casa D’Estate’ looks almost as it did in the 19th century—inside is a different story. A Matryoshka doll in construction, this renovation nestles a contemporary house within a historical shell. Concrete was brought in layer by layer through an open roof, with the existing walls acting as the framework for the new house. As the architects explain, “On the inside, the untreated exposed concrete surfaces bear the bold texture of the formwork. In the extension, to…all new elements are consistently made of concrete: the bathtub as a recess in the floor, and the kitchen worktop with a sink integrated as a single cast form.”