Gion A. Caminada. Collegio femmnile “unterhaus”, Kloser Disentis (2001-2004)

The topic of this essay is the "Unterhaus" Female College in Kloster Disentis, located in the Canton des Grison s of Switzerland, a collective building by Gion Caminada. It is located in a place of an old building in ruins, demolished and replaced by the new one. It is possible to recognize the importance of the building, designed and constructed, in the relationship between the clarity of the proposal and functional request: the proportion of the volume and the urban location, how it belongs to the natural form, the ratio of typological system and appropriate construction, the gentle statement of the details and quality of spaces. It is a kind of approach that Swiss architect gained over the time, with a highly artisanal process and attention to the character of places. The shape of the small urban village suggested to the stereometrie building, covering in a grey plaster, to set back from the road and establish a connection with surface of the steep rock. A choice that generated a small urban space in front of it and the possibility of a route that climbs up to the rock and offers the opportunity of single entrance for each floor. The same plan solution is repeated for five stores, except for few variations, changing around a central service core and allowing a presence of free space fa r collective activities. At the same time, this core, in reinforce d concrete, becomes the centrai backbone of building, which is, on the contrary, in a traditional wooden trellis system but with modem innovations that improve wellness and comfort. Finally, the accuracy of details, in the single rooms - carefully studied - as much as in the public spaces and in the centrai service block, make it comfortable and homely and reflect the high constructive capacity of the Swiss architect, but also the ordinary and simple measure of this, architecture. For better understanding, it is necessary to look the refinement of wood en frames, which are both a source of light far the private room and far the study sites, where it is possible to read and sleep too. This main work by Gion Caminada it is certainly an exemplary building, made by the builder-architect of Vrin, in the Grisons, and Professor of Construction at ETH of Zurich.