Jacopo Mascheroni did it again. The Milan based architect, who has worked in architecture offices of luminaries such as Richard Meier, finished another great example of his fresh, uber-cool and white-minimalistic design. The villa in Brusino-Arsizio, a small village on the shores of Lago di Lugano and only a short drive from world renowned fashion metropolis Milan away, sits on a commanding hillside lot from where the southern part of the lake can be overlooked. The extravagant, polygonal glass pavilion is located wood side, sitting above the partly buried lower level in a very charming north facing location.

This kind of a glass house, what was asked for by the owner who wanted a house with lots of glass and windows, usually comes with privacy concerns. In addition, the hillside position as well as building code setbacks made it very challenging for the architect to deliver a simple, but sexy design he then finalized. In result, with all the tricky given facts being solved, the client got an amazing show property which doesn’t reflect the alpine architecture as otherwise usual. Large walls of glass dominate the top part of the villa which consist the main living area with a large scaled living, a dining area and kitchen. A white-lacquered centre piece consist the staircase leading to the lower level, the night area of the house, as well as all technical infrastructure. A beautiful garden around the pavilion round up this level and makes it a perfect place to entertain guests and family. The lower level offers 3 bedrooms, bathroom, play room and an office. The design is less spectacular than on the living floor, but is also characterized by the architect’s handwriting of clean forms and the use of bright-white materials.

With the use of these materials as well as the simplicity of his work, one can see similarities between his work and the architecture of Richard Meier, where he started his career in 2001. Few years ago, he finished a conversion of an apartment on Lago di Como into an ultra modern loft. Clean lines and forms, white surfaces and indirect lighting are still his preferred design elements and have been developed to perfection like seen in his newest work on Lake Lugano. The luxury villa in Brusino Arsizio is definitely polarizing people with a few which doesn’t like it at all, but with the majority really liking the space he created. The current owner became a huge fan of his work and only leaves with a heavy heart. Mascheroni’s glass pavilion became a much celebrated and multiple internationally published design piece which can now be yours. Click here for more details.

Posted by:  Peter Rabitz

Ticino, Switzerland’s southern-most canton and influenced by the lifestyle of its bordering neighbour Italy, is known for its Dolce Vita and just a different beat of life than most of the northern areas such as greater Zurich or Geneva. The very relaxed and almost sub-tropical atmosphere and climate lured many foreigners to Ticino to either spend their vacation on one of the beautiful lakes or even relocate to Lugano, Locarno or Ascona and set up their first residence in these sought-after areas. Among many nationalities to be found in Ticino with Germans, Italians, Dutch, Scandinavians, Brazilians and Russians being one of the biggest groups, there are also quite a few Americans who call Ticino their new home.

On Wednesday June 1st, TASIS, The American School in Switzerland, and the American Woman of Ticino (AWOT) invited American citizens, their families, friends, and all people interested on Swiss-American relations to attend this rare occasion to meet with Mr. Beyer and his team for an informal Q&A in the historic halls of TASIS.

It's no secret that it’s not as easy as it seems to become a legal citizen as an owner of an American passport. By the way, the same counts for all non EU citizens. However, it’s not impossible. There are a few hurdles that have to be taken. These difficulties and how to solve them has been the reason for many of Americans living in Ticino attending the town hall meeting. A selected group of the American embassy, along with the US Ambassador to Switzerland, Donald S. Beyer Jr., did answer questions by American families touching various topics. The Ambassador opened the meeting with an overview about the work of the US Embassy and how they can assist their follow citizen on certain problems, ranging from visa to tax issues and all administrative problems. Furthermore, he informed us about the Swiss-American relations after all the tensions caused by the financial sector and the worldwide turbulences. The following Q&A has become an unconstrained question and answer session. The most important topics for Americans living in Switzerland seemed to be visa related issues as well as problems with taxes and some of the latest banking issues.

Maurice Elst, co-owner of Wetag, and I were delighted to be able to join the event. Wetag Consulting maintains a close relationship to TASIS.

We believe and could experience already, that with our very international background of work, being the chosen exclusive affiliate of Christie's International Real Estate and The Leading Real Estate Companies of the World for Ticino, we are able to service foreigners and assist on their search for a home in Ticino. TASIS, being a private school, also has quite an elite clientele with many High Net Worth Individuals having their kids enjoying high quality education in one of Switzerland’s most reputable schools. Some of the families have some very special real estate needs which we are keen to help with based on our reputation, network, and year long experience in the luxury field of the real estate market. TASIS is located in one of the most sought-after neighbourhoods of Ticino where sumptuous villas and estates can be found. Wetag is happy to have some of these incredible properties listed. There are many very exclusive mansions we are marketing on a discreet basis, so should you have interest to get to know more about the possibility to call one of these estates your home, please don't hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to assist.

Posted by:  Peter Rabitz

A few days ago I was strolling through the large rooms of the famous Ex-Helmut Horten Estate, checking if all was perfect (WETAG is managing the property on behalf of the owners who wish to sell). Outside, the gardens were immaculate as always, inside, the room temperature was perfect. I sat in the reception room, turned on the stereo letting the music fill the air though the vast entry hall, feeding the villa with life. Whilst I waited for the next owners’ butler to come in and offer me a drink, my eye wandered to this magical view of Southern Ticino’s rolling hills. I said to myself: “This is unique, really unique.”  I realized that I probably never had a similar property to offer - a true estate: The villa, with a staff apartment house, and a third building consisting of 11 suites and 7 meeting rooms, elegantly set in its own park, all of this furnished with an exquisite taste, ready to move in.

Hey! It could suite a private person in need for a lot of space, that’s how it was thought. But, it could also be a beauty spa in Switzerland or a hedge fund, or even better a company with its headquarters in Switzerland, so many could the purposes be, no other estate compares to it - let alone one where you can move in right away.

I turned off the music, shut the doors and while slowly driving down the private driveway, I thought to myself: Today few people build this way, what a pleasure it must be for the next owner. It truly is a jewel and one of a kind!

 

Posted by:  Ueli Schnorf

Sarah Valli (Dipl. Tourism Expert, Sales Consultant) and Deborah Fontana (SUP Business Manager, Director, Lugano office) are the luxury lifestyle experts in Lugano, Ticino, and form the highly experienced sales team of Wetag’s Lugano office – being very knowledgeable, multilingual (English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese), passionate and even more important, enjoy all the good things in life.

Both Sarah and Deborah live in the Lugano area and know all about Lake Lugano’s secrets and places to be and visit.

Read some recent blog posts below:

• Wetag Consulting’s Maro Fässler und das Nationalinstrument “Das Alphorn”
• La Valle di Muggio e le sue nevere
• Lago di Lugano - locale tradizionale si trasforma in luogo d’incontro delle STAR

Always more in these times we are asked for our considerations regarding real estate as an investment. In our current email-letter we explain our (positive) thoughts at the moment. The letter is free, if you’re not yet in the subscriber list, do not hesitate to subscribe now. I will not summarize the contents here, but be sure that we do not see investment the way the following story from India tells:  

Any comments are welcome.

Posted by:  Ueli Schnorf

Il paese di Muggio è il comune più alto dell’omonima Valle, la quale è la più meridionale del Ticino. Comprende frazioni ancora più elevate e diversi pascoli sulle pendici del Monte Generoso, dove il territorio si estende fino a toccare i 1400 metri di altitudine. È probabile che fosse abitato già prima del XII° secolo da romani.

È patria di numerosi artisti, tra i quali spiccano i nomi di famosi architetti del Neoclassico, come Luigi Fontana e Simone Cantoni. Quest’ultimo lavorò molto a Como, dove si possono ammirare molti suoi palazzi, tra cui la maestosa Villa dell’Olmo.

Nel villaggio e nelle frazioni, tipicamente di montagna, vengono ancora praticate l’agricoltura e le attività alpestri. In passato la fonte d’introito più importante era l’economia alpestre come è attestato dalla presenza di numerose nevere.

Le nevere sono i precursori dei moderni frigoriferi, presenti unicamente in questa parte della Svizzera, paragonabili oggi a delle celle frigorifere.

Nel suolo calcareo del Generoso l’acqua penetra in profondità e non vi sono ruscelli che permettono di raffreddare le cantine. Perciò in passato si sono costruite queste nevere, accanto ad alberi frondosi, in zona ombrosa ma soprattutto nei pressi della stalla e del luogo di lavorazione del latte.

Questi edifici costruiti in muratura a secco, spesso a pianta circolare (diametro interno varia dai 3m a 5m), con tetti a debole pendenze in piode calcaree, provvisti di una ripida scala interna, interrati per circa 2/3 (4-5 m); venivano usati per conservare il latte in un ambiente fresco prima della sua lavorazione, nonché per mantenere al suo interno gli alimenti deperibili durante i periodi più caldi.

Nel corso dell’inverno si procedeva al carico della nevera: la neve, pulita e compatta, veniva gettata attraverso la porta e la bocca di carico; poi compressa e coperta con foglie di faggio. La corona di alberi attorno alla costruzione costituiva un’ulteriore protezione dai raggi solari. Grazie a questi stratagemmi la temperatura all’interno della nevera si manteneva costante attorno agli 8-9 gradi.

Essere proprietario di un pezzo di storia rurale così importante ed affascinante è possibile. Proprio nel comune di Muggio, la Wetag Consulting Sa, ha in vendita un importante palazzo d’epoca in stile neoclassico costruito nel 1870 dall’architetto G. Fortini. Splendidi interni originali tra cui locali alti, camini, soffitti con affreschi di grande valore, pavimenti in mosaico e parquet in stile Luigi XVI, fanno di questa proprietà un oggetto unico nel suo genere. Un altro tassello storico presente sulla proprietà è ben appunto una nevera che rievoca tempi passati ma non dimenticati.

Scritto da Deborah Fontana

Posted By: Team Lugano

Creatures feel better in some buildings than in others. Imagine a buried box with an entrance from above, an airy hut in a tree, or a little house on the ground, and most spiders would choose the first, most birds the second and most humans the third of these homes. And then you may ask: And which kind of building is it where people generally feel best? Are there any rules?

I came to this question since as a realtor I see hundreds of homes every year, and it is obvious to me that some have definitely a better feel to them than others. Every home has a specific feel to it, and at some point I began to classify them secretly with a scale from 1 to 10 calling it the “Feeling Factor”. Talking about with others I noticed that their “Feeling Factor” was surprisingly similar to mine, so the question was inevitable: Are there any rules to this? The more you think the more interesting it gets.

Let’s take painting first. Most people would agree that some paintings are far more appealing and simply superior to others, bur if we would want to put up rules on how to do a master-painting, the idea would be considered as unorthodox, to say the least. Individuals feel individual, they say, and art is art. Don’t try to scale.

But, after all, the Feeling Factor might be the single most important feature for the use of a home in the long run. So even if it is very off-focus, it may well pay to put it on stage and to give it a serious thought.

Contemporary architects build homes focused on design rather than well-being (yes, I hear the storm of protest). Splendid isolation, lot of privacy and focus on view are high in demand. When built, interior designers will try to make it appealing, and proud owners imagine how they’ll show their masterpieces to their impressed fellows. Shortly after, they start to feel isolated, lonely and anxious. Constructions of the past were often restricted by scarcity of the variety of building materials and of heating means, so probably there is no big learning effect from them. One thing that is remarkable is that they built quite close together, in times and through ages. People seemed to like to live in herds, how about today? Since “feeling” cannot be measured, it escapes our science. One of the few manuals which puts full focus on Feeling Facor is Feng Shui, an ancient art and science developed over 3,000 years ago in China. It is a complex body of knowledge that reveals how to balance the energies of any given space to assure the health and good fortune for people inhabiting it. It follows Chinese Taoism which is based on the five elements, on Chi the flow of energy and on the principle of Ying and Yang.

Feng Shui became en vogue in our societies about a decade ago, and I paid some time and some attention to it. A bunch of principles which is complicated and utterly strange (“put a shallow bowl with pieces of carbon in the lower left corner on the room’s floor”…) makes you feel uneasy and sceptical. But astonishingly enough, every time I followed the proposal of Feng Shui to change a disturbing situation, or to enhance the well-being within a home, it worked. Feng Shui starts out with the planning of a home, giving advice on how to do the layout and so on, but it equally deals with solving the problems of existing property, may it be the property itself or a disturbing surrounding.

Of course Feng Shui is not the ultimate set of rules for creating a feeling-good factor within a property. It comes from far away and long ago. But it is surprisingly useful for who understands that there is a specific feeling to each property that this feeling can be localized and can be modified with appropriate measures. A good starting point I suppose.

Therefore: More concentration on feeling good, please. When constructing, when choosing, when decorating a home, yes respect aesthetics, sculptural quality, functionality, view, privacy, ecc, but listen to your heart. Who may hear it hears the language of the Feeling Factor.

Posted By: Ueli F. Schnorf

Ronco – the name means vineyard – once a small and poor peasant village became more and more an artist village in all those years. We do not know if this came because of the amazing views from several places in the village or cause of the charm of the old Ticino houses and full of nooks and crannies streets in the old core of the village. However it attracted a lot of famous people like for example the painter Richard Seewald and the film director Kurt Hoffmann, who produced quite all films of Erich Kästner, and Erich Maria Remarque, who became world famous over night by his roman “All Quiet on the Western Front”. They all chosen also Ronco’s cemetery as their last resting place. 1932 Remarque moved to Switzerland and took residence in the “Casa Monte Tabor” in Porto Ronco. He maintained a relationship with Marlene Dietrich of several years and the letters between Porto Ronco and Beverly Hills in the book “Sag mir, dass du mich liebst” is the report of this long passion. Remarque had friendship with different gallery owners, booksellers and antiquarian in Ascona as with Wladimir Rosenbaum for example, the former husband of the writer Aline Valangin. He was in third marriage with the American actress Paulette Goddard, previously married to Charlie Chaplin. Together with her and her mother he is entombed on the cemetery of Ronco above Ascona. His villa, the “Casa Monte Tabor” was sold by Wetag some years ago to the present owner. There are a few rare opportunities to live in one of Ascona’s great properties. The experts at Wetag can find you rare gems within the very sought-after location.

www.si-su.ch

Posted By: Claudia Starck