images and plans ©Loeb Sarli Architekten
Monteggio – Casa Nucleo
Rehabilitation and Extension
The dry-stacked stone load bearing walls of this 1828 house have been built with the stones taken from the excavation effort on the site. In between them, a sticky mud taken from the nearby river that currently separates Switzerland from Italy, was used to control the unwanted passage of air from interior to exterior. The existing roof structure was built with Chestnut wood taken from the forest twenty feet away. Occasionally a nail can be found, but many connections were simply made by stacking with a rudimentary cut resembling joinery.
The restoration of the house, after being abandoned for nearly two decades, requires the complete replacement of the roof on the main body and the rustico outbuilding. The replacement of the roof on the main house offers the opportunity to raise the level to coincide with the existing historic neighboring buildings. Therefore, adding a full usable floor to the house replacing the low attic used in the past to dry and store corn and other produce. In this added level, the views to the mountains on the other side of the river offer a spectacular celebration of the beauty of our planet.
Also, not too long ago, the rustico was the place where the family kept their two cows, on the lower level, during the cold winter months. On the upper level, the necessary amount of hay was kept, to feed the animals below. On the restored house, the place where once hay was kept will become a small library and reading room. The weight of the Chestnut roof pressed down by the forces of gravity provided lateral stability to the otherwise fragile piles of dry-stacked stones. To replace the roof, a new yellow concrete tie-beam must be formed and poured as the stabilizing old roofs gets demounted. The new tie-beam will gently receive the new, insulated wood structure, while preventing any lateral movement of the masonry walls.