Architects Directory 2020: DF_DC, Switzerland and UK
With offices in Lugano and London and ongoing projects in the UK, Switzerland, Mexico, France, Italy and Mozambique, this architecture practice likes to favour an interdisciplinary approach. Founders Dario Franchini and Diego Calderon recently completed a concrete villa in Comano, in an elongated plot, previously occupied by vineyards, which informed the structure’s trapezoidal form.
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

In a bid to capitalise on the potential opportunities created by the UK’s exit from the European Union, Swiss architects Dario Franchini and Diego Calderon recently moved their DF_DC practice from Lugano to London. But with current, on-going projects including a 324-home scheme in the city of Bellinzona, the bulk of the young partners’ work is still back home in Switzerland.
The Concrete Villa, is situated in the Comano hills, a small village north of Lugano on a site previously occupied by vineyards. All sci-fi colonnades, in-situ cast fins and sweeping, Eileen Gray-esque staircases, the house is, say the architects, ‘characterised by an elongated trapezoid form which determines the volume'.
MORE FROM WALLPAPER* ARCHITECTS DIRECTORY 2020 (opens in new tab)
‘With the constraint of having adjacent houses in close proximity toward the north and south, the house is conceived as an inhabited wall,' they explain. ‘In order to avoid the effect of an excessively long and closed volume but also ensuring a level of privacy, the flank elevations are articulated by a series of deep rectangular fins.'
Which particular aggregate does The Concrete Villa’s elegant and elaborate construction employ? Franchini and Calderon chose the old, tried and tested ‘strollato' technique as used in traditional Lombard villas: a mix of pebbles and cement, hand applied, splatter style with a trowel and then sanded and graded to smoothness using modern industrial machinery.
INFORMATION
df-dc.co.uk (opens in new tab)
-
S94 Design makes the most of its uptown location to blur the lines of art and design
S94 Design brings displays from Kwangho Lee, Donald Judd, Max Lamb and more to its Rafael Viñoly-designed location
By Julie Baumgardner • Published
-
Oasi Cashmere is taking Zegna back to its roots in the Italian Alps
Oasi Cashmere – an environmentally-conscious, all-embracing cashmere collection – is inspired by the Oasi Zegna nature park in the lush Biella Alps
By Jack Moss • Published
-
Lynda Benglis’ seductive hall of mirrors and juicy neon eggs in London
American artist Lynda Benglis subverts expectations with new bronze sculptures and otherworldly coloured eggs in a new solo show at Thomas Dane Gallery, London
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Year in review: top 10 houses of 2022, selected by Wallpaper* architecture editor Ellie Stathaki
Wallpaper’s Ellie Stathaki reveals her top 10 houses of 2022 – from modernist reinventions to urban extensions and idyllic retreats
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Roz Barr’s terrace house extension is a minimalist reimagining
Terrace house extension by Roz Barr Architects transforms Victorian London home through pared-down elegance
By Nick Compton • Published
-
Tree View House blends warm modernism and nature
North London's Tree View House by Neil Dusheiko Architects draws on Delhi and California living
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Maison de Verre: a dramatic glass house in France by Studio Odile Decq
Maison de Verre in Carantec is a glass box with a difference, housing a calming interior with a science fiction edge
By Jonathan Bell • Published
-
Modernist Coromandel farmhouse refreshed by Frankie Pappas, Mayat Hart and Thomashoff+Partner
An iconic Coromandel farmhouse is being reimagined by the South African architectural collaborative of Frankie Pappas, Mayat Hart and Thomashoff+Partner
By Nick Compton • Last updated
-
East London house extension infuses Victorian home with warm modernism
Blurton Road by London architecture studio Emil Eve is a residential extension project that transforms a modest Clapton house
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Pergola Extension transforms Victorian Melbourne home
Pergola Extension by Krisna Cheung Architects offers a contemporary touch to a Victorian Melbourne property, infusing it with sustainability and generosity of space
By Ellie Stathaki • Last updated
-
House Be is a minimalist dwelling amid nature
House Be by A2o architects is a minimalist family home rising from its green Belgian countryside setting
By Ellie Stathaki • Last updated