Building Bridges a protective shelter from debris flow

The project started from an analysis of the problems of the East side of Monte San Salvatore in Lugano (CH) and in particular the stretch of coast that goes from Capo San Martino to Melide. The rocky wall facing the North and the entire slope have a condition a curvilinear morphology designed to ensure the material fall back towards the lake shore. The structure is therefore in a sense more of strong geological instability. Being at the foot of a fault of fluvial origin, over forty collapses have been recorded in the area in the similar to a bridge - which connects the two sides of the slope, the upper and the lower part separated by the infrastructure - that last twenty years, involving the repetitive invasion of the street below with detrital material. to the type of snow shed, functional to hinder and stop the descent of material. The aim of the project is to provide a protective shelter for the road and the corresponding railway section with a tunnel-like roof with The idea is that the project evolves over time according to the natural debris flow of the mountain, accumulating and letting the materials slide until a new angle of repose is established at the foot of the mountain. Progressively covered by debris over the years, the structure could shape a low hill on it and could ideally became a new passage for the citizens to access the shore, until now completely inaccessible for the whole Paradiso-Melide tract.