Villa Argentina a Mendrisio. Le immagini, Il progetto di restauro
Academy of Architecture
Villa Argentina in Mendrisio, designed in the 1870s by architect Antonio Croci, is a splendid example of that late neoclassical architecture whose language is contaminated by ‘colonial’ suggestions derived from the designer’s travels or the client’s stay abroad. In this case, both returned to Ticino after a stay in South America. Immersed in a luxuriant city park, Villa Argentina is today the seat of the Academy of Architecture.
This volume consists of two books collected in a luxurious box set: the first book is a photographic album on the villa and its park, accompanied by an essay that offers a glimpse of the architectural typology that this one shares with other villas of migrants returning to their country of origin; the second book presents a proposal for an intervention of conservative restoration and energy requalification of the precious building, registered in the inventory of protected cultural assets of Canton Ticino.