In a three-storey villa in Lugano, Switzerland, featuring a large ‘U’ shaped glass pane, the sliding window system ‘Eku Perfektion Slide’ was chosen because of its essential profile that however minimal still allows to create very large glazed areas.
For this residential architectural setting that features a privileged indoor/outdoor interface through its very large windows, the Eku Perfektion Slide system of essential and lightweight design sliding windows was chosen. The building is three storeys high: while the first and second floors are used as private residence by the owner, the ground floor contains two apartments intended for lease.
Essential design glazing
The apartments on the ground floor have been fitted with four Eku Perfektion Slide sliding windows sized 3.80×2.60 H metres. The various windows have been connected one to the other via supporting posts, insulated and lined with aluminum sheet metal.
The upper part of the building instead boasts a very large horse-shoe shaped window 15 metres long and 2.75 metres high. At the sides of this large window are two windows of the same height and 5 metres long. The corners of this large ‘U’ consist of glass jointed at 90°.
The larger pane consists of 5 panels, 3 of which are fixed and 2 sliding. The low-emission double glazing consists of an external 55.1 pane with a 1.52 mm PVB film, an intermediate 18 mm cavity filled with Argon gas, a 44.1 internal pane and a warm edge spacer bar. Thermal transmittance (Uw) is about 1.4 W/m2K.
Another special feature is the finishing colour of the frames. When they are directly illuminated by the sun, they reflect a lovely bronze hue. When the sun is not hitting them, they tend towards a sliver-grey hue.
«We thought that the making of an essential design window would be extremely complicated» says Francesco Boschini, the technical and commercial consultant of FGB Boschini Giorgio, the supplier of the windows. «Before installing the Eku system, our engineering department studied and assessed it, especially to understand whether there would be load bearing problems because the glass panes are very heavy. The largest pane, in fact, weighs 410 kg. Instead no construction or load-bearing problems arose at all».
A very special relaxation area
Other special features of the villa are a façade lined with small white ceramic tiles accompanied by a terrace with glass balustrade. On the second floor there is a façade ventilated with Alucobond type aluminum panels.
The main window is recessed by about 3 metres underneath the terrace. «This aspect caused a few problems when installing the windows» Francesco Boschini remembers, «in fact, not only we had to transport them by hand to the installation site under the terrace, but we also had to tilt them while positioning them».
Finally, curtains were installed flush with the terrace edge in order to create an exclusive relaxation area between the curtains and the windows. This area can be enjoyed for many months of the year, and has been furnished in a particular style. A detail to explain it all? An ultra-thin mega screen that, when required, hides away in the sill of the overhead terrace.
«Both the client and the designer were highly satisfied with the glazing» Francesco Boschini concludes. «The Eku system allows to build very large and very heavy lights while keeping the visibility of the frames down to a minimum».
Summary of project
| Building type | Residential villa |
| Project type | New building |
| Location | Lugano (Switzerland) |
| Client | Private |
| Designer architect | Nicola Probst Architetti (Lugano) |
| Window dealer |
FGB di Boschini Giorgio (Varese) |
| EKU system used | Eku Perfektion Slide |
