Lead. NQC Lugano sits at the city's main north-eastern entry, where rail, bus, and arterial road all meet. The brief was to turn that intersection into a place rather than a junction — a working transit interchange wrapped inside a mixed-use district that gives people reasons to arrive, not just pass through.

Site & brief. The 62,000 m² block forms the gateway parcel of the larger New Cornaredo masterplan, sitting at the crossroads of Lugano's principal infrastructural corridors. Programme is mixed by design: hotel, retail, high-end residential, exhibition, and office, all stacked above a transit concourse that handles rail, bus, pedestrians, and cyclists.

Idea. Three ascending cylindrical towers step down toward the east, and a lower triangular block anchors the southern edge. The descending height gradient is driven by sightlines toward the historic centre — the towers register against the skyline without competing with it.

Resolution. The scheme resolves three layers in plan: a system of plazas that thread pedestrian movement through the site; an elevated landscape that lifts the public realm above the transit deck; and a tower geometry that opens long views into the city while sheltering the plazas below.