Bellinzona Public Baths

Aurelio Galfetti, Flora Ruchat-Roncati e Ivo Trümpy, 1967- 1970

The Bellinzona Public Baths (a project resulting from a 1967 competition, built between the late 1960s and 1970) is an emblematic work of the "territorial architecture" developed in Ticino. The designers—Aurelio Galfetti, Flora Ruchat-Roncati, and Ivo Trümpy—conceived the complex as an infrastructure that organizes the landscape and the relationship with the site rather than as a simple isolated object: the pool and service spaces are integrated into the terrain and the system of urban paths, establishing a strong relationship between building, topography, and city. The project is documented in the Archivio del Moderno through drawings, photographs, and competition materials that highlight the critical reading of the territorial stratification and the search for spatial solutions capable of creating continuity between interior and exterior. The Baths is recognized as an "irreplaceable" work in 20th-century Ticino architecture and is often cited as fundamental to understanding the development of modern architecture in Ticino.