Client
Dipartimento Federale delle Finanze DFF
Ufficio Federale delle Costruzioni e della Logistica UFCL
Repubblica e Cantone Ticino
General Planner
CDL Bearth Deplazes Durisch Nolli
Architects
CDL Bearth Deplazes Durisch Nolli
Team Durisch+Nolli: Pia Durisch, Aldo Nolli e Elke Stauber
Construction Manager and Quantity Surveyor
Rolando Spadea e Marco Bondini Sagl
Civil Engineer
Jürg Buchli
Edy Toscano AG
Conzett Bronzini Gartmann
Mechanical Engineer
Amstein + Walthert AG
Electrical Engineer
Erisel SA
Building Physics
Amstein + Walthert AG
Acoustical Engineer
Dr. Dorothea Baumann
Lanfranchi Ingénierie Informatique et Acoustique
Specialists
Gramazio & Kohler GmbH
Photographer
Tonatiuh Ambrosetti

Awards
SIA Award 2016 for the best building

The new Federal Criminal Court is located in Bellinzona city centre, on the site of the former School of Commerce. The two-storey building, preserved as a representative public building in neoclassical style, was renovated and retains its function as the main entrance to the courthouse with an open atrium.
In the immediate vicinity of the original ‘Pretorio’, sits the new Cantonal Criminal Court. It is conceived as a three-storey addition which defines the new public park created between the two courthouses and sits behind the existing head of the Criminal Court. The new wing, developed on three floors in white smooth concrete, both on the inside and outside, preserves the plastic character of the neoclassical building such as the overhanging levels as well as the window proportions. The evenly distributed openings in the facade evoke an administrative character reflecting the work spaces that are indeed placed along the sides of the building.
Two inner courtyards illuminate the hallways of the offices and provide a reference point in the dense spatial structure. At the heart of the building, the large courtroom and visitor’s room sit bellow high pyramidal vaults, a distinguishing feature that proclaims dignity and serenity to the new Institution.