Switzerland. Canton Ticino. Mendrisio. The architect Mario Botta in his office. On the wall, rolls of blueprints with architectural plans and technical drawings of the "Thermalbad" in Baden, Switzerland. A black and white picture from the San Carlino, built by Mario Botta in 1999 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the birth of the architect Francesco Borromini. Standing almost 33 meters high and made up of 35,000 planks each 4,5 cm thick, mounted modularly with a "separation" of 1 cm, the large wooden model of San Carlino was held together with steel cables, in turn fixed to a steel frame weighing 90 tonnes. This life-size cross-section view of the church sat on a 22 square-meters platform just a few meters from the shore, at the end of the lake promenade and at the entrance to the Parco Ciani. The wooden model of San Carlino thus emerged from the deepest inlet of the lake gulf to act as a signpost to the exhibition about the young Borromini. 30.10.2017 © 2017 Didier Ruef