Casa T

Casa T delights in a play of solids and voids, in the opacity and transparency created by the many windows looking onto the surrounding garden, to create a home that is at times extroverted, at times introverted. Designed by the ZAA Zanon Architetti Associati practice, this family home has only one level in a restrained style that fits with the simple, low architecture found in much of Dosson di Casier, a small town in the north-eastern Italian province of Treviso. Yet, this basic style is both seconded and exalted by bare concrete being the only material used other than for the doors and windows. As such, this building material is very much at the heart of the house's identity.

The front door is glazed, opening onto a corridor that divides the house between the living spaces and the bedrooms. Natural light is another central element, lighting the corridor from above through a circular skylight. Light plays a dominant role in numerous other parts of the house, with every room having windows that vary according to the desired degree of privacy. As such, the living areas have quite expansive apertures, with the opposite found in the more reserved parts of this home.

This single-material volume also experiments internally and externally with the use of exposed concrete with a wooden texture, obtained using staved formwork, thus creating an architectural dialogue with the texture of the brick enclosure wall. To create the floor, the practice turned to Isoplam and its cement-based Deco Nuvolato with a shaded effect to provide continuity of color between both indoors and outdoors.

Isoplam's horizontal surfaces, in a light gray hue, reflect the cleanliness, strength and lightness of the building as a whole, deliberately playing with a lighter background and darker nuances. The combination of cement, quartz and the pigments are central not only in creating that true concrete feel, but also ensure resistance to light and UV rays. The Isoplam formula ensures not only wear- and impact-resistant floors, but also water-repellent, stain- and dust-resistant surfaces. It is a choice that blends functionality and esthetics.